was a hot night in Sydney....

[Chickenwings]

and my "holy grail" NKT 275 germanium transistors in my fuzzface were acting funny at the show. They warmed up and were doing the sputtery thing that germ fuzzes do. Its not my tone of choice as i like it to stay sharper and tighter, and seeing as there was no bias control, i could not change it. The only thing in my signal chain is the fuzzface and it stays on pretty much all night, so its pretty important to have it working well. Im very dependant on the fuzz acting predictably as im always working with my guitar's volume knobs. When the germ trannies get hot, backing down the volume on the guitar makes it sound like a broken radio, which was not ideal because i usually leave the fuzz engaged even for cleaner sounds. I had to play with the guitar volume (and therefore fuzz) much higher than i normally would.
In the end all was still useable and the gig went well (play the right notes and play with expression the job is pretty much done) , but id rather not have to deal with unpredictable nature of germanium with summer coming up.
Anyway...as a result, much as i love the richness of germanium and will continue to use it in the studio, ive just ordered this as what will hopefully become the hardest working live show pedal in my collection.
...can't wait to try it actually:

http://www.hartmanpedals.com/#!bc108-silicon-fuzz

[MetalManiac]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

Yeah Buddy! Give us a review after you get it and do a gig or two.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

I only own one Hartman pedal, the Tommy Bolin fuzz, and I absolutely LOVE it!!!!

[Stratovarious]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

Was a terrible freezing windy night in Melbourne, lol

[Chickenwings]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

I only own one Hartman pedal, the Tommy Bolin fuzz, and I absolutely LOVE it!!!!

This'll be my third. Its the second fuzz (the other being the NKT). The other hartman was the lm308 overdrive which was really nice too - similar to a rat but built with all top shelf components.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

While all germanium powered units are susceptible to temp/bias issues I have found that NKT's are worse than most...FWIW, my red dot NKT's are the least stable Ge trannys I've got!

If the Si version doesn't give you the tone you want try a non NKT germanium FF clone...no, the tone is not the same but many other Ge trannys seem to be more stable.

I do most of my gigging with a custom built Fuzz Face by BMF effects and it uses NOS Ge and trannys...it's not as stable as Si but it's FAR more stable than my NKT's...

That said, enjoy the BC108 Hartmen...Theo makes great pedals and is a great guy to boot!

[Chickenwings]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

thanks TG. A close look at tne nkt's in this unit shows a red dot on them too.
Im considering trying out one of these http://www.ramblefx.com/twin-bender.html if the silicon does not clean up the way im used to. The twin bender has an external bias adjuster and tone benders are nice and simple circuits like fuzzfaces too so im quite intrigued to try one.
I know the silicon will sound different to the germ, but as long as it does the job for live work then im happy. Who knows? It might even end up being more what im after than the germ. I guess time will tell.

[xxxplorer]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

The Eric Johnson Fuzz is silicon and can clean up pretty nice I thought. I also have an Addrock Hism Scism that's silicon and cleans up really nice. They aren't as chewy and all as a ge fuzz, but I am in the camp that actually likes Si fuzz better for my application.

I'm sure the Hartman will sound great and you may be suprised how good a si fuzz can sound!

[Inkstained]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

My Si MXR Classic 108 pushes out the same tone all the time.

We can argue about whether that tone works or not. For me, it does. Classic, but clean-upable.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: was a hot night in Sydney....

The red dot NKT's have a special thing going on in them but they are w/o a doubt the least stable trannys I've tried so far.

If you want a more Ge type tone but want it dead solid/stable try the BMF Sisyphuzz...it's Silicon and is rather low gain and voiced more like Germanium.

It's not dead on and I don't think anybody can nail it but the BMF is a great sounding pedal and if you're used to Ge Fuzz Faces and want stability it's a no brainier!