Germ again

This is a first take on the Big Muff Germ 4 pedal, essentially a 2-in-1 entity which isn't too fuzzy for all you Muffers but the signature, grizzly overtone is still present.

As the label suggests, the pedal consists of 2 channels a mild overdrive side & the darker, meaner distortion side but both being Muff-sounding. Also, the control labels aren't typical Muff affair, the BIAS feature for instance, offers some manipulations for both tone & drive/ distortion intensity. Ditto the VOLTS feature while the TONE label is a familiar shaping feature to many of us with our other pedals. The labels here aren't really an upfront offering, they might influence other aspects of tone which aren't in their direct domain.

To be cont'd...

Germ

The real reason why I visited Davis was to acquire the above. More to come...

EHX: Germanium 4 Big Muff

Here's another fresh pedal from Electro Harmonix for this Summer NAMM; the Germanium 4 Big Muff. The principle subject matter is the pedal's germanium transistor which promises some golden tonal moments of yesterday but a little caution to those of us who aren't familiar with this offering- do hear the pedal in action first. Please do.

I was rather thrilled at the prospect of owning a germanium based overdrive unit to bolster my tube amps' on-board drive because acquiring anything germanium inclusive, would mean the obscene forking out of cash to secure time-capsuled gold. So I headed out to the local EHX distributor to have a go at the Germanium OD unit depicted above. It wasn't the typical, mild OD pedal like some of the more well-known green or yellow boxes we love to own; I was greeted by a box of very fuzzy overdrive gargle, lacking in much definition for lead work.

Nevertheless, I look forward to hear what the Germ 4 variant has in store knowing it is inherently a 2-in-1 offering of distortion & drive.