D*A*M/Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional MKII

[Bigfoot2000]

This doesn’t excite me at all. I will speculate wildly.

Wonder if they are going to bin off the waiting list and just do Instagram drops at crazy prices. I’ve got my Mk2 fix and it wouldn’t affect me, although I’m on the list for a blue SCB Mk2, which I’d like to add to my collection (it would just be a nice to have).

If that’s the case, it would defo be unfair to people who have waited patiently for years to get their hands on a mk2 (just one!!) at a reasonable price. Unless there’s a valid reason, like they’re running short on transistors and components, it would be a harsh move.

I could be wrong but let’s see. Let’s hope not. A waiting list is the fairest way to give EVERYONE a chance.

[electricsound]

i joined the waiting list relatively recently and ended up concluding my number was never going to come up, so went the overpay on reverb route. the instagram drop model is not much fun if you're in my timezone, but what are you gonna do

[dancehall]

I cannot for the life of me get my phone to send me push notifications about Instagram posts, so I definitely hate that system myself.

[Bigfoot2000]

I hope I’m wrong.

But if this happens it would be a harsh move.

At least if the parts run out and people on the list miss out, then it was first come, first serve - you can’t get fairer than that.

To move the goalposts now would be out of order.

I have two Sola Mk2s so it wouldnt affect me, but it would be harsh on others.

[walkingtiger]

I’ve been hearing about new cases for years…maybe they are refreshing the page to reflect the new specs. The MKI page is also gone though, so maybe only in stock pages will remain up going forward?

I’ve been on the SCB “list” for years as well, and there are members here that were on it far before myself. I don’t think they actually make those anymore, but that’s just speculation :)

[bluemoon]

Here is the explanation of the "new" versions and the plan to stick some on the web site. Seems like a fair plan to me.

Over the last four years we’ve made very few cast case pedals, partly because so many people have been copying our products that we thought we should down tools and start again from scratch and make sure we we’re making the best version of this pedal known to mankind . We wanted people to know that there is only one real Sola Sound Tone Bender and it is in a different league to the copies.

We started by recasting the case.

Now each enclosure is made by one of the most well established engineering companies in England who individually sandcast each case by hand. We have reshaped a few niggles inside the case (not that anyone would ever have noticed them, but we knew!). We have had the screw holes threaded so the feet can be unscrewed by hand , basically taking as much care as possible to make it feel like an original vintage case .

We used the same Hammer paint that we’ve used from day one, but paid close attention to the application – these new ones are almost sea-creature like in their finish – the insides have all been masked and finished in matt black – they look incredible.

And that’s before we start talking about sound.

We are of course having these hand built by the master of the MKII – David Main. Dave has the greatest knowledge of this circuit amongst the living, dead or undead and has a rare empathy with all things electronic that we haven’t encountered since we worked with the great Dick Denney.

Every MKII has been through his most rigorous transistor selection and is guaranteed to sound totally amazing.

They will be built with various transistor types OC 83 / OC 75 / OC 82D – all superb.

In short we believe you cannot buy better.

This newly developed MKII will replace any other MKII listings we have made, it’s a little more expensive but so it should be – it’s fantastic! They are now £ 665.00 (plus VAT if you’re in the UK) plus shipping

How they’re going to be sold

Obviously there is a monstrous waiting list for this pedal which is a nice but very frustrating problem for us. As I work my way through the list I discover some people joined on a whim / have taken up the flute instead / say Ant who ?? .

So out of every 10 we get I will assign 7/8 to the waiting list and post 2 / 3 on the website for sale. That way the eagle-eyed people will be able to get one and I will be doing my duty of working my way through the terrifying waiting list.

[bluemoon]

And here is what they look like. Took a photo next to my GB. The insides look cool. Nice even black paint. The screws for the base plate are larger and can be unscrewed by hand, which is nice. The hammertone paint looks great....perhaps more metallic looking (more shiny perhaps). But can't be sure as I don't have an older model to compare it to. At the end of the day it still sounds fantastic. Sola sound holographic sticker on the base plate. Already got my greasy fingers on the base plate. But I don't care...this baby will get played. I can't remember when I got on the list...years ago.

[Nick]

Even the mounting screws for the stripboard are oriented as on the vintage reference pedal!



... well, almost

[Bigfoot2000]

Well, I’m really happy to hear the news and I think this is a good approach. Keeping the list is the most important thing for me, the price increase is reasonable, and it gives people a bite of the cherry when they’re listed on the website - fair play to Ant and Dave and everyone involved

[The Captain]

Yo! I will be posting some official technical blurb with images in the near future. I've kinda had to do this project in stealth mode (AKA let's pretend it's 1967) as not to add to Ant's workload on the wait list saga. Strange times.