3 Fuzz

Throughout the late 40s and 50s, guitar players in the Delta and Chicago Blues scenes cranked their amplifiers and slashed their speaker cones to achieve and overdriven sound. This inspired the development of rock ’n’ roll and subsequently the development of effects pedals.

In 1960, Marty Robbins recorded a song called, “Don’t Worry.” The bass player plugged straight into the recording console. However, there were faulty transformers that created a “fuzz” sound. Glenn Snoddy, the engineer at the studio, recreated the circuit in a stomp box containment. In 1962, Gibson bought the rights to this creation and branded it as the Maestro. Originally, it was marketed as a pedal to make guitar sound like a sousaphone, tuba, or bass sax. In this context, it did not sell well.

However, after the Rolling Stones success with “Satisfaction,” the pedal sold out world wide. Vic Flick who played guitar on the James Bond soundtracks bought a Maestro but could not get the sustained sound out of it that he desired. He commissioned Gary Hurst to alter the pedal to provide a longer sustain. This would become the Tone Bender. The Tone Bender and The Tone Bender MK II became the industry standard for many famous guitarists such as Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Pete Townsend. The design influenced the design of virtually every fuzz pedal that came after, notably the Fuzz Face popularized by Jimi Hendrix. Josh Scott, the founder of JHS pedals, claims that this series of events is the most important in effects pedal history:

“An American accident in a country music studio creates an effect pedal which then is used by a British band, ends up on Denmark street in London. and is turned into the Tone Bender which then gives us everything from the Yardbirds to Led Zeppelin.”