RST Custom Effects Berzelius Fuzz

RST Custom Effects Berzelius Fuzz

The earliest fuzz pedals - you know, those famous ones from the 60s - were made with Germanium transistors.  It is fair to say that Germanium is responsible for the sound that most people think of when you say "vintage" fuzz.  Unfortunately, Germanium transistors are inconsistent, temperature sensitive, and (because they are no longer produced) very expensive.  Modern Silicon transistors have none of these shortcomings.  However, Silicon transistors have much higher gains, and wider bandwidths.  The trade-off of using Silicon rather than Germanium in a fuzz circuit is that many people feel Silicon sounds much more harsh.

For the Berzelius Fuzz, I set out to make a classic Fuzz Face type of design with a great Germanium-ish tone, but use reliable, consistent, readily-available and inexpensive Silicon transistors.  Using a method that was originally theorized by the ever-brilliant R.G. Keen (hero to most, if not all, of today's stompbox designers), we can make Silicon transistors operate with characteristics very similar to Germanium.

The Berzelius Fuzz gives you that warmer, smoother "classic" fuzz sound without the inconsistency and expense of Germanium transistors.  And with the Texture knob, you can dial-in your own perfect fuzz character.