Hello Sailor Effects Official

One of the strangest things in guitar gear is that many players spend years avoiding treble boosters because of the name.

Then they finally try one and discover it makes their amplifier feel bigger rather than brighter.

These are three new FAT Rangemasters I finished this week.

The push button shifts the emphasis lower into the mids for a thicker voice than a traditional Rangemaster, whilst still retaining the character that made the originals famous.

Aged Inca Silver nitrocellulose lacquer.

Banksy inspired Judo artwork.

Vintage components throughout.

Which finish detail catches your eye first?

They are now live on the website:
hellosailoreffects.com/shop

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3 hours ago | [YT] | 9

Hello Sailor Effects Official

What do we reckon to the new metal push button for the fat mids mode?

Part of me loves how industrial it feels on an old Rangemaster circuit. Almost like something pulled out of military radio equipment rather than a modern pedal.

This one’s running a military spec NKT germanium transistor, old stock caps, hand wired tagboard and a few slightly obsessive component choices that probably only make sense to people like us.
The fat mids mode completely changes how the pedal pushes the amp as well. Less sharp treble boost. More thick vocal midrange that almost feels like an old cranked studio preamp.m
Curious which way people lean on this.

Traditional toggle switch… or the metal push button?

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2 days ago | [YT] | 22

Hello Sailor Effects Official

This might be one of the most interesting fuzz pedals I’ve ever had on the bench.

Tiny tagboard. Primitive wiring. Strange battery behaviour. And several clues pointing straight back to the mid 1960s.

By the end of this investigation I had a pretty strong opinion on whether this Tone Bender MK1.5 was genuine or not.

But I’m curious what YOU think after looking at the evidence.

Full video: https://youtu.be/YPGcHWqHr9E

4 days ago | [YT] | 10

Hello Sailor Effects Official

A subscriber sent me this completely unlabelled fuzz pedal to repair.

The problem is… the second I opened it up, I started recognising things I probably should not have recognised.

Tiny stripboard.

Primitive wiring.

Weird old battery connection.

And a layout that sits dangerously close to a real 1960s Tone Bender MK1.5.

What’s mad is how simple these circuits actually were.

Two transistors. A handful of parts. And somehow they ended up shaping decades of guitar sound.

I went properly down the rabbit hole with this one.

Full video here: https://youtu.be/YPGcHWqHr9E

5 days ago | [YT] | 45

Hello Sailor Effects Official

I’ve been building a small run of Green Russian style fuzz pedals again.

Three in drab olive burst.
Three in aged vintage white.

Same circuit family.
Very different feel visually.

Which one feels more like a proper Green Russian to you?

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1 week ago | [YT] | 37

Hello Sailor Effects Official

Every guitarist over a certain age has had this moment.

You plug into an old amp and immediately think:
“Why does this feel better than the modern stuff?”

So I decided to test it properly.

A crocodile skin Selmer.
A 1964 Fender Showman.
A Brian May style Deacy rebuild.
And a tiny battery powered Ruby amp that honestly shouldn’t sound as good as it does.

What surprised me was not the valve amps.

It was discovering what actually changes once these circuits are behaving properly again, and what guitarists have probably been misremembering for years.

This ended up becoming less about vintage gear and more about how we hear tone in the first place.

Full video here:
https://youtu.be/2s94XTOWnUs

1 week ago | [YT] | 19

Hello Sailor Effects Official

There is a point where two fuzz circuits stop looking the same once you actually play them.

That is what this Voxbender was built around.

Same basic idea on paper. Completely different reaction under the fingers.

This one uses a set of Soviet NOS BART transistors biased by ear around an oversized 60s CTS control, so you can move the circuit from smooth and even into that slightly unstable edge where the note feels like it is about to tear apart without ever fully collapsing.

Hand wired on tagboard.
Cloth covered wire throughout.
Blue moulded capacitor in the signal path.
Thick wall vintage spec enclosure.
Oversized controls you can adjust by feel rather than fingertips.

Nothing in here was chosen because it sounded romantic in a listing. It was chosen because of what happens when the amp is loud and the guitar volume starts moving.

Lower gain settings still hold shape.
Higher fuzz settings stay connected instead of turning to mush.
Back the guitar volume off and it pulls back naturally instead of becoming a different pedal.

This is a single build.

It will not exist again in exactly this form.

If you understand why old fuzz circuits sometimes feel alive compared to newer ones, you will probably understand this one.

Available here:
hellosailoreffects.com/product/rebelrebel-voxbende…

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 30

Hello Sailor Effects Official

Most modern fuzz pedals hit you with loads of gain straight away, then fall apart the second you try controlling them from the guitar.

The old ones did something different.

They reacted.

This Abbey Road Fuzz was built around a matched pair of Mullard military spec CV7112 germanium transistors because they hold onto that softer, elastic feel old British recordings are full of. The notes bloom slightly. Chords stay together. Roll the guitar volume back and it cleans up properly instead of just getting smaller.

It feels more like part of the amplifier than a pedal sitting in front of it.

Aged Sonic Blue nitro finish.
Compass artwork under clear lacquer.
Hand wired tagboard construction throughout.

This is a one off build and it will not be repeated exactly in this form.

If you have spent years chasing fuzzes that sound impressive for 30 seconds but never quite feel right under the fingers, this is probably why.

hellosailoreffects.com/product/abbey-road-fuzzaged…

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 26

Hello Sailor Effects Official

If you have ever loved the softer feel of old germanium fuzz pedals but got fed up with the instability, this is exactly why I built this one.

This Abbey Road Fuzz is built around a matched pair of NOS RCA 2N3440 silicon transistors, but it reacts far more like a good germanium fuzz than most silicon circuits ever do. Softer attack. Proper clean up from the guitar volume. Slight compression under the fingers instead of that hard brittle edge silicon pedals often end up with.

Hand wired on tagboard with a blue moulded input capacitor, Mullard mustard output capacitor, and finished in Snow White graffiti with bakelite Neve style knobs.

This is not a high gain wall of fuzz. It is built around feel and response.

One off build. It will not be repeated exactly in this form.

hellosailoreffects.com/product/abbey-road-fuzzsnow…

“Proper old school clean up from the guitar volume and just feels alive under the fingers.”

Reverb feedback

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 20

Hello Sailor Effects Official

If you have ever played an old fuzz and thought it only really worked with one guitar, this is exactly why I built this one differently.

This Abbey Road Fuzz uses a Mullard military spec CV7112 paired with a Soviet MP38A germanium transistor, hand wired on tagboard with a blue moulded input capacitor and Mullard mustard output cap. It was built for dynamics first. Proper clean up from the guitar volume, enough stability for humbuckers, and still all the strange little textures that make old fuzz circuits feel alive.

The Sonic Blue finish ended up looking properly odd in the best way possible as well. Slightly clean looking until you notice the triceratops artwork and red bakelite style knobs.

There is only one of these.

If you want to hear what this sort of circuit does when it is tuned to actually work with a real rig instead of just sounding good in isolation, it is here:

hellosailoreffects.com/product/abbey-road-fuzzsoni…

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 28