FUZZ- BOSS WAZA CRAFT TB-2w LTD. ED. ...made of real gold? ...as good as ...

 BOSS WAZA CRAFT TB2w FUZZ LTD. ED. 

The most important and iconic fuzz pedals ever made were the Electro Harmonix Big Muff and the SolaSound Tonebender.

The Big Muff came out after the Tonebender and had the advantage of using the latest tech of it's day the silicon transistor. This transistor is very reliable and can be manufactured with a high level of consistency. The differences between transistors put in the original Big Muff and later ones is different but not extremely so. In short a current reproduction of an old model of Big Muff is a very satisfying alternative.

The Sola sound Tonebender used germanium transistors. In this case 3. They are very unreliable as they are easily affected by even temperature changes. When using even 2 in a Fuzz they must be a matched pair with similar readouts on a VU meter. Add to that different makes or even the same make and model supplied from a different date of manufacture can sound VERY different. Version 1 of the Tonebender was a hot rodded Gibson Maestro F-1 Fuzztone. This makes the Tonebender only the second 

fuzz pedal ever made and offered to the public.

These pedals were handmade on a repair workbench by Gary Hurst in the back of the Macari Brothers store.

The first is the ToneBender MK1 coming out in 1965.

Although impressive it is the MKII that is probably the most famous. Every Brit guitar god from the 60's owned one. A Tonebender MKll pushing a Marshall Plexi is STILL a sound to die for.

The good news is that the Macari Brothers still exist.

They are run by the 3rd generation that treat the business as if it is a 'National Trust'. 

The business has become the Normans's Rare Guitars' of the Fuzz and Brit. pedal world! You can get a vintage classic of anything. 

They also sell new clones. When I say clone I mean CLONE! Every single part including the wire is the same. They take it to the the microscopic level. They copy an exact original where even a single piece of wire from one part to another is the exact length. If that wire has a tiny bend in it in it at exactly 5/8" inch from it's source ...you guessed it the new pedal has that tiny bend too. No sh_t!!! 

After 60 years on Denmark Street in Central London
they were forced to move.
This piece of property is now worth at least a half a billion dollars!
and NO I am not exaggerating.
Such properties have NEVER been for sale in Central London for at least a century.
Since then you can at best get a lifetime lease. Just don't die young. LOL

THE BOSS LTD.ED. VERSION

So Boss has spent 2 years working with the Macaris

Macari bought back the very, very best of the very best examples of all their pedals starting in the 80's. There are only 3 guys making the new clones and each one is a specialist on the couple of pedals they make. in fact each guy was already making these pedals 20 years or more as part of the first wave of Gourmet pedal makers.

The new Boss is a limit edition because they are using NOS for the germanium 

transistors. In short they can only find perhaps a few thousand of these transistors each. Each pedal needs 3. 

So what's the big deal about the BOSS. First they know exactly what a perfect MKII

should sound like. Which happens to be s/n 500. At present Macari offer a reissue made by David Main. The biggest problem is the flakey old germanium transistors that new were unlikely more than a buck each are almost human in that they often

only work when they feel like it. LOL The problem is mainly temperature change.Too cold or hot and the the signal is blocked or will change the BIAS and hence the sound. Some by luck are less affected and the BIAS is locked at a sweet spot.

Boss have found a way to control the temperature and the BIAS.

So what you get is a pedal in a blindfold test has an indistinguishable sound from the original s/n 500 from all but maybe the gods!!!

It is not rocket science to figure once they are gone they will move up in price faster

than an original Klon!

A DAY LATER

Go figure? While I was writing the above Boss posted two video's

CONCLUSION

The bad news is my product specialist friends have whispered to me $375.00 USD

The good news you have until around Easter to find the money. LOL

BUT the best news at any time you decide it is no longer for you than you can

sell it at worst break even. At which point you have had the use of it for free.

Chances are you will put either a little or maybe a stupid amount of profit money 

into your pocket.

ALTERNATIVE?

There are many clones but most are wannabes that I do not recommend.

There was a version 4 Tonebender that was introduced in 1974 to get back in the game that switched to silicon transistors to compete with the new kid the Big Muff :-)

It came out under the Colorsound name. It is the Colorsound Jumbo Tonebender.

It was simply not 'cool' enough back then even with Tonebender affectionados. It has been at the bottom of the 'must haves' with collectors but much like the Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars it is now just rapidly become 'cool'.

It has it's own sound but it really does a damn heavy Tonebender vibe.

Collectors have already pushed the price up to $500 plus.

Good news though. The Big Knob Colour Jumbo is a totally scary clone. At $100.00 USD it is straight up steal!