freestompboxes.org

Hi,

Does anyone know which font to use in order to get close to this



I've tried some different ones in MS Word (Arial Narrow/News Gothic MT for the "Tone Bender" and Arial for "LEVEL"/"ATTACK") and they're too bad, but they're not "right".

Which font will get me as close as possible?

It looks like one of the Helvetica fonts. Try the ttf font A1011Helvetika TYGRA from here http://font.downloadatoz.com/download,8 ... ndows.html .

Regards Tony

I don't know what the exact font is...

At first I thought that it might have been custom made by the 'designing' department. Remember this is late '60s - early '70s. Fonts were not really at hand to use in the way we play with them on our word processors. But then I remembered my dad used to have these rub-off fonts I sometimes was allowed to play with. He was a surveyor and drew plans by hand -- there was no other way to create custom graffics.

So I googled a bit and learned a new word - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letraset

I don't know how many different types were available back then, but I suppose there is a good chance that the font was taken from these letrasets before being screenprinted. If you would pay me per hour I would try and find images of these letraset on the web, and find the name there. There must be grafics freak around there scanning this shit...

Hope this helps...

Thanks.

The "R" is definitely close to the Helvetica font, but the "O" more oval.

Not that it matters that much.
I just wanted to check if some MkI-builder already had figured this out.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+font

Sorry, I couldn't resist using LMGTFY - the font-finders are very good though.

Looks very much like Helvetica to me. Helvetica is a range of fonts, not just a single font, and it looks like one of the condensed versions. It would tie-in with the letraset too as they use standard fonts such as Helvetica, Arial, Times etc.

The only thing that puts me off a bit is that the verticals are very straight and Helvetica is more rounded so it might be a custom variation on the font. Chances are that you'll end up using a Helvetica-style font anyway unless you can afford a commercial licence of the real thing or know someone that has it

biliousfrog wrote:http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+font

Sorry, I couldn't resist using LMGTFY - the font-finders are very good though.

Looks very much like Helvetica to me. Helvetica is a range of fonts, not just a single font, and it looks like one of the condensed versions. It would tie-in with the letraset too as they use standard fonts such as Helvetica, Arial, Times etc.

The only thing that puts me off a bit is that the verticals are very straight and Helvetica is more rounded so it might be a custom variation on the font. Chances are that you'll end up using a Helvetica-style font anyway unless you can afford a commercial licence of the real thing or know someone that has it

TB.png

That looks very good!
Much better than my attempts that's for sure

So you're using the standard Helvetica font?

What did you do to make it look like that?

Here are labels for MKI. I don't remember from where I've downloaded it... Maybe DAM forum?
Pls remember that Tone Bender is a registered trade mark owned by Sola Sound, use it only for Your builds, do not sell pedals with this name.

Thanks a lot man!!!

(This is just for one pedal, built for my own pleasure )

Hello lads, former art director here with a big love for typography.

The kerning and placement seems all wrong in that PDF. The font used for "TONE BENDER" is Zurich BT Roman Condensed from Bitstream, a type foundry that takes classic fonts and changes the name and just enough details to avoid any legal problems. That's why it looks close, but not exactly like the original.
The "O" looks a bit too wide and too curved on the vertical sides to me. Also, I'm not sure if the tail of the "R" is accurate in the Zurich font.

Univers Condensed would be my best guess. It was released in 1957 together with other typefaces, including Neue Haas Grotesk. (renamed Helvetica three years later) so it was around at the time the first Benders received their silk screening.
Helvetica Neue Bold is used for the rest of the PDF and that seems to work just fine.

If any of you know somebody with an original MK I Bender, perhaps you could ask him or her very, very nicely to take it apart, bring it to a print-shop and have somebody take a high resolution scan of it with a couple of rulers on the glass as well. (one vertical, one horizontal)
With a scan like that, I could then make an accurate PDF for personal use only. As Beedot pointed out, it is a registered trade mark.

polifemo wrote:

biliousfrog wrote:http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+font

Sorry, I couldn't resist using LMGTFY - the font-finders are very good though.

Looks very much like Helvetica to me. Helvetica is a range of fonts, not just a single font, and it looks like one of the condensed versions. It would tie-in with the letraset too as they use standard fonts such as Helvetica, Arial, Times etc.

The only thing that puts me off a bit is that the verticals are very straight and Helvetica is more rounded so it might be a custom variation on the font. Chances are that you'll end up using a Helvetica-style font anyway unless you can afford a commercial licence of the real thing or know someone that has it

TB.png

That looks very good!
Much better than my attempts that's for sure

So you're using the standard Helvetica font?

What did you do to make it look like that?

It's a standard Helvetica font - I can't remember exactly which one, Helvetica Neue I think (it would tie-in with Cub's observations). There were three variations called "compressed" which have the straight edge "o", the letters are a little too fat though. Aside from the letter thickness, the font looks identical to me.

Helvetica Compressed is quite a bold font, much like a refined version of the dreaded Impact.
I'd still say it's Univers Condensed, but a larger photograph of an original Mk 1 would help a lot.

Below is an example and you give it a spin yourself on the site of the Linotype foundry:
http://www.linotype.com/47802/UniversPr ... oduct.html