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Post by Faze on May 19, 2020 16:15:09 GMT -7
I am actually more into germanium style fuzz pedals then silicon fuzz's. But then I recently experienced something very strange and weird with this Jesse Davey Mini Fuzz I purchased. It is the germanium version. I got it and it sounded awesome cleaned up really good. It was like the perfect sounding fuzz. I was playing it during the day and it sounded great then at night it started acting up. It sounded horrible it wouldn't clean up and it just sounded like crap. So I contacted them and they said put the pedal in the fridge for 5 minutes. So I did and it actually worked. This pedal comes with a bias knob and when the light lights up it lets you know its biased. So the next day It was the same thing pedal sounded great during the day then at night it sounded like somebody's butt after taco Tuesday. Just horrible. It would not bias and it would not clean up it. So I did the fridge thing and this time it didn't work. And what's even more crazy to me is I had this pedal before I bought one from him a while back ago and ended up having to sell it. And that one never did this. So that was kind of weird to me. Anyway I ended up sending it back and asked for a replacement. They responded back to me and said that there was nothing wrong with the pedal and just issued me a refund. Which was cool no complaints. I know He makes great pedals I have had a few of his pedals they are great the Duellist is awesome. I ended up doing some research on germanium fuzz pedals and issues with them and read where Jimi used to keep them in a cooler. Im not sure if thats true but I read that as well as Stevie Ray used to do the same thing. I guess thats why Jimi eventually went to silicon fuzz pedals at the end of his career. I have have had several germaniums throughout my 44 years of playing and I have never came across this issue.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 19, 2020 16:25:24 GMT -7
That's the thing with germanium devices. They're really, really temperature sensitive. When I sort them for gain I don't touch them with my bare hands, only tweezers or with gloves on. Just touching them has a huge affect on the gain. Silicon is lots more stable, hence the change over to it.
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Post by Faze on May 19, 2020 16:32:57 GMT -7
That's the thing with germanium devices. They're really, really temperature sensitive. When I sort them for gain I don't touch them with my bare hands, only tweezers or with gloves on. Just touching them has a huge affect on the gain. Silicon is lots more stable, hence the change over to it. Lol!! Dave you need to wear a mask too!
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on May 19, 2020 16:42:44 GMT -7
Hahahaha! No doubt...
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Post by Don A on May 19, 2020 18:02:10 GMT -7
I'm a huge germanium fuzz fan and an old Fulltone '69 Pedal is a huge part of my sound. I only have trouble with it when playing outdoors in very hot weather and carry a backup silicon fuzz when that's going to be an issue. None of my germanium fuzzes are troublesome in general use.
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Post by wraparound (Steve) on May 19, 2020 19:25:42 GMT -7
Yeah, I learned the hard way years ago on a hot summer afternoon outdoor stage. Went for the solo and well let’s just say there wasn’t one, nothing but spitting and sputtering. Since I knew it must have been the fuzz ( still didn’t know why) but it was the only thing on the floor, I just yanked it out of the signal path and went straight to the amp to finish the set. Nobody noticed anyway!
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Post by dcarver on May 19, 2020 22:32:57 GMT -7
Faze, sorry to hear that pedal didn't work out for you. I was considering that pedal myself. It sounds great in demo videos. But I gotta say, I'm not sure King Tone is playing it straight here. They tell you there's nothing wrong with the pedal, yet in all your years of experience with Ge fuzz you've never seen this issue before. And the pedal works fine in the daytime, but not at night when it's cooler. That seems arse backwards. Oh well, at least they gave you your money back. BTW, I'm still really liking the ConstellationNo temperature issues, and the price has come down since I bought it.
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Post by Faze on May 20, 2020 15:03:25 GMT -7
Faze, sorry to hear that pedal didn't work out for you. I was considering that pedal myself. It sounds great in demo videos. But I gotta say, I'm not sure King Tone is playing it straight here. They tell you there's nothing wrong with the pedal, yet in all your years of experience with Ge fuzz you've never seen this issue before. And the pedal works fine in the daytime, but not at night when it's cooler. That seems arse backwards. Oh well, at least they gave you your money back. BTW, I'm still really liking the ConstellationNo temperature issues, and the price has come down since I bought it. Thanks Brother. I had the same feeling it acting up at night when it's cooler I even mentioned that to them. That made no sense at all to me. I just feel sorry for the next guy who buys that pedal. I hope he uses his return option. I was not about to keep that pedal for that price and it has issues. Like I am really going to put it in the fridge every time its acting up. Thats a huge hassle. I bet that Constellation fuzz is awesome I saw a video on it. Very interesting fuzz indeed.
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Post by trojanhov on May 20, 2020 16:18:25 GMT -7
Randy, I’m starting a fuzz journey myself and have always been interested in the fuzzes you’ve used. I have a thorpy fallout cloud on my board now for muff tones and a ramble fx twin bender coming my way on Friday!
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Post by perryr on May 21, 2020 8:29:58 GMT -7
Hot vs Cold Germanium: I had a D*A*M Super Bee MKII Tonebender with a trio of OC78's, glorious fat toned MKII... sustain for ever. It frequently would misbehave, sound horrible when first plugging in. Discovered it depended on where I put it away, if I set it on the shelf it would misbehave. The shelf was wood on top of concrete foundation on an outside wall. I grabbed a thermometer and It was less than 2 degrees cooler on that shelf than the other spot I stored it (musta been during winter). Just a couple degrees made all the difference from ratty to glorious. The builder biases at a controlled 72deg, he said yep, couple degrees can do that. Offered to fix it, I figured the condition would get worse so I sent it in and got it fixed. Of course it sounded great but never as glorious as it originally was.
Super Bee into my Wreck Combo:
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Post by trojanhov on May 21, 2020 9:16:49 GMT -7
Hot vs Cold Germanium: I had a D*A*M Super Bee MKII Tonebender with a trio of OC78's, glorious fat toned MKII... sustain for ever. It frequently would misbehave, sound horrible when first plugging in. Discovered it depended on where I put it away, if I set it on the shelf it would misbehave. The shelf was wood on top of concrete foundation on an outside wall. I grabbed a thermometer and It was less than 2 degrees cooler on that shelf than the other spot I stored it (musta been during winter). Just a couple degrees made all the difference from ratty to glorious. The builder biases at a controlled 72deg, he said yep, couple degrees can do that. Offered to fix it, I figured the condition would get worse so I sent it in and got it fixed. Of course it sounded great but never as glorious as it originally was. Super Bee into my Wreck Combo: Twin bender is cool cuz it ya a bias control and a control for impedance. Solves buffer issues germanium trannies tend to have. Comes in today and I’m itching to play it. I’ve been bit by the fuzz bug bad
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Post by Faze on May 21, 2020 11:36:05 GMT -7
Randy, I’m starting a fuzz journey myself and have always been interested in the fuzzes you’ve used. I have a thorpy fallout cloud on my board now for muff tones and a ramble fx twin bender coming my way on Friday! I just picked up the Chase Tone Fuzz Fella its a silicon fuzz its pretty thick and fat sounding with huge sustain.
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Post by trojanhov on May 21, 2020 11:48:56 GMT -7
Randy, I’m starting a fuzz journey myself and have always been interested in the fuzzes you’ve used. I have a thorpy fallout cloud on my board now for muff tones and a ramble fx twin bender coming my way on Friday! I just picked up the Chase Tone Fuzz Fella its a silicon fuzz its pretty thick and fat sounding with huge sustain. I’ve been close to snagging the red velvet fuzz he makes. But now they’re going for $200+ oh well. I have my eyes on an Analogman sunface next but they’re not cheap either. Ugh
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Post by Faze on May 21, 2020 13:04:32 GMT -7
I just picked up the Chase Tone Fuzz Fella its a silicon fuzz its pretty thick and fat sounding with huge sustain. I’ve been close to snagging the red velvet fuzz he makes. But now they’re going for $200+ oh well. I have my eyes on an Analogman sunface next but they’re not cheap either. Ugh Can't beat the Analogman Sunface I also have been thinking about one I would get mine with top mounted jacks the light and the power supply. As well as the sun dial and the NKT transistors if I was going to get one. I had the sunlion and it was really good too. I have a small 5 pedal board now. I have downsized. I had the red velvet its good one too.
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