The texture on the enclosure seems to be the same process they use to put texture on energy drink cans.
For those who don't know what's going on in a Tonebender MK2, it's a germanium Fuzz Face with another transistor boosting the input volume to hit the fuzzy part a little harder. As such the lowest gain level on the Attack control is about on par with the max level on a Fuzz Face.
I'm really liking the sound so far. Tone-wise it's like the missing link between a Fuzz Face and a Big Muff. It's rougher than my silicon FF, but it's smoother than my BMPs. Maximum Attack gets it to sound as gainy as a BMP but with better EQ and cleans up better with your volume control. A lot better note separation at high gain levels than I was expecting. The low end is a lot bigger than I would have expected from the circuit, and it cleans up on any setting just as well as a Fuzz Face.
The buffer/thru switch is a nice touch for if you don't plan on having it first in the chain or using it with active pickups.
The variable voltage control is pretty interesting, I haven't quite figured it out yet, especially because I need to change the volume control every time I use it to account for cognitive bias.
It's not transparent by any stretch, but it's not as opaque as a lot of fuzzes get. A Strat still sounds like a Strat, and my Custom Custom still sounds huge.
I can see why the resale value on these is so high. I wouldn't go out and buy one at the asking price on Reverb unless your either rolling in money or plan to use it constantly.
