FuzzBender

FUZZ

Around 1960 the British Gary Hurst developed the first known distortion unit for electric guitar, which was available only as a custom order. So only a few were built and sold. Later, in 1965, Gary Hurst joined the team of Sola Sound, which was based in London. As an OEM-product, Sola Sound built Hurst's circuit, slightly modified and in a large production number, now called Tone Bender (Mk1.5) for the fellow British company Vox. Once developed and done, Sola Sound offered a minor number of the Tone Bender circuit under their own flag and brand. In fall 1966 Arbiter, the giant in the British music business, introduced a Fuzz unit under the name Fuzz Face, which looked unique, but was actually just a modification of the Vox/Sola Sound (Mk1.5). The Arbiter Fuzz Face generated a similar distortion sound like the Tone Bender (Mk1.5), but with more bass.