Electro-Harmonix rolls out 2 editions of its brand new Tone Bender MK.III extended range take - the Bender Royale - in Standard Black, and Limited Orange

I’m a huge fan of the TB MKIII circuit and have several varieties and takes already - from Basic Audio, Blammo, Earthquaker, Function F(x), JHS Pedals, Keeley, Menatone, MXR, PigDog, ProAnalog Devices, Red Noise, Tampco, ThorpyFX, and Tru-Fi - so it’s about time EHX threw its hat into that ring too.

And they’ve seemingly unleashed a massively extended range edition - with 6 knobs, a Fat Boost switch, and additional LED clipping option.

Controls : Fat : On / Off, Clip : Ge / LED, Volume, Treble, Blend, Fuzz, Bass, Bias.

That’s an incredible Control Topology - with excellent tone-shaping abilities. There really aren’t many fuzz pedals that have as extensive a control set as this Bender Royale - there’s so much about this take that appeals to me!

I very much tend to favour external bias controls on fuzz pedals - so this one is right up my street.

The MKIII is one of my very favourite types of fuzz - and I will be delighted to add yet another into that collection. I would ideally want the orange edition - but I’m not too fussy really - it will of course depend on availability in the UK - and as of now none of these are in-stock in the UK - and not yet mentioned either as a pre-order on Andertons even - so it will involve something of a wait!

I’m genuinely excited by this release - and it will be interesting to compare and contrast with my others of that ilk! I don’t understand why we UK customers have to wait quite so long to get our hands on EHX products - it can often be as much as a month or more after launch! Actually - I just clocked the ’In Stock’ date for the last EHX pedal I featured - the Pico Swello - and that’s not due in stock at Andertons until Fri 31st Oct 2025 - so it looks like it’s going to be a long hard wait for the Bender Royale!

There’s a few Royale’s now - the Way Huge Penny Saver Royale, Decibelics Golden Royale, Mojo Hand FX Rook Royale - and now this Bender Royale!

It’s unlikely to reach the heights of the PigDog JuJu Fuzz - which is the high water mark for this type of circuit - I sincerely hope this one is as good as it looks! The very best MKIII’s deliver the most exquisite of liquid distortions - but I still think we can go better with a dedicated liquid distortion pedal - which also has that acidic squelch when you dig in! That’s the gain pedal I’ve been after for the longest time. My Tavysh Harm brings me pretty close to that - but I want to perfect it!

You can read up more on the Bender Royale on the EHX Website.