FAKE: Sola Sound - Tone Bender Mark 1.5 (1966)

[modman]

1966 Sola Sound MK 1.5 ToneBender. Produced in extremely limited quantities during a small window in ’66 only, the MK1.5 ToneBender is perhaps the most mythical of effects, and has certainly become one of the most historically significant effects pedals ever made. The MK 1.5 was manufactured in between the MK I and the Professional MK II. Considered the transitional model that quickly evolved into it’s 3-transistor successor (the Professional MK II ToneBender), the MK1.5 ToneBender was used as the archetype for the more famous Arbiter Fuzz Face and later used as the basis for the VOX ToneBender made in Italy. This ToneBender features the (2) Mullard OC75 transistor circuit, which has otherwise served as the foundation for most fuzz pedals which followed. Aside from a rather shabby re-appropriated battery terminal installation, this pedal is in very good original condition, and miraculously still retains the original black bottom panel.

[modman]

That's become a bit of a Frankenstein pedal thanks to those cunts in Hollywood who have been advertising it. They harvested the electronics, and presumably the knobs too, from another unit.
This is what it looked like when they originally bought it on eBay:




I've heard that one of the devout Led Zeppelin fans in Japan made some sort of deal with the Hollywood cretin over this pedal, and it turned out to be broken upon arrival too. Poor thing.

Maybe just delete this topic to at least deny him the free advertising on his dodgy merch?

[modman]

Hey,

Thanks for chiming in! I will remove the link to the auction; but we need this information out there, so I will not delete the thread, just advertise it as fake?

[nightraven]

The electronics that are in the pedal now are certainly not fake. For whatever reason they were swapped with this pedal:





But yeah, in the highly unlikely case that someone browsing this forum felt inclined to pay the absurd price for this thing, a "beware" notice would be fitting. I know I wouldn't want to own a pedal with a history like that.

[nightraven]

Oops, Chris Nelson bought a MK1.5 from Music Ground but the transistors needed replacing? That's the sort of thing he really ought to inform potential buyers about on Reverb in writing rather than with one mistakenly included photo of the pedal with its new parts, in and amongst the photos of it in its original state.

It's getting really confusing now though. The bottom plate in the first picture comes from the MK1.5 in the original post by Modman. Presumably the plate in the second photo is the one that actually belongs to this unit, but it could be even more confusing than this and I'm beginning to get a headache.