{"product_id":"benson-amps-jeez-germanium-fuzz","title":"Benson Amps Jeez Germanium Fuzz","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Jeez asks the question…what if we weren’t beholden to improving historical germanium fuzz circuits and\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003edid our own novel take instead? Just saying...they were putting things like diced carrots in Jello when these\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewere invented. Worth a shot?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWARM GERMANIUM\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe started with some obvious ingredients - two GE transistors. Two GEs. Jeez. We added our proprietary\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003etransistor warming system that keeps their temperature (and therefore their sound) stable - and improved it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOur previous iterations took about 3 minutes to heat up from room temperature and the Jeez takes about 30\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eseconds!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTHE WRAPPER\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Jeez incorporates high headroom input and output amplifiers that offer unprecedented flexibility in a\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGermanium circuit. Like our previous fuzzes, we’ve kept the high input Z (doesn’t care what’s before it in the\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003echain), but now we’ve added low output Z as well. This means Jeez can drive 16 volts of peak to peak signal\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethrough a guitar cable with amazing fidelity for cleaner settings, or absolutely punish an amp at higher\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003esettings if you want it to! It’s just not fussy in any way.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTHE RANGE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis flexibility also allows a huge range of usable gains and tones from the 2N404 transistors that are running\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eat the normal 9Vish volts. With a turn of the gain knob, Jeez can go from a pure and low noise full frequency\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003egermanium clean boost, hit some treble booster overdrive and vintage dirt between 2-6, briefly entertain some\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003etruly tough sounding cranked plexi tones at around 7, and bliss out in germanium fuzz heaven at the very top.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis massive range of uses might make it hard to choose how to use it…which is a nice problem to have.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe interesting thing about the Jeez is there is some envelope dependent bias excursion (cool word salad dude)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethat practically has the effect of sustaining notes that don’t seem like they would normally sustain...there are\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003esettings where you can play overdriven chords lightly, and then just picking a little harder break into more of a\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003esustained sequence....one of those things that’s easy to miss on first go round but once you can hear it, using it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eintentionally is pretty gratifying. This is especially true at higher tone settings.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTONE CONTROL!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe tone control is unique for a pedal in that it has more in common with a vintage style amplifier...it is entirely\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003epre-gain. At noon it is relatively flat. Turning it up boosts treble going into the transistors (a good thing), and\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ebelow noon cuts treble going to the transistors. LIke an amp, it is most obvious at clean settings and becomes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003emore of a coloration at higher gain settings. You can think of the GE transistors as the power amp in a tube\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eamp...they take any excessive and harsh eq and smooth it out!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTHE LIGHTS\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo internal heating systems are tied to an LED indicator which has 4 states...green, aqua, yellow and\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewhite...which are mixtures of red blue and green. White = both heaters on. After powering up the light\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eeventually shifts to yellow or aqua to signify that just one or the other heaters are on, or green if both are off\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003esince the transistors have reached their target temperatures. Jeez should continually toggle between states and\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethis is how you know the temperature control is working (or your pedal is over 110 degrees Fahrenheit due to\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ebeing on a hot stage). Don’t go overthinking it...if the lights are toggling just enjoy the show!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePOWER SUPPLY\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis pedal is for use only with a 9vdc Boss-syle center negative power supply...There is no battery. Please do\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003enot subject this pedal to more than 9vdc or the pedal or power supply could be destroyed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Benson Amps","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55163788525914,"sku":"BA-JEEZ","price":349.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0900\/1884\/0922\/files\/Benson_Jeez-STOCK_1.jpg?v=1794431938","url":"https:\/\/fuzznbuzzguitars.com\/products\/benson-amps-jeez-germanium-fuzz","provider":"Fuzz n Buzz","version":"1.0","type":"link"}