Fulltone Soul-Bender Overdrive Pedal Reviews

This 3 knob tone bender has the classic sound, feel and clean up!! Fulltone makes a great product that is bulletproof for an amazing price! This is a modern (yet true to the classic) take on the sola sound tonebender, with 3 real germanium transistors! Sweetwater is the only place I buy gear now (unless I can't get a certain product here.) Always 5 stars for Sweetwater and my rep. Mike Lombardo!!! They always take care of you no matter what. Any problems will be resolved no questions asked (in my experience)!

I bought this Fulltone Soul-Bender fuzz about a month ago. After first opening the box I was immediately impressed with the solid construction and quality feel of the pedal. The three pots are noteworthy; they turn smoothly and stay where you set them. I think Fulltone makes these pots and they are top quality.

I've read on some other posts that you can't use an external power supply ------ here is the issue: yes, the pedal requires 9v with a center-positive polarity, but that is not a problem. Most pedals require center-negative polarity. You CAN use this pedal with an external power supply, but you must NOT daisy-chain this pedal with other pedals (don't have it inline on a power cable shared with other pedals). You MUST use an isolated power supply and you MUST use a simple polarity reversal adapter. I have used the Fulltone Soul-Bender with a TrueTone OneSpot CS6 external power brick (and a TrueTone CS7 brick). On the CS6 there are six power jacks available; I placed it on one of those and did not share that power output jack with another pedal (DO NOT DAISY CHAIN). I also used the red coded adapter plug that comes with the CS6 to reverse the polarity to center-positive. As long as you put only that one Soul-Bender on a given power output jack and use the polarity reversal adapter, IT WORKS PERFECTLY and does not affect anything else plugged into the power brick. I assume the same holds true if you use a Voodoo Labs power brick. However, I have only used the TrueTone CS6 and CS7 power supplies and they are GREAT power supplies in every way.

As stated in most of the other reviews listed here, the fuzz sound is great. The pedal is very sensitive and responsive to your playing dynamics and the fuzz sound cleans up nicely via the volume pot on your guitar. Also, I contacted Fulltone with some questions before purchasing this pedal and they were prompt and helpful. I highly recommend this pedal.

I've never owned a real vintage Tone Bender, but I was obsessed with Led Zeppelin I for about 20 years and learned to play every song on it (and most of the rest of the Zeppelin catalog besides). So, I can't say that this sounds just like a vintage Bender, but if you plug a Telecaster into it and start playing "Heartbreaker", you'll hear that sound.

And it's all wrapped up in a modern, solid enclosure with well trimmed out controls that give you a lot of control over the sound. All for a very reasonable price. If you're looking for a Bender style pedal and you want something solid and reliable, I doubt you can do better.

I purchased this fuzz because I wanted a vintage-styled fuzz tone. I found the Soul-bender fuzz pedal on Sweetwater.com and read it was based off of the vintage Tone-bender. Playing through a Vox it gives me a great, even fuzz tone. I have not had the pleasure to play through a vintage Tone-bender but the Soul-bender gives me a much more vintage tone than many other fuzz pedals I played through/own. It does what I want, perfectly.

Build quality appears second to none! Fulltone obviously cares about their product and customers. I found a handwritten serial number written on both the product box and inside the pedal itself. I didn"t realize Fulltone was so hands-on and involved. It"s rare to see such detail from a company so well known and main stream.

The pedal feels incredibly stable and solid. The switch appears high-quality, as do the pots and knobs. The tone knob provides a huge array of tones but, unlike many other modern pedals, doesn"t go from 1-100 with a minor adjustment. It is very easy to dial in a tone that compliments your guitar/amp/rig.

If you are looking for a high-quality, even-toned distortion/fuzz, the Tone-bender is my number one recommendation! Once again, I"m very proud to own and play a Fulltone.

I have tried more than a few Tonebender style pedals and this one is by far the best one I have found. I have never had any complaints with any Fulltone gear. Everything they make is a high quality product that's both great for the ameature and professional musician. If you like the old British Invasion sounds then this is a great pedal especially when paired with a British style amp and a Tele. Of course Sweetwater is fantastic as always!

This is THE ultimate fuzz pedal. Admittedly, I am not an expert on fuzzes, but this one is supposed to be like an MK-III type, I guess. It has ridiculous sustain, and crazy fuzz sounds. Once I plugged it in, I couldn't stop playing it for several hours. Infinitely tweak-able, it has the full range of fuzz sounds with the reliability and smoothness of the OCD. Just really ridiculously well made-reminds me of my Soldano for quality level-made in the USA.
Works great with a battery. Thankfully, it has built-in "polarity protection," so if you plug in the wrong adapter, it just won't work and won't fry itself like regular fuzzes with reverse polarity would. The reverse polarity adapters DO NOT WORK, and won't work in the same power line, either- they will hum loudly. My only minor issue is that the FPS power adapter should be included. Anyone selling this product should make it clear that without the FPS, this thing won't plug in with anything else (although the manual says Voodoo labs is ok). Small issue to resolve for another 25 bucks, which makes it a $185 pedal that is STILL worth it. My second Fulltone pedal, and surely won't be my last- the OCD blew me away, too! Love the high level of service at Sweetwater, and if I had taken a moment to chat with my service person, he no doubt would have told me about the minor power adapter issue. I like that the staff are musicians, and I'll be back in the future.

It doesn't matter how you set it, you will get a good sound. Start off with all knobs at noon. At up to about 2 o'clock on the dirt, the pedal is extremely sensitive to your guitar volume. Even with tone fully counterclockwise, the treble is not harsh. At full clockwise, you get a smooth sustain that is usable in a band setting, not muddy crap. Buy the power supply for it, as it sounds better like that than with battery power. The build quality is obvious the moment you pick it up. Comes with a cool sticker, battery, instruction/info sheet, and nicely packaged. Sounds absolutely glorious between an SG and a Vox. This should end your search for a Tonebender!

I am a Robin TROWER fan:And Robin uses Fulltone pedals. He also uses the Soulbender pedal.Robin Strickly relies on Fulltone pedals,for his sound. The Soulbender gives ne more sustain with a creamy flowing sound. When using 1975 FENDER Twin Reverb, with a '62VRI FENDER strat.usa: I recommend it: Very User Friendly.

I really love my Soul Bender Pedal

My overdrives (Tube-Screamer, Lovepedal Kalamazoo) give great crunch from my Strat through a Vibrolux, but the Soul-Bender delivers fuzz and dirt, plain and simple. This is the way to channel classic fuzz tunes (No Time - The Guess Who, for example). Very sturdy, well-made, the only downside being it doesn't work with standard 9v power supplies (the germaniums need reverse polarity), but that's hardly a problem.