Williams Audio MkI Tonebender
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
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This is one of my favourite fuzz pedals I've ever played. Another creating from Nick Williams of Williams Audio, this is a super-accurate replica of the earliest of the Tonebenders....the MkI. It's super raunchy and takes no prisoners, but once you tame it, it'll be a friend for life.
Like the best Germanium fuzz pedals, it cleans up very well with the guitar's volume control - and that really is the key to getting the best sounds out of this thing. With it wide open, the fuzz will gate and splutter - but back off on the input slightly, and you get infinite shades of glorious fuzz, all controllable on the fly.
...and like all of Nick's pedals, the build quality is impeccable :-)
Find out more about this astonishing pedal here: www.williamsaud...
What do you think? One of the best fuzz circuits ever made? Or are you more of a Fuzz Face/Big Muff person?? Comment below!
Guitar is a 1992 Fender MIJ Tele with a Monty's '53 bridge and Bare Knuckle Flat 50 neck pickup; recorded through a Hughes & Kettner Puretone (Celestion AlNiCo Gold; Aston Spirit Condenser & 70s MD441) and a Dr Z DB4 (Celestion AlNiCo Cream; sE RNR1 Ribbon) with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.
jp@joeperkins.co.uk
Vector images by freepik.com
Hi Joe, i'm on the verge of buying this fuzz, can you please do a video playing this fuzz with the Gretsch Duo Jet into the Cornell amp, since it's a setup very similar to mine? thank you very much
Hi Enrico - I'll see if I can include that in this month's Q&A, which will be out on Monday :-)
What a pedal. I've had my Williams MkI for 3 months now and I can't tell you how much I dig it.
Stunning pedal! :-)
Awesome video thank you for demoing the mark1!
Nice and very timely video! I got the chance to play my new Williams MK1 yesterday. The pedals sounds incredible with guitar vol on 10, but anything under rapidly decays to a starved sound that many may not like. Unlike his MK2 which is the opposite, on guitar vol 10 is way too saturated and dark but from 8 to 1 is extremely nice with different tones, definitely the zepellin sound. I love both, Nick makes amazing pedals indeed
They're very different pedals for sure - and all Tonebenders do react very differently to different guitars. With the Tele, this MkI does explode a little when I whack the low E string, but backed down to 9 clears that right up. Other guitars don't do that but the notes do decay quicker. Very sensitive circuit - but that can be fun to pick a fight with!! :P
One of my first builds was a byoc tonebender. I ruined it, soldered transistors into the sockets and all-sorts. Sounded like this though.
It sounds amazing !!!
Stunning sounding I want! Your demo is top notch. Great riffs and parts that really demonstrate the tones of the pedal , and thank you for demonstrating the volume clean up! Top marks mate!
Thanks Bogdan :-) This is probably my favourite fuzz I've ever played...killer sounding thing; and super-reasonably priced compared to most other MkI replicas.
@@JoePerkinsMusic it is indeed reasonably priced... making plans to snag one!
Do you have the mkii as well? Wondering which is THE tonebender for Page Zep tones!
I do indeed. I believe Jimmy used both (as well as a MkIII), but he's most commonly associated with the MkII....both will get you Page-like tones, just different flavours of Jim ;-) Nick makes a special edition MkII with OC81D transistors if you're after the exact circuit he's most known for...pricey, but I've heard great things!! :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic Thanks Joe! Fantastic video as always. I'm torn between Williams and Analogman Sunbender now...
Very nice. How did you have the amps set for the clip? Clean, or breaking-up a little? I've actually got a Williams MkI in the post somewhere between the UK and Australia.
Clean, but 'working'...a little headroom to spare, but certainly not quiet in the room!! You can year the clean tone for a few seconds at the start of the playing segment :-) Sure you're gonna love it when it lands!!
Im continuing to review all your fuzz pedals demo. But damn, there is something magical about dedicated Tone Bender Mk1 version.
This is my favourite fuzz I've ever played - no question 🙂
sound amazing
Citata Pazzesca!!!!!! SUONO FANTASTICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!........come si fa ad averlo???????....
Grazie!! Puoi ottenerlo qui: www.williamsaudio.co.uk/Tonebender-MK1.html
@@JoePerkinsMusic ok Grazie Mille!
I love the mk1. great demo. I'm glad. thx ...
Does the attack work like a re-bias like the original units?
You'll have to ask Nick on that one - I'm not overly technical when it comes to circuits! But this is a like-for-like clone of the original, so I assume it does if the original worked that way!
Took me a fair few years to realise how important the guitar volume is to the overall feel.
Don't feel bad. It took me 25 years to do that 😂
Great comment(s)!! :-)
Not too much headroom? I'd like to use it as a distortion pedal, for switching on in the chorus and get that push in volume...
Probably wouldn't use it as a boost after other pedals as - being a Ge transistor fuzz - it wants to be first in line and see the high impedance signal from the guitar. A shaped boost after the Tonebender for solos though would be ace!! :-)
Did you notice a difference in tone or volume between running it on a battery vs on a 9v supply? I really love these classic fuzz designs, nothing else sounds quite the same - but I'm wary of taking the plunge because I really need it to work with the rest of my setup, and that means using a power supply (isolated though of course).
I've experimented with both, and I've never noticed a difference - but that said, 99% of the time I've run it on a PSU I've used the GigRig Virtual Battery. These are reverse polarity though, so as well as isolated power you'll need a polarity reverse adaptor. 👍
..................................... Thanks for the five seconds of great fuzz tone! It was @7:12 to 7:17. I almost missed it. That's why I watched the video, to see/hear if that MKI will do the soft, squishy attack. Not all MKIs do that, but that's what I love about a good MKI. You hit that moment for a brief five seconds and then backed out of it, back to your "I like playing my fuzz like an overdrive" sorta thing. Thanks for that awesome five seconds! :)
He's demonstrating EXACTLY that he understands a fuzz pedal, .... rather than treat it like an on / off switch set to full on fuzz. You can play "satisfaction" or something all day long and thats cool, but the magic of a good fuzz is, and always has been, the interaction of the guitars volume knob with the circuit and all the shades in between. Sparkling, to crunch, to distortion, to caving in on itself mayhem, .... its ALL fuzz 😉
Yes mate!
Awesome Williams pedals! Nick for President!
He'd get my vote ;-)
Hello! Great vid! Is the level maxed on the pedal altering the sound? Like overloading the amp too? Not just the fuzz sound. There is a bass low freq cut with the pedal engaged?
Mine seemed to lose a little level when I had the 9v input installed, so maxing it is a little above unity on this unit...not smashing the front end of the amp. MkI's do shelve off a bit of low end by design - they're very mid-rangey. :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic i really want one! It does have the gated, spitty artifact's sound? Less low end and sustain than mk2, right?
It takes buffer pedals before well?
@@TropicalFuzz It does...it's pretty gnarly, but is easily tamed by the guitar's volume knob. touch less low end than the MkII, but still plenty :-) I wouldn't use it after a buffer though...pretty much all classic fuzzes need an unbuffered connection to the guitar, else they misbehave. But I can't recommend this one highly enough :-)
Cool, maybe you'll like the new Boss tone bender.
Maybe...it looks interesting!! I doubt I'm on their Christmas Card list of first demoers though :P
Power supply only or 9V also?
Can be either - just need to specify when you order. This one was battery only, but Nick was good enough to fit a 9v input to it for me last year so I can now run it on my board. Believe he doesn't charge extra for either/both.