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Benson

Benson Germanium Fuzz - Studio Black

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Music Den Price: $299.00
Benson Germanium Fuzz Studio Black
Benson Germanium Fuzz - Studio Black
Benson Germanium Fuzz - Studio Black
Benson Germanium Fuzz - Studio Black
Benson Germanium Fuzz - Studio Black
Benson Germanium Fuzz - Studio Black
SKU:
STUDIO-BLACK-FUZZ
UPC:
860044002466
Condition:
New
Current Stock:
1

Frequently Bought Together:

Benson Germanium Fuzz Studio Black
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Description

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…

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 fine outside this range. There are two colors: Studio Black is not meant for direct sunlight, Solar White is fine 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 Jack Orman style passive 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 simulator circuit, we have added an “Impedance” control, which simulates rolling down the guitar volume to get that tight sparkly sound…without adjusting your guitar volume….which you can still do and still sounds great.

GAIN RANGE

The circuit has been tuned to be used as a rich sounding clean boost, an overdrive, all the way up to an aggressive fuzz with some octave overtones. It will sound different, and I think more useful, than the classic versions. There are many colors of tone available with the impedance and gain controls…they are very interactive. This is meant as a “pretty” fuzz a la 60’s-70’s classic rock/psychedelic rock. It is not a spitty, harsh experimental fuzz and more often sounds like an overdrive or distortion until the gain is turned all the way up, and the impedance is turned down.

INTERNAL TRIMMER

Please don’t turn the internal trimmer. It is precisely set at our factory. Turning the trimmer voids the warranty. The correct trimmer position is marked in case you get one used where a tone lord hath already turnt it.

POWER SUPPLY

This pedal is for use only with a 9vdc Boss syle center negative power supply...There is no battery. Please do not subject this pedal to more than 9vdc or the pedal or power supply could be destroyed. This pedal draws less than 100ma when the heater is engaged, and far less than that when it is off. It will pull those 100ma instantaneously, which most power supplies have no issue with. With substandard or non standard power supplies it is possible the pedal will start oscillating madly at the heater threshhold, where the LED changes, in which case may we suggest using a current doubler cable, or switching to a higher rated power output.

WARRANTY INFORMATION:

2 years excluding modification, trim pot manipulation, or damage.

Delivery & Returns

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30 Day Easy Return Guarantee
 

The Music Den wants you to be fully satisfied with your purchase. The Music Den has a cash back return policy for all online returns 30 days from the date of sale. (Note: This does not apply to Reverb. Please see Reverb for their specific policies. For In-store purchases please refer to your receipt.) Please read the items below carefully to ensure that your Item Return is done correctly.

 

To return an item purchased online from www.themusicden.com, you must notify The Music Den within 30 days from the date of the sale to receive an RA#.

All returns must have an RA# (Return Authorization Number). To receive an RA#, Please call 1-800-479-1189 or click here to send us an email. Do not forget to mention your customer number and order number so that we can expedite your request.

 

All Returns must be received by the Music Den within 10 days of the day you received the RA#.

 

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Returned items must be in their original condition and packaging. Returned items not in their original condition will be charged a 15% restocking fee.

Special orders can only be returned at the discretion of a Store Manager with a restocking fee added. All deposits on special orders are non-refundable.

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The Music Den
1030 Route 10 West
Randolph, NJ 07869

 

For answers to any questions about our return policy, please call 1-800-479-1189 or click here to send us an email.

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