Voxbender Fuzz, Soviet BART Transistors, Tagboard Built

Description

Description of Product

This build started with a simple question. What actually makes one of these feel right under the fingers when so many look identical on paper.

The answer rarely sits in one place. It is in the way the parts interact, the way they are laid out, and the way the circuit is allowed to breathe.

This Voxbender has been built on tagboard using cloth covered wire throughout. No shortcuts, no printed board, just a layout that reflects how these circuits were originally understood and assembled. The enclosure follows the old style thick wall fuzz face format, the sort of casting that feels solid before you even plug it in.

Inside, there is a set of Soviet made NOS BART transistors. These are not chosen for name or novelty, but for how they bias and respond when pushed. The bias control is built around an oversized 60s CTS pot, allowing the circuit to be set where it actually wants to sit rather than where a fixed value forces it.

Volume, fuzz, and bias are all on oversized controls, spaced and weighted in a way that suits adjustment by feel rather than by sight. The finish is metallic blue over sonic blue, worn in a way that suggests it has already lived somewhere. The footpad is leatherette, fitted as a practical detail but one that changes how the pedal feels underfoot.

This is a single build. It exists as a result of chasing a particular behaviour, not a specification.

Description of Sound

At lower settings it holds together in a way that feels controlled rather than restricted. Notes stay defined, and there is a sense that the circuit is following the guitar rather than flattening it.

As the fuzz comes up, the character shifts without losing that connection. There is saturation, but it does not collapse into a blanket. The bias control becomes the centre of it. Set one way, it leans smoother and more even. Move it the other way, and the texture starts to break up, giving that slightly unstable edge that sits just on the line.

Rolling the guitar volume back does not feel like a separate sound. It cleans in a way that still carries the same voice, just reduced. Into an already working amp, it does not fight for space. It sits into it.

It is less about how much gain it has, and more about how it responds while you are playing.

This is a one off build.

It will not be repeated exactly in this form.

If it fits what you are hearing in your head, it is available.