Electro-Harmonix Germanium OD Overdrive Pedal

Rated 4.00 out of 5

03/12/2022

Fiddling around with bias and supply voltage is the kind of thing that hobbyists and boutique pedal builders like to do, and this is E-H's take on that idea. It contains a single NKT275 Germanium transistor which provides the amplification, plus two surface mount transistors that appear, from the schematic I found online, to be mainly involved in the bias and supply voltage variations. I'm an enthusiast, not an electronic engineer, so don't assume I'm right about that. This pedal makes a good clean boost and also a decent if somewhat trashy overdrive sound, but isn't a high gain distortion pedal. The three controls are vey interactive, and it is possible to completely silence your signal with some combinations, particularly of the gain and volts knobs. That is why I have not awarded five stars.

Gavin Goff