After dropping hints last month, Boss has finally unveiled the Waza Craft Tone Bender TB-2W, a recreation of the iconic Tone Bender Mk II fuzz pedal from the 1960s.
The original Sola Sound Tone Bender is arguably one of the most legendary guitar stompboxes of all time. Its circuit (spec’d from a Maestro Fuzz-Tone) serves as the basis for the Dallas Rangemaster, Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, and Vox Tone Bender, to name a few.
Boss touts its TB-2W Tone Bender as an “authentic sonic recreation” of that iconic stompbox, designed alongside the modern Sola Sound. Sola Sound is still owned by Macari’s and continues to manufacture painstakingly accurate high-end reproductions of its original pedals.
“Using a ‘masterpiece’ Tone Bender MK II (serial number 500) from Sola Sound’s archive as a benchmark reference, BOSS engineers have fully realized the pedal’s magical sound and expressive dynamic response through detailed Waza craftsmanship,” Boss wrote.
Visually, the TB-2W Tone Bender sports the same silver textured finish, script livery, and chicken-head knobs as on the original. It will be available in a limited production run; with each TB-2W featuring selectable true/buffered bypass operation, a three-way voltage selector, revamped circuitry for “ultra-consistent performance,” and rare germanium transistors “carefully tested for optimum tone.”
Per Boss, the TB-2W Tone Bender is slated for Q2 2021 release.
