OVERDRIVE- BARONI LAB Germanium Drive ...a wall of molten sound pouring down on you!!!

 BARONI LAB GERMANIUM DRIVE

Baroni have been around for years making some very nice tube amps and hand made pedals. They have  a good rep for quality.
With this pedal they came up with a simple but very effective idea. Instead of making an OD using the standard FET style transistors why not go back 2 generations and use germanium transistors.

All of the early '60's Fuzz pedals used germanium transistors. There was a few years to go before silicon ones were readily available and cheap enough.  
Fortunately the Baroni is powered by a 12 volt adapter and that gives you a lot of headroom ...so you get great articulation with a very low latency on your attack. Every note in a 'shred' is clear!  Impressive!


Personally I would not recommend this pedal 'if' this is your only OD. Most would be better off with a medium gain Marshall OD pedal. 
If however you are like me & you love the idea of a Fuzz 
but prefer a more OD like quality to the voicing ...then this could be perfect.

I do not know of any comparison to this pedal. It has a sound as heavy as a Metal pedal but the tone is closer to a Fuzz yet it responds like an OD. It has a  sound of it's own. 
I'm impressed. VERY!


I ordered one ..checkout the GD Island below.

$175.00 USD

Baroni updated the casings and graphics on their pedals. 
The DG Island became the GD Germanium.
BUT
The circuit was NOT changed. 
Good to know if you are looking for a used pedal.
I got this NOS pedal for $95.00 USD  

HANDS ON

So my toy arrived.

Not a lot to add. It works and sounds exactly like the video's.

Definitely lots of sustain. Fat??? Yes.

It acts very much like any good OD the only noticeable difference is the units 'voice' ...with germanium transistors it definitely has a voice of it's own. Some Fuzzboxes using germanium transistors can sound very nasal. Fortunately this does not.

The pedal is big but very light part of that is I have DG Island model that is in the old box which is made in the old style using bent metal. The new one is in the popular cast metal box favoured by the majority of the industry.
I find the Island grapics delightfully tacky. LOL

The general overall effect is like a late 60's Plexi being drive by a 60's germanium fuzz. Over the last few days it has inspired me to come up with a tune 
that has that early blues rock blended into what is now seen as early Metal.

The Dr. No KaFuzz is very much in this same teritotry. Check out the post it is worth comparing.

APR. 14/18__ So it is the weekend and I am in the city for band practise where my stage gear is ....perhaps needless to say the pedal sounds even better with a bit of stage level gain.

Damn though ...there isn't any room left on my board ...I better get my act together soon and build my new 'twin boards' There will be 3 boards in all. 
My present board is 3'x2'. A heavy Monster! 
The 'twins' will be 3'x1' 9" and light. A third will be for the Roland ES-5 'Switcher'. The old board holds 50 pedals ...the trio will take around 60.


FINAL NOTE:

If your real desire is to find the ultimate dirt sound consider a Metal pedal ...check out the Post 
OVERDRIVE- REVV AMPLIFICATION G Series G3

Als0 check out Fuzz/OD-DEEP TRIP Hellbender which is a cross between the other 2 pedals.