Dentone Blues Brothers ToneBender Mk2 MKII clone Tone Bender silicon version 2026

For your consideration, from DenTone, the Blues Brothers Tonebender Many of you remember (and probably still own) my germanium ToneBender Mk2 clones from years past. But, most of you also know that the remaining germanium transistors out there are out of spec, picked over and outright counterfeit. I’ve stopped using them for fuzz faces, tone benders and such. There’s really no need when silicon can be made to sound just as good without the crazy difficulty biasing and the extreme sound changes when the temperature changes. Plus, utilizing NPN transistors means that you can use your standard Boss style center negative 9v power supply and daisy chain it with your other pedals if that’s your deal.

I always equate MKII Tone Benders with peak era Led Zep Jimmy Page - and specifically his ’Whole Lotta Love’ rendition - that is the sound I’m wanting to emulate - and this pedal properly hits the spot!

Germanium Tone Benders can be a little difficult on the dial-in, sometimes temperamental even! - which is certainly not the case with this easier-going variant. As for most of my favourite fuzzes - this has plenty of range and volume. I typically ride the Volume and Fuzz pretty high here as it opens up the profile more.

In my demo, I forgot to show it with the guitar volume backed off, but it really shines there too. Super ringing and chimey.

The controls are: Volume, Attack, Bias. The bias knob on the side lets you go from super smooth and saturated to gated and raunchy and can help customize the sound of the pedal to the pickups on your guitar.

Generally you get a decent sound with everything at noon, a killer sound with everything at 3 o’clock, and totally next level with Fuzz at 3 o’clock, and Volume and Bias at 4 o’clock. The rise in compression here is relatively mild - so you can nicely crank the dials without things becoming too choked. I actually like the Fuzz control locked at 3 o’clock here - that delivers the best combination of Harmonics and Sustain for me.

This has all the hallmarks of the original Germanium varieties - there is a very slight difference in texture and underlying grit - but this Silicon variant manages to sound warm, full bodied and fully richly textured - which is not always the case with Silicon takes. This sounds so close to the Germanium ones and has excellent dynamics and guitar volume gain cleanup too.

Not all Silicon Tone Benders are created equal - the Transistor selection and pairing here is crucial.

As always, all DenTone pedals are hand wired, hand build, point to point in a one man workshop in Vermont, USA. We’ve been doing it that way for over 20 years.

As with all DenTone pedals, the finest components are used throughout. Power is provided by your standard Boss style 9V DC adaptor with 2.1mm center negative plug.

-1% metal film resistors

-Hand selected transistors

-Mylar film capacitors

-Neutrik Jacks

-ElectroHarmonix 3PDT footswitch

-Alpha potentiometers

-Bulletproof aluminum enclosure

-Point to point wired with 24 gauge solid core wire.

-Standard Boss style center negative 2.1mm DC jack (earth friendly, no battery snap)

DenTone is one of the last of the true boutique pedal companies. Each pedal is hand built by one person in the USA.