Some Mk II Solasound Manufactured Tonebenders (Data Dump)

[Electric Warrior]

I have seen pictures of that other silver one on and off over the years (it has haunted me!!!) some showing it with Mullard OC81D's inside (not really used by Sola at that time - not until much later on really - approaching if not into the 70's whereas the mk2 Roto is clearly mid sixties - maybe mid '66 - '67 where the use of the OC81D's seems to come from the end of the sixties or even early seventies as old surplus parts were used up to make a few small batches of various pedals like the Mk2 pro albeit several years after it had been superceded or removed from the Sola/Macaris catalogue - maybe to meet the residual demand for the earlier pedal type...... These small batch prototypess were all about getting orders from leading players in the music gear field in order that they might offer "their own" house fuzz in their catalogues (before the web - most sales were either from word of mouth or from advertisementss in magazines or trade catalogues [available in most music shops] - So they made up small batches of pedals either on invitation or sometimes purely speculatively to attempt to increase capacity for sales.. The latest generation of Macaris are good businessmen - as we'd have once said in London (I was born there!) - "they know how many pennies make a quid" BUT I HAVE IT ON FIRST HAND AUTHORITY (go on guess who?) that Joe and Larry were absolute masters when it came to building up sales -- times were hard back in the sixties - all around central London were bombed out suburbs even fifteen to twenty years after WW2 times were still hard and so when an opportunity like the boom in beat and then rock music came along, some of the sharper businessmen were in their element - having honed their skills in the immediate postwar period - suddenly there were rich pickings to be had for some guys in the musical trade - whether you built ams or pedals or if maybe you drove a van on the ferry over to Holland weekly [selling whatever was needed] returning with stacked up Hofners (never mind the quality - only 5 quid down.....!!!) There was BIG money to be made in the 15 years between 1962 and 1977 AND by all accounts the Macaris Snr were absolute masters at seizing an opportunity when one presented itself - hard working and entrepreneurial, they might have even paid their taxes :)all of them(

early seventies? I doubt it. The OC81D units fit in just fine in late '67/early '68. Stu's Vox MKII has 457 (45th week of 1967) pot codes. We know the silver Ei-Nis electrolytics were used in the earliest MKIIIs (ca. 1967/68) as well. Stu's Roto also has one brown carbon comp resistor of the same type that was used in the early MKIIIs.

[Philip]

early seventies? I doubt it. The OC81D units fit in just fine in late '67/early '68. Stu's Vox MKII has 457 (45th week of 1967) pot codes. We know the silver Ei-Nis electrolytics were used in the earliest MKIIIs (ca. 1967/68) as well. Stu's Roto also has one brown carbon comp resistor of the same type that was used in the early MKIIIs.

Well, they must have held back those pot's etc. Or, more likely, they were made circa the time you suggest.

[Electric Warrior]

Well, in some cases they sure bought large numbers of parts and used them for a long time. Large board MKIIs usually have 216 or 266 codes. Even most late ones, like Psycho Daisies' OC81D Vox. I guess 457 was what was available when they finally had to restock. They had to restock several parts during that time, like the red Piher resistors (apparently bought with the intention to make a large number of MK1.5s). They were slowly running out of them when they were making the last OC75 units.

[psycho*daisies]

If Stu's 3 x OC75 Vox MkII has '457' pot stamp codes (circa Nov '67)
and my 3 x OC81D Vox MkII was built with the earlier supply of '216' pots, (circa April, '66)....

...in the Tone Bender continuum, it would appear the latter
may have been built just before Sola Sound/Macari's
re-stocked with the 'all new' '457' pots, ie: circa Autumn, 1967 (Sept/Oct/Nov)

After Gary Hurst had moved to Italia...(which would explain why he doesn't recall using OC81D's
and possibly the cold-weather 'chicken-skin' paint texture), but begs the question, who was this meticulous mystery
'Bender builder?...especially significant, now that this particularly artsy/tidy longboard arrangement
has been so emulated some 40 years later by David A. Main and others?

btw, nice photos & details guys...
another pr0ntastic thread... i should post some pics of the wife here too, i guess.

Maybe other Vox MkII owners can post pics here,
and also Electric Warrior - how about posting
your excellent photo-chart progression of the Tone Bender circuit?

[Philip]

i should post some pics of the wife here too, i guess.

Yes!

[API]

Graham.
I am sure that the other Rotosound pedal (in silver) in that cast case had metalcan transistors.
Not sure if they were Impex or OC81d´s but I clearly remember that from the Ebay auction way back then.....

[Electric Warrior]

OC81Ds, no cap from input to ground:

silverRotoMKII.jpg (73.7 KiB) Viewed 3952 times

ROTOFUZZ1.jpg (72.77 KiB) Viewed 3952 times

ROTOFUZZGUTZ.jpg (70.93 KiB) Viewed 3952 times

hope whoever owns took these photos doesn't mind me reposting them..

[1bottlerocket]

Now that's some mojo!

[Electric Warrior]

Some call it mojo, I call it dust

[jetofuj]

Sorry for my ignorace, but we don't know of any Sola branded MkII with OC81Ds, do we?