Benson Germanium Fuzz – Studio Black

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. Namely, this is the first fuzz pedal with Automatic Thermal Bias Technology. The aura of the FF sound, without the downfall of the unpredictability…this is what you get, along with a nice satisfied grin on your face after hearing the first notes!

They 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 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.

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. There are many colors of tone available with the impedance and gain
controls…they are very interactive.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• After plugging it into power (9vdconly), 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. Green means the transistors are at the proper temperature, orange means the temperature bias control is working to get them back there.
• Don’t turn the internal trimmer (this is part of what voids the 2 year warranty so…don’t do it). If it is, for some reason turned, there is an indicator where the trimmer should sit.