Benson Amps Germanium Boost Effect Pedal

Hone Boosted Tones With The Power Of Germanium Circuitry – The Benson Amps Germanium Boost

When designing the temperature controlled fuzz, Benson Amps tried some weird approaches. One of the things they tried was utilizing a voltage controlled error correcting circuit to bias a single germanium transistor. It ultimately didn’t work for the fuzz, since that circuit is comically sensitive to transistor gain attributes.
Benson Amps did find a place for it though.

It turns out it was perfect for achieving a germanium clean boost that, (like their fuzz) is impervious to component drift, leakage, and temperature… more so, in fact. Benson Amps also fixed other issues preventing the germanium transistor from being used as a convincing linear boost. They increased the input headroom (even a normal guitar signal will drive a germanium transistor into unwanted input distortion without some tweaks) and increased the input impedance (a BJT transistor would normally thin out bass frequencies and interact negatively with whatever flows into it).

The result is a germanium clean boost where you can utilize a germanium transistor WITHOUT the weird artifacts that were previously accepted as part of the deal – like temperature sensitivity, drift, and suboptimal input impedance and headroom.

It takes about 10 seconds when the boost is first powered up for the error correction circuit to bias the germanium transistor. After that it gets interesting. You can hear how it makes guitar signals sound more musical, even when set at the same volume as the bypassed tone. It seems to bring out the attack of the guitar while simultaneously smoothing out notes, like a compressor but different. It’s hard to describe. It appears to cut the bad parts of a signal and enhance the good. It’s killer on bass. It helps acoustic guitar pickups sound more natural. And of course it’ll push your amp into a frenzy.

Power Supply

This pedal is for use only with a 9vdc Boss style center negative power supply. There is space for a battery which is activated when a cable is plugged into the input, and there is no power supply plugged into the DC jack. Please do not subject this pedal to more than 9vdc or the pedal or power supply could be destroyed.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Power: 9V DC Boss-style center negative power supply
• Warranty: 2 years excluding modifications or damage.

Manufacturer: Benson
Model: GERMANIUM BOOST
SKU: I679798-N-0-WHXX
UPC: 860044002473

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