Description
This pedal is designed around two germanium 2N527 OR 2N404 Germanium Transistors. They have been graded for
gain and leakage and carefully matched to sound their best. They are set up in the ubiquitous 60’s circular fuzz
topology, and tuned for good sound, and include some additional oddities aimed at solving the issues that prevent
more widespread use of Germanium devices....detailed below.
THE FIRST FUZZ PEDAL WITH AUTOMATIC THERMAL BIAS TECHNOLOGY
The bias of the transistors in this pedal is automatically regulated by a circuit that GENTLY warms the transistors to a
preset operating point using analog components, and ensures a consistent sound, no matter the external temperature.
When the LED is orange, the transistors are warming up to increase their hFE (transistor gain) and to shift the bias point
to the correct voltage. When the LED turns green, the warmer is off because the correct bias and hFE have been set.
Expect the LED to toggle back and forth every so often while the pedal is on…that is how you know its working. The
heaters will warm the transistors enough to still be effective on a sunny stage, but far cooler than anything that would
harm the transistors. This pedal is designed to operate between freezing and 100˚F but might still sound ne outside
this range. There are two colors: Studio Black is not meant for direct sunlight, Solar White is new with it. We have
found there is a 20˚F difference between a black pedal and a white pedal in direct sunlight.
INPUT IMPEDANCE
The low input impedance of the classic two transistor germanium fuzz circuit is both a blessing and a curse….a blessing because it can yield a tight sparkly clean tone when guitar volume is rolled down, and a curse because it sounds
nasty (in a bad way) if there are buffers or pedals before it in a signal chain. We went to some extremes to keep the
blessing and lose the curse.
We installed a class A buffer in the very input of the Germanium Fuzz. This buffer feeds a pickup simulator circuit (an
audio transformer set up as an inductor, a resistor, and a capacitor). These two additions make compatibility with
other pedals possible without losing the desired sound. After the pickup
The Germanium Fuzz is a fuzz pedal. The knobs change the sounds. IMPORTANT: after plugging it into power (9vdc
only), it will take 2-3 minutes on average to sound correct. Good time to tune your guitar and grab a beverage. The
color of the LED indicator light might change. Don’t turn the internal trimmer. THAT’S IT. Read on only if you want
some excellent primary source material for an online fuzz thesis.
gain and leakage and carefully matched to sound their best. They are set up in the ubiquitous 60’s circular fuzz
topology, and tuned for good sound, and include some additional oddities aimed at solving the issues that prevent
more widespread use of Germanium devices....detailed below.
THE FIRST FUZZ PEDAL WITH AUTOMATIC THERMAL BIAS TECHNOLOGY
The bias of the transistors in this pedal is automatically regulated by a circuit that GENTLY warms the transistors to a
preset operating point using analog components, and ensures a consistent sound, no matter the external temperature.
When the LED is orange, the transistors are warming up to increase their hFE (transistor gain) and to shift the bias point
to the correct voltage. When the LED turns green, the warmer is off because the correct bias and hFE have been set.
Expect the LED to toggle back and forth every so often while the pedal is on…that is how you know its working. The
heaters will warm the transistors enough to still be effective on a sunny stage, but far cooler than anything that would
harm the transistors. This pedal is designed to operate between freezing and 100˚F but might still sound ne outside
this range. There are two colors: Studio Black is not meant for direct sunlight, Solar White is new with it. We have
found there is a 20˚F difference between a black pedal and a white pedal in direct sunlight.
INPUT IMPEDANCE
The low input impedance of the classic two transistor germanium fuzz circuit is both a blessing and a curse….a blessing because it can yield a tight sparkly clean tone when guitar volume is rolled down, and a curse because it sounds
nasty (in a bad way) if there are buffers or pedals before it in a signal chain. We went to some extremes to keep the
blessing and lose the curse.
We installed a class A buffer in the very input of the Germanium Fuzz. This buffer feeds a pickup simulator circuit (an
audio transformer set up as an inductor, a resistor, and a capacitor). These two additions make compatibility with
other pedals possible without losing the desired sound. After the pickup
The Germanium Fuzz is a fuzz pedal. The knobs change the sounds. IMPORTANT: after plugging it into power (9vdc
only), it will take 2-3 minutes on average to sound correct. Good time to tune your guitar and grab a beverage. The
color of the LED indicator light might change. Don’t turn the internal trimmer. THAT’S IT. Read on only if you want
some excellent primary source material for an online fuzz thesis.
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