Germanium Pedals - I've been missing out

[Veitchy]

Cool thread.

But now I’m stressing... should I try the DBA Germanium Filter, or the one knob Joe Gore Cult Overdrive...oh the delicious pain of decision making

Thoughts?

I'm looking at them both too. My needs may be different to yours but here's where I'm at.

Tele and Jazzmaster - both more-or-less traditionally appointed.
My main amps are a 68 Custom Princeton and a long term loaner AC15 with a Creamback.
I'm not wanting for pedalboard real estate and I'm flexible about power supplies.

I like the idea of a Germanium pedal out the front to give a bit of grit and character to an otherwise cleanish signal. I also like the idea of being able to add a rougher edge to more powerful, cleaner amps (think black panel Twins, Supers, Hiwatts or MK Boogies should you be so lucky).

I feel like there's a lot of sweep and tweakability to the DBA, but all the demos I've heard make it sound a little more lofi and noisy. This shouldn't be a surprise as DBA's MO seems to be fucking up your sound in a musical way. The Cult sounds a little more traditional, whilst also working on a broader frequency range than a regular treble booster. If I was playing higher headroom, stiffer amplifiers more often I'd probably go the DBA as I think it's (perceived) greater output might help color them a little dirtier and sagier. As it stands I'm mainly playing smaller combos and the Cult should suffice whilst reamining on the more traditional end of the sound spectrum.

[NBarnes21]

Joe Gore's Cult Germanium Overdrive stays in my signal chain all the time.

Just came in here to say that I haven't bought a new pedal in probably 5+ years, but after seeing that demo video I had to give the cult a try! My Analogman Beano Boost has always been a bit tinny and harsh for my liking and I've compensated for that with amp settings, but really stoked to give this a whirl!

Please let us know how you find it. I'd love to get one myself, the only thing stopping me is the enclosure size for the Cult Channel wouldn't fit on my already full board. The standard Cult seems to be a bit elusive as I can't find one anywhere in the UK.

Got it yesterday, and unfortunately there’s some sort of loose connection in the pedal and at first it was cutting in and out, so I’m getting it replaced with another one. But I was able to get it to where it wasn’t cutting in and out this morning, it definitely does the throaty Beano boost/ rangemaster thing well with a bit more body and less harshness which is cool. More gain on tap too, venturing into fuzz territory with it maxed out. It is a bit noisy though, most noticeably when you dial the guitar volume knob back to get clean tones, but nothing that would really matter in a live setting, but not as ideal for recording. Overall a definite upgrade over the Beano boost for me though

[fuzzjunkie]

Just came in here to say that I haven't bought a new pedal in probably 5+ years, but after seeing that demo video I had to give the cult a try! My Analogman Beano Boost has always been a bit tinny and harsh for my liking and I've compensated for that with amp settings, but really stoked to give this a whirl!

Please let us know how you find it. I'd love to get one myself, the only thing stopping me is the enclosure size for the Cult Channel wouldn't fit on my already full board. The standard Cult seems to be a bit elusive as I can't find one anywhere in the UK.

Got it yesterday, and unfortunately there’s some sort of loose connection in the pedal and at first it was cutting in and out, so I’m getting it replaced with another one. But I was able to get it to where it wasn’t cutting in and out this morning, it definitely does the throaty Beano boost/ rangemaster thing well with a bit more body and less harshness which is cool. More gain on tap too, venturing into fuzz territory with it maxed out. It is a bit noisy though, most noticeably when you dial the guitar volume knob back to get clean tones, but nothing that would really matter in a live setting, but not as ideal for recording. Overall a definite upgrade over the Beano boost for me though

Hopefully the extra noise was due to the spotty connection and the replacement is quiet enough for recording.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Cool thread.

But now I’m stressing... should I try the DBA Germanium Filter, or the one knob Joe Gore Cult Overdrive...oh the delicious pain of decision making

Thoughts?

I'm looking at them both too. My needs may be different to yours but here's where I'm at.

Tele and Jazzmaster - both more-or-less traditionally appointed.
My main amps are a 68 Custom Princeton and a long term loaner AC15 with a Creamback.
I'm not wanting for pedalboard real estate and I'm flexible about power supplies.

I like the idea of a Germanium pedal out the front to give a bit of grit and character to an otherwise cleanish signal. I also like the idea of being able to add a rougher edge to more powerful, cleaner amps (think black panel Twins, Supers, Hiwatts or MK Boogies should you be so lucky).

I feel like there's a lot of sweep and tweakability to the DBA, but all the demos I've heard make it sound a little more lofi and noisy. This shouldn't be a surprise as DBA's MO seems to be fucking up your sound in a musical way. The Cult sounds a little more traditional, whilst also working on a broader frequency range than a regular treble booster. If I was playing higher headroom, stiffer amplifiers more often I'd probably go the DBA as I think it's (perceived) greater output might help color them a little dirtier and sagier. As it stands I'm mainly playing smaller combos and the Cult should suffice whilst reamining on the more traditional end of the sound spectrum.

Thanks for the thoughtful response!
Yeah, I think we're on the same page. I, too, am mainly looking for a killer glassy, edgy, gritty, sizzling (lol..but what other word can I use?) clean, to edge of breakup, to light break up tone with the guitar volume rolled off first and foremost (and fuzz second, as I have fuzz fairly well covered). I was also thinking that the Cult Overdrive seems to excel at this, compared to the DBA GF.

I will however be using the pedal for recording! So I'm now concerned about the Cult noise issue as described above, but yeah hopefully it is caused by the loose wire situation. I may wait until we get another report back regarding the noise issue...and in the meanwhile if I can't control myself, order the DBA GF .

Regarding the DBA GF, can anyone comment on its noise floor when playing it at the cleaner settings, or when rolling the guitar volume off?

[NBarnes21]

Please let us know how you find it. I'd love to get one myself, the only thing stopping me is the enclosure size for the Cult Channel wouldn't fit on my already full board. The standard Cult seems to be a bit elusive as I can't find one anywhere in the UK.

Got it yesterday, and unfortunately there’s some sort of loose connection in the pedal and at first it was cutting in and out, so I’m getting it replaced with another one. But I was able to get it to where it wasn’t cutting in and out this morning, it definitely does the throaty Beano boost/ rangemaster thing well with a bit more body and less harshness which is cool. More gain on tap too, venturing into fuzz territory with it maxed out. It is a bit noisy though, most noticeably when you dial the guitar volume knob back to get clean tones, but nothing that would really matter in a live setting, but not as ideal for recording. Overall a definite upgrade over the Beano boost for me though

Hopefully the extra noise was due to the spotty connection and the replacement is quiet enough for recording.

Yeah hopefully! Not sure how quick I’ll get the replacement but I’ll report back!

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Got it yesterday, and unfortunately there’s some sort of loose connection in the pedal and at first it was cutting in and out, so I’m getting it replaced with another one. But I was able to get it to where it wasn’t cutting in and out this morning, it definitely does the throaty Beano boost/ rangemaster thing well with a bit more body and less harshness which is cool. More gain on tap too, venturing into fuzz territory with it maxed out. It is a bit noisy though, most noticeably when you dial the guitar volume knob back to get clean tones, but nothing that would really matter in a live setting, but not as ideal for recording. Overall a definite upgrade over the Beano boost for me though

Hopefully the extra noise was due to the spotty connection and the replacement is quiet enough for recording.

Yeah hopefully! Not sure how quick I’ll get the replacement but I’ll report back!

Great, Thanks!

[GreenKnee]

Thanks for all the great replies in this thread. Sorry about the issue with your Cult, fingers crossed for a swift turnaround on the replacement so you can let us know how it really sounds.

On the Cult does the knob control the output volume and amount of gain at the same time? So you crank it for fuzzier sounds but also the volume increases with it, is that correct?

Regarding the DBA GF, can anyone comment on its noise floor when playing it at the cleaner settings, or when rolling the guitar volume off?

Obviously I can only comment on the GF with respects to my setup but it's silent for me when cleaned up. I use a volume pedal after a buffer (Boss TU-3) rather than the guitars volume knob as this preserves all the high end without the need for a treble-bleed system. Even with the knob turned a lot towards Dirty it still cleans up really well without any hissing. I use a TrueTone CS12 and EBS flat gold cables so I imagine this helps too.

The GF is SO loud and that's my only real issue with it. When the Dirty knob is turned up for a dirtier sound the volume level jumps up with it. I have recorded with the pedal and I had to set up a Keeley Compressor Pro on top of my Twin to level everything out when using the GF for a fuzzier sound. The volume is set from an internal trim pot but this changes wildly depending on the amount of drive.

Not sure if I already posted this video but the PedalZone demo of this pedal really shows it's versatility https://youtu.be/mJV9gfxaBSE

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Obviously I can only comment on the GF with respects to my setup but it's silent for me when cleaned up. I use a volume pedal after a buffer (Boss TU-3) rather than the guitars volume knob as this preserves all the high end without the need for a treble-bleed system. Even with the knob turned a lot towards Dirty it still cleans up really well without any hissing. I use a TrueTone CS12 and EBS flat gold cables so I imagine this helps too.

The GF is SO loud and that's my only real issue with it. When the Dirty knob is turned up for a dirtier sound the volume level jumps up with it. I have recorded with the pedal and I had to set up a Keeley Compressor Pro on top of my Twin to level everything out when using the GF for a fuzzier sound. The volume is set from an internal trim pot but this changes wildly depending on the amount of drive.

Not sure if I already posted this video but the PedalZone demo of this pedal really shows it's versatility https://youtu.be/mJV9gfxaBSE

Sounds very promising regarding low noise when the pedal is cleaned up.

Thanks for that review link. It is quite comprehensive, and it really shows the pedal off in a very complementary way. The cleaned up and gritty jangly tones are very cool indeed. The Monster fuzz tones are appropriately monstrous as well .

Regarding its loudness, that may work out well since I'd be playing it with the volume of the guitar rolled off to about 40-60%, and still having a nice and strong signal would be good for my set up I think, hopefully.

If I want to run it at max fuzz tones, I do understand that I'd have to deal with a big Level increase! Incidentally, I was reading an opinion on the Cult overdrive on TDPRI and a feller there was bemoaning how LOUD the Cult is too, but he admitted that he's not a "guitar volume roller" LOL. So with these types of limited control/no volume master blaster pedals I guess that comes with the territory.

[NBarnes21]

Got it yesterday, and unfortunately there’s some sort of loose connection in the pedal and at first it was cutting in and out, so I’m getting it replaced with another one. But I was able to get it to where it wasn’t cutting in and out this morning, it definitely does the throaty Beano boost/ rangemaster thing well with a bit more body and less harshness which is cool. More gain on tap too, venturing into fuzz territory with it maxed out. It is a bit noisy though, most noticeably when you dial the guitar volume knob back to get clean tones, but nothing that would really matter in a live setting, but not as ideal for recording. Overall a definite upgrade over the Beano boost for me though

Hopefully the extra noise was due to the spotty connection and the replacement is quiet enough for recording.

Yeah hopefully! Not sure how quick I’ll get the replacement but I’ll report back!

Got the replacement unit- and man this thing sounds great! There was definitely something off with the tone of the other one in addition to it having a bad connection somewhere. Noise is a non-issue for me now. Compared to the usual rangemaster/ beano boost tone it's less harsh with a nice and buttery top end, and not nearly as thin sounding with a nice full tone and more low end. With the gain all the way up it gets into fuzz territory, actually somewhat similar to my Hoof fuzz but not as high gain. Between this and my Fulltone 69 I'm having all sorts of fun experimenting with the guitar volume knob. I'm running my AVRI Jazzmaster into a Vox AC15HW1X and it's a great combo. Super happy!

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Hopefully the extra noise was due to the spotty connection and the replacement is quiet enough for recording.

Yeah hopefully! Not sure how quick I’ll get the replacement but I’ll report back!

Got the replacement unit- and man this thing sounds great! There was definitely something off with the tone of the other one in addition to it having a bad connection somewhere. Noise is a non-issue for me now. Compared to the usual rangemaster/ beano boost tone it's less harsh with a nice and buttery top end, and not nearly as thin sounding with a nice full tone and more low end. With the gain all the way up it gets into fuzz territory, actually somewhat similar to my Hoof fuzz but not as high gain. Between this and my Fulltone 69 I'm having all sorts of fun experimenting with the guitar volume knob. I'm running my AVRI Jazzmaster into a Vox AC15HW1X and it's a great combo. Super happy!

Awesome! Thanks for the report and update. This one is on my 'to buy' list at this point.

[Sauerkraut]

I’ve had a DBA GF for a couple of weeks now, but only figured out at last night’s band practice that I need to run a volume pedal after the thing, not before. Now I can actually use it without destroying everyone’s hearing. I love how it sounds, especially with my Rat feeding into it.

[GreenKnee]

I’ve had a DBA GF for a couple of weeks now, but only figured out at last night’s band practice that I need to run a volume pedal after the thing, not before. Now I can actually use it without destroying everyone’s hearing. I love how it sounds, especially with my Rat feeding into it.

I wish the volume control was on the outside of the pedal. As the gain is increased the pedal gets LOUD. The internal trimmer works for setting the volume with the gain at a certain position, but if you stray from that it's either too quiet or way too loud.

I still love the sound and versatility of the Germanium Filter though. I wonder if there are any volume pedals the same size as the OBNE Expression Slider?

[Shadoweclipse13]

I’ve had a DBA GF for a couple of weeks now, but only figured out at last night’s band practice that I need to run a volume pedal after the thing, not before. Now I can actually use it without destroying everyone’s hearing. I love how it sounds, especially with my Rat feeding into it.

I wish the volume control was on the outside of the pedal. As the gain is increased the pedal gets LOUD. The internal trimmer works for setting the volume with the gain at a certain position, but if you stray from that it's either too quiet or way too loud.

I still love the sound and versatility of the Germanium Filter though. I wonder if there are any volume pedals the same size as the OBNE Expression Slider?

I would imagine that volume pedals are easier to build than expression pedals. You should hit up OBNE about that!!

[Sauerkraut]

I’ve had a DBA GF for a couple of weeks now, but only figured out at last night’s band practice that I need to run a volume pedal after the thing, not before. Now I can actually use it without destroying everyone’s hearing. I love how it sounds, especially with my Rat feeding into it.

I wish the volume control was on the outside of the pedal. As the gain is increased the pedal gets LOUD. The internal trimmer works for setting the volume with the gain at a certain position, but if you stray from that it's either too quiet or way too loud.

I still love the sound and versatility of the Germanium Filter though. I wonder if there are any volume pedals the same size as the OBNE Expression Slider?

That'd be great, yeah. I don't mind placing a volume control after it, because that's very useful anyway, especially in a band context. I'd love it if I could control the filter with an expression pedal though.

[GreenKnee]

THESE look to be the same footprint and would do the job.


They are 100k or 10k though, aren't volume pedals usually 250k? I'd definitely give one a go if they were UK and postage wouldn't be a big contributing factor to the cost.