"Three boxes with the same Jumbo Tone Bender fuzz circuit. And then two more with a different circuit each.
Ant Macari of @macaris_official has mentioned in the Vintage and Rarities book that “Having the three knobs in a row down the middle of the deal like that also allowed us to put the same circuit in the Colorsound Supa Wah Fuzz Swell Pedal”.
I wonder if this is the right way round? It seems as likely that there were surplus boards originally destined for the SWFS and they were repurposed for “specials”, like the rebranded CMI and B&M - which uniquely used the long, flat “French case”. I wonder also if this was the origin of the French case, as this board format would have required the case to be drilled differently for both knobs and jacks.
The CSL Power Boost/Overdriver had the usual knob layout in the French case, but jacks either side, not together. Another outlier was the Carlsbro, which was the same as a regular Tone Bender in all respects bar the graphics.
My take on the side jacks on the French case - on the three in a line boards there was no room for end jacks - but there was plenty of room in the CSL. The CSL jacks are at the side (left and right side because there’s no room for two on one side with the larger circuit board) because the rear of the French case is curved top to bottom - so it was ** never designed for rear facing jacks, the Colorsound standard **
I think there were surplus SFWS boards, which dictated the format of the French case, with side mounted jacks and a rounded rear section because they never anticipated putting jacks there.
The last few pics are of the 1976 Carlsbro, which has a germanium TB circuit, and the more complex CSL from three years earlier, which has the silicon Overdriver circuit. Now I’m really confused."
