2 New Impressive 4-Knob 60's style fuzzes - the Benson Stonk Box MKI and HiWatt Filter Fuzz MKII
It felt right to cover these 2 fuzzes together as there are some superficial similarities here. The same size enclosure, and both with 4-Knob control topologies including a dedicated Filter control - and of course both originated in the 60’s - one in 1965 and one in 1969.
Of course there are significant differences too - in orientation, number of footswitches, and circuit makeup - these are both super versatile and great sounding fuzzes while each delivers something quite distinctly different. Pricing is not too different at $279 and $238 respectively and I feel they’re both pretty great buys - while I have some reservations about the form factor of the Stonk Box.
Benson Amp’s Thermal-Controlled technology is undeniably genius - I just wish is could live in a more practical and pedal-board friendly enclosure. I’m far from alone in having a massive preference for compact format pedals - which means the horizontal BB-style of enclosure is often challenging for me!
Here follow the individual details as usual :
Benson Amps Stonk Box Temperature Controlled Germanium Fuzz (Tone Bender MKI) - $279
Controls - Tone (LPF), Volume, Filter (Q1 Gain & Bias), Trim (Pre-Gain).
Benson's 2nd Automatic Thermally Biased Fuzz after its original Germanium Fuzz Face type - with an additional 4th control now too. A really clever circuit for sure - and this one's more useful for me than the previous type - yet the MKI is probably a little more of an acquired taster for most - but great for fans of Mick Ronson - like myself. Readers will know I'm not too keen on this horizontal style of enclosure - and wonder why the pedal wasn't oriented at least vertically. I have a handful of MKI's and some Muti-Benders in the collection that cover this type - and mostly at the Compact enclosure format - which makes this one a nice to have rather than essential for me. It sounds great - while its form factor is somewhat unoptimal. Who knows - I might still get one of these in any way. This is run on 3 x 2N404 or 3 x 2N527 Germanium Transistors. There really aren't that many dedicated MKI varieties around - and this one sounds particularly good! Available for $279 from the Benson Amps Webstore and at leading international dealers.
HiWatt Filter Fuzz MKII (Grand Funk Railroad / Messenger Fuzz) - $238
Controls - Volume, Fuzz, 3-Way Filter : Upper Mids Focus / Mid Focus / Lower Mids Focus, Thick (Bass-Cut), Internal Bias, Filter Footswitch, Fuzz Footswitch.
I guess this is HiWatt's second attempt at the Grand Funk Railroad style Fuzz - a Fuzz that was built into lead-guitarist's Mark Farner's actual 'Messenger' Guitar. This is typically known as the Grand Funk Railroad Fuzz or Messenger Fuzz - and featured on Grand Funk's first 3 albums - including their 1969 'On Time'.
When I first sat the MKII moniker I thought this was possibly a TB style fuzz - but no - it's a Messenger style Fuzz - which I believe was Silicon based. I know that the Basic Audio version of this circuit uses 2N5088 Transistors, and looking at the interior pics - looks like the transistors used on this Filter Fuzz are those Metal Can BC108 / BC109 types. We also have an Internal Bias trimmer here - which I would have preferred to be externalised, but if the circuit is Silicon as presumed then it is less significant than if this were a Germanium type variety. In any case this sounds great and the 3-way Filter selector is incredibly handy - I didn't have a Messenger fuzz in the collection yet - while I now have this one on the way - currently open for pre-orders and due to be shipped on the 28th of this month. Available for circa £200 and equivalent exclusively from the HiWatt Reverb.com Store.
