Pedal Pawn Fuzz Germanium LTD Edition

The Pedal Pawn Fuzz Germanium LTD Edition is a limited-run fuzz pedal from UK builder Pedal Pawn, a germanium version of the company's popular Pedal Pawn Fuzz. It was unveiled as a pricey, limited edition sold through an exclusive Reverb release, with only 50 units made¹.

What sets it apart from the standard Fuzz is its transistor choice: a hand-selected pair of reissue NKT275 red dot germanium transistors, the type associated with classic 1960s Fuzz Face circuits¹². According to the builder, the pedal maintains the original's famed clean-up interaction with the guitar's volume knob, with a slightly more woody bite¹.

A germanium Fuzz Face-style fuzz

The NKT275 red dot is a PNP germanium transistor closely tied to vintage Fuzz Face history. On That Pedal Show, Analog Man's Mike Piera described the Sun Face fuzz with germanium NKT275 transistors as "same as NKT Red Dot"³. That lineage is what builders reach for when they want the classic germanium Fuzz Face character, and it is the reason Pedal Pawn built this edition around a reissue pair of them.

Germanium fuzzes of this style are known for how they respond to what comes in from the guitar. GuitarPCB's technical analysis of a germanium fuzz circuit notes that controlling the volume from the guitar can take the final tone from subtle crunch (with the guitar's volume knob at 10%) to overload fuzz (at 90%)⁴. MusicRadar's Michael Astley-Brown made the same point about Fuzz Faces in general: turning down a couple of notches cleans up the dirtiest of them, because they are so sensitive to input volume⁵. The builder says this pedal keeps that behavior, with a slightly more woody bite than the original¹.

Hand-selected NKT275 transistors

The two transistors in the LTD Edition are reissue NKT275 red dots, hand-selected as a pair¹. Selection matters with germanium: individual transistors vary in gain and leakage, so builders measure and match them to get consistent behavior from pedal to pedal. Pedal Pawn's own later limited run, the Pedal Pawn NOS CV7005 Fuzz (LTD Edition), makes the same point, with every pair of CV7005s hand selected⁶.

Other builders take comparable approaches with their germanium fuzzes: the Hartman Pedals Vintage Germanium Fuzz uses gain-selected N.O.S. PNP germanium transistors, and the Bad Penny FX Wireless Germanium Fuzz uses three NOS, PNP, NKT275-equivalent germanium transistors selected for their gain structure¹⁷.

A limited run sold through Reverb

The Germanium LTD Edition was not sold through regular dealer channels. Delicious Audio described it as a pricey, limited edition Germanium version of the popular Fuzz, released exclusively through Reverb, and reported that only 50 units existed¹:

That makes it one of the smaller germanium fuzz limited runs. For comparison, the Spaceman Effects Sputnik Germanium Fuzz had only a couple hundred in existence⁸⁹, and Pedal Pawn's own CV7005 edition was limited to 120 pedals⁸⁹.

The CV7005 edition

Pedal Pawn later released a separate limited Fuzz Face-style fuzz, the Pedal Pawn CV7005 Germanium Transistor Fuzz Face edition, a hot pink, 120-unit run built around hand-selected, authentic 1977 Newmarket NOS CV7005 germanium transistors⁹⁶. Pedal Pawn notes that respected builders often compare the CV7005's character to the legendary NKT275⁶.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson reported that the 120-unit run would likely all be gone by the time his post went live, and of the CV7005s he wrote:

He also noted a personal caveat: he does not buy germanium fuzzes that lack an external Bias control, which the CV7005 edition does not have⁹.

Where it sits among germanium fuzzes

The Germanium LTD Edition belongs to a family of small-run germanium fuzzes that trace back to the Fuzz Face circuit. Alongside the pedals already mentioned, the Chase Tone Red Stardust Germanium Fuzz is a limited-production take on the same style, and the Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz was reviewed by Premier Guitar as a limited-edition, new-old-stock-transistor-fueled, classically voiced fuzz¹⁰¹¹. What distinguishes the Pedal Pawn edition is the pairing of the reissue NKT275 red dots with the company's existing Fuzz design, in a run of just 50 units.

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