Germanium based mic preamp
Germanium transistors were the latest technology in the early 1960s, but
rapid technological evolution meant they disappeared in a few short years.
This is a shame, because they offered a unique sound that was not like the
modern silicon transistor sound or the vintage tube sound.
When companies in the west stopped making germanium alloy transistors, Soviet
plants kept manufacturing them until the 1990s and they developed these transistors to a much higher level of refinement than anything made in the days when GE and RCA were making them. We take advantage of the best germanium transistors made, along with the best of all the other components that go into our products, because we can.
The Model 511 Germanium Preamplifier is a reasonably quiet microphone preamp with plenty of gain, but with a sound all its own that you will instantly
recognize. What’s more, the preamplifier front end actually sounds good when overloaded; rather than an ugly buzzy overload sound, it gives a dense and mellow overload. This allows it to be used for aggressive limiting on everything from vocals to horns.
