Vox Tone Bender - how old is it??

[Helmholtz]

I think all of those were made by Jen/Italy. Your board has 2 Italian Ducati caps. Also the germanium transistors are most probably made by SGS Italy.

[mozz]

Yes, the SFT's are Italian. I've seen them in Farfisa organs late 60's.
MK1 and MK1.5 are not marked as such, those names were given to them later when the MK2 was stamped on the outside of that one.

As i said, go to diystompboxes.com and post your question there, there are many knowledgeable people on that forum.

[Enzo]

Are there no date codes on the pots?

[Helmholtz]

If they are Italian Icar brand (like with Vox Wahs) they won't have a date code.
I doubt that anybody will be able to positively tell '67 from '68 production.

[mozz]

https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com..._pot_codes.php

[vintagekiki]

https://www.guitarinsite.nl/serienummers-potmeter_eng.php
Potentiometer Dating Decoder GuitarInsite

http://home.exetel.com.au/mosrite/potentiometer-codes/
Potentiometer Codes

https://www.guitardataproject.org/serial/PotCode
Pot Code Reader

http://www.guitarhq.com/pots.html
Dating Vintage Guitars and Amps by Source-Date Code

[J M Fahey]

In any case, is that IMPORTANT?

Was it found by a dead body in a shallow grave and they must establish the exact date of death, 52 years later?

I watch Cold Case Murders and similar TV shows and they often need such data to solve a case, not too sure here.

If all possible versions were made by the same factory, about same year, same circuit, same sound (except small variations because of standard parts tolerance or maybe same nominal value, different brand) I wouldnīt obsess by such minor, irrelevant details.

Besides, everything hints at all them being the same product, just called different names by different people.

Yes, sure, I bet two "identical" ones, placed side by side, may sound somewhat different, even if consecutive serial numbers made the same day by the same person, attribute that to appalling Germanium transistor tolerances, couldnīt match that to production date.

Unless they went from Germanium to Silicon, or something equally gross.

[oc disorder]

I apologise for the picture size in advance but to me your Vox Tone Bender (center) looks identical to the one on the right photographed by Jimmy Behan in the article by Christian Livingstone.
A 1967 Vox MK 1.5 . on https://www.premierguitar.com/articl...er-fuzz?page=1

The sleeving on the transistors is the same as is the colour of the ink stamp below the footswitch.
The one on the Sound Gas site has an OC 76 Germanium transistor with (I presume) a replacement NTE 102 which is a physically larger transistor and made it necessary to mount the input cap underneath. You can just see the mounting hole where it was on the top of the board.
As for the ones on the Vox site your top side is the same as the one on the Premier site as photographed by Jimmy.
Yours has SFT337 and SFT363e transistors which have a lip on the bottom which the OC 76 doesnt have.
I agree you should try diystompboxes.com.
I would assume both Jimmy and Christian are quite knowledgeable on these as they both manufacture similar things.
You could try contacting them via their websites .
http://www.superelectriceffects.com/about
Super Electric Effects are hand-built by me, Jimmy Behan from my workshop in Carlow, Ireland
https://www.magneticeffects.net/
Christian Livingstone
Quality effects, handmade one at a time in London, England

[oc disorder]

"I need to find a VOX specialist"

Try this... D*A*M* Stompboxes

https://www.stompboxes.co.uk/History.html

"Probably the most iconic Tone Bender of all, say the words Tone Bender and this is the pedal most will think of. Originally made in 1966 the Vox Tone Bender had the longest run of all and was still being made in some form or another in the mid to late 1970's. While this pedal is branded as a Vox it doesn't mean it was a British made pedal, they were actually made in Italy. It could have been possible that the earliest units were made in England, as with the early Vox Wah pedals, but there is no direct proof for this. The very first Vox Tone Benders did have slightly different component values but most obvious of all had an OC76 transistor in the second position within the circuit. These early Vox units were fitted with a SFT337 and an OC76 and also had the input capacitor mounted beneath the circuit board. Models from approx 1967 still used the SFT337 but in place of the OC76 used a SFT363E and featured a top mounted input capacitor. If you compare the two circuits below you can see the obvious differences, this could purely be changes in suppliers as more units were produced or could be possible evidence for some of the earliest Vox units being made in England.

The tone produced by this circuit can be a little shocking at first if you are expecting a deep brick wall type of Fuzz Face type tone. The treble content is quite high for a fuzz pedal but makes for a very unique sounding effect and an excellent pedal to be used with dark sounding British valve amplifiers."

[drdanny]

I've done a demo of sorts ...

I'm playing a strat through a Traynor YGM3 ... the Marshall thing is just not my thing
so I'm guessing that the sound isn't the way a lot of you guys would have it set up ...
I'm no a loud player in particular and don't really do the humbucker thing either

[drdanny]

Are there no date codes on the pots?

There are what I think are date codes but no-one recognises them ...
it says "10AR" on both

[drdanny]

In any case, is that IMPORTANT?

Was it found by a dead body in a shallow grave and they must establish the exact date of death, 52 years later?

I watch Cold Case Murders and similar TV shows and they often need such data to solve a case, not too sure here.

If all possible versions were made by the same factory, about same year, same circuit, same sound (except small variations because of standard parts tolerance or maybe same nominal value, different brand) I wouldnīt obsess by such minor, irrelevant details.

Besides, everything hints at all them being the same product, just called different names by different people.

Yes, sure, I bet two "identical" ones, placed side by side, may sound somewhat different, even if consecutive serial numbers made the same day by the same person, attribute that to appalling Germanium transistor tolerances, couldnīt match that to production date.

Unless they went from Germanium to Silicon, or something equally gross.

It's not really IMPORTANT, I guess ... but it's just fun to know

[Helmholtz]

There are what I think are date codes but no-one recognises them ...
it says "10AR" on both

Are you sure that doesn't actually read as ICAR, the Italian pot manufacturer for VOX/Jen pedals?

[drdanny]

I apologise for the picture size in advance but to me your Vox Tone Bender (center) looks identical to the one on the right photographed by Jimmy Behan in the article by Christian Livingstone.
A 1967 Vox MK 1.5 . on https://www.premierguitar.com/articl...er-fuzz?page=1

The sleeving on the transistors is the same as is the colour of the ink stamp below the footswitch.
The one on the Sound Gas site has an OC 76 Germanium transistor with (I presume) a replacement NTE 102 which is a physically larger transistor and made it necessary to mount the input cap underneath. You can just see the mounting hole where it was on the top of the board.
As for the ones on the Vox site your top side is the same as the one on the Premier site as photographed by Jimmy.
Yours has SFT337 and SFT363e transistors which have a lip on the bottom which the OC 76 doesnt have.
I agree you should try diystompboxes.com.
I would assume both Jimmy and Christian are quite knowledgeable on these as they both manufacture similar things.
You could try contacting them via their websites .
http://www.superelectriceffects.com/about
Super Electric Effects are hand-built by me, Jimmy Behan from my workshop in Carlow, Ireland
https://www.magneticeffects.net/
Christian Livingstone
Quality effects, handmade one at a time in London, England

Superb, many thanks!

[drdanny]

Are you sure that doesn't actually read as ICAR, the Italian pot manufacturer for VOX/Jen pedals?

Ah ... could well do ... cheers!