Original '66 Professional MKII wOC81D's in a Supa Fuzz case!

Its on my downstairs computer or I'd stick the pics up now - I would be grateful for a detailed talk through on its setup and where it fits into the great circle of TB life.. it arrived earlier and sounds wicked!! Also found a really minty HS-1 off Gino so looking forward to trying that through the "Z" one day (doesnt need to be particularly soon though) Do you think those are actually OC81's on Johns SF? without markings they look identical to the trannies I have on around ten germanium TB variants down here..

Ok, Since my wife is a Rotosound MkIII, I'm going to come out out and say I have a thing for Rotosounds. Looking at these pics, I have determined I am going to own a Roto MkII one day. I was going to bid on geo's, but it was pulled. I thought no big deal at the time, but it's been slowly growing on me since I didn't get it as the one I have to have. Don't know what that had to do with the thread, but I felt like getting that off my chest in this fuzz confessional post.

So, you bought that silver Rotosound MKIII off CSG45? I came sooo close to hitting the 'Buy it now' on that one...hesitated an hour, came back, SOLD. Prolly for the best, I have more than I need and have had 3 different MKIIIs and 2 MKIVs. Kept the ones I really liked and sold/traded the rest. So, the Gold RS is the same as a SF with OC75s w/limiting resistor? Dave's Pro MKII has OC75s with no limiting resistor. Dave, what are the tangible(if any) differences in those two? What was that silver RS w/OC81ds like? In answer to Graham, what others would Sola use? I have a shot of the board where you can make out an 'M'...let me find that. Would Sola have used any other Mullard transistors at the time? OC71...? I think, looking at the center cap, the writing was rubbed off when assembling...(?) Anyone seen the SS MKV with the transistor stamped 'OC71' for sale on ebay out of Sweden? That's a twist...aside from the MKIV I have and a MKIII with Brimar AC113s I have seen, that's the only ones I have seen with markings on the transistors. This is the most MKIIs seen in one place since the Sola Factory c.1966-67!!

I don't know if I bought the one you were talking about, but it's a funny story. I saw it on ebay, the auction was pulled, I was pretty devastated. Then it was back on ebay, I bought it, very excited, and it turned out the guy who had previously bought it couldn't pay. It was like it was meant to be. Anyways, so now I guess I'm gonna be looking for a Roto MkII for a couple years. Ah, The life of a fuzz freak, geez. :lol: 8)

Its on my downstairs computer or I'd stick the pics up now - I would be grateful for a detailed talk through on its setup and where it fits into the great circle of TB life..... You know me, any excuse to talk Tone Benders :D Also found a really minty HS-1 off Gino so looking forward to trying that through the "Z" one day (doesnt need to be particularly soon though) Nice one! I thought I clocked one in a recent pic you posted. "Z" box headin home on the moro... Do you think those are actually OC81's on Johns SF? without markings they look identical to the trannies I have on around ten germanium TB variants down here.. Well they do look like OC81D's and the random way the legs are all twisted up does fit in with a few MKII's Ive seen. At first I did think they could have been fitted at a later date. My Vox MKII was a mess when I got it and couldn't help myself but to just tidy em up a little.

The whole OC81D phenomenon is pretty weird. There seems to be no pattern or order as to where they fit in...it is almost at random. The general consensus was that the OC81D MKII's came first. I don't really think this was the case. The order and evolution of the circuits suggest that if one device came before the other it was the OC75 models. I've only seen a hand full of MKI.5's and the small board MKII's and these all had OC75's but it could that an early MKII of MKI.5 hasn't cropped up as yet with the OC1Ds's fitted. The early small board MKII's had no 0.01uf cap on the input. That silver OC81D loaded Rotosound Fuzz Box also has the 0.01uf cap missing. Could be that is one of the earliest MKII circuits to receive the OC81D's....could be that Sola Sound left that cap out when they though the circuit didn't need as much noise suppression?!!? Maybe the OC81D's were used in pedals as to order!? Could be they bought a batch and -*test*-('")ed them in random pedals here and there?! Could be that they could only get those in stock one month so used them in place of the OC75's?!?! Very geeky but interesting stuff :D ...well for a fuzz nerd at any rate. Lots of questions not enough answers. It does appear that mine and Davy's MKII's weren't made so long apart. They both have the 0.01uf Iskra's and they both have the grey wire in place of the usual red wire used for the grounding wiring....so why did one have OC75's and the other have OC81D's?!!? Maybe different builders were alloted different parts?! In fact, I wonder how many builders they used to produce the MKII's?!

So, the Gold RS is the same as a SF with OC75s w/limiting resistor? Dave's Pro MKII has OC75s with no limiting resistor. Dave, what are the tangible(if any) differences in those two? What was that silver RS w/OC81ds like? I didn't save the pics from the auction but I'm 99% sure it was the same board. I don't think the limiting resistor was connect though....in fact most that crop up seem to have it bypassed. The pic of D&C's Supa has the resistor bypassed. The pic of the early Supa does not have it bypassed. The Vox MKII I currently have does sound a tad different from the Supa that D&C has but its not down to anything different in component values and such. The transistors in the Vox have aged...well...pretty badly I guess. The tone is aggressive and very gnarly. Maybe one of the transistors is on its way out but its sounds shit hot so I ain't worried as yet. The silver Rotosund was on Ebay years ago. I never placed a bid on it as I was expecting it to go through the roof...it didn't! I recall it went for just under 300 squid!!!! Lesson learnt there...If you want something bid on it eh! :D I did have the chance to play Stu's OC81D loaded Rotosound though...it has a different case....pretty much like Grahams magical 2 knob Park but in silver and with the artwork like on Poorbob wife. That pedal was like a dream to play!! Truly magical. Very much like Davy's Vox MKII. In answer to Graham, what others would Sola use? I have a shot of the board where you can make out an 'M'...let me find that. Would Sola have used any other Mullard transistors at the time? OC71...? I think, looking at the center cap, the writing was rubbed off when assembling...(?) Anyone seen the SS MKV with the transistor stamped 'OC71' for sale on ebay out of Sweden? That's a twist...aside from the MKIV I have and a MKIII with Brimar AC113s I have seen, that's the only ones I have seen with markings on the transistors. This is the most MKIIs seen in one place since the Sola Factory c.1966-67!! I don't think Sola ever used OC71 until the STC's in the MKIV's?!!? Never seen em in MKII's before put it that way. Yup, I saw that too :D The early MKIII's used 4 OC75's, one was used as the GE diode. The question is, when did they move production to a factory/workshop? Its a fair assumption that Mr Hurst made the MKI's in a back room at the store...I think he even said this himself?!?! I recall hearing about this Edgware "factory" that they had but was that in relation to the later Colosound stuff or from when they made the MKII?!?!

Working with Germanium in the Mullard factory- a delicate, highly skilled and expensive process !!

Great photo's guys!! ...just peeked inside SS Vox MKII Prof. Can see "266 1KΩ" on Attack pot. and "216 100__...on Volume pot. (can't read remainder without disassembling)

Here's a pic of the Supa Fuzz circuit from an angle where you can see some lettering on one of the transistors. You can see an 'M'...

Here's the SF hanging out with a couple friends, it's new BEST Friend The Vampower MarkIII Multi!!! Sounds like heaven together!!

The bottom Blonde Bandmaster cab has a pair of early 80's Celestion G12-65s in it. The Vampower has the 'Bite' control, which is a fuzz/distortion/presence circuit built in. Turned down a bit and with the SF using a LesPaul with PAFs...What GOD intended Fuzz to sound like!!!(IMHO)

Mrshall Reverb Fuzz Unit
MKII hiding inside!! Can you spot the MKII?? Photos from Analogmike...

SICK!!!

The MKII in the reverb-fuzz is almost identical to the SF D&C posted...

Those are the exact numbers on the pots on my SF!! They must be brothers/sisters or at least were hanging out at sometime back in 66-67! So, would it be a 66 or 67 model?? Maybe Sola did a huge order of pots in Feb 66 or shortly thereafter...(?) Could be that all the MKII's and its family members had the "66" stamped pots. They only made up up until 1968 or there abouts....not long at all is it when you think about it.

The MKII in the reverb-fuzz is almost identical to the SF D&C posted... Yup, same layout. I going out on a limb here, but my thoughts are that the second rev. stripboard Supa's were actually made by Marshall and not Sola Sound. The first rev. PCB's in the Supa (like G's) have a very simlar layout to that strip board version and the brand of components used are different to all the other early MKII's and Supa's. You always see those mustard caps and the Lemco ceramics on the second rev stripboard Supa's but Sola Sound never actually used them at all...only the Iskra's and Wima's. They also used different pots and different gauge wire that was colour coded in a different way....could be total bollocks but they don't feel all that Sola Sound if you dig. My hunch is that Marshall maybe took over production in 68 or so when Sola Sound switched there efforts to the MKIII...

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