Electronic Audio Experiments / Benson Amps Halberd + Germanium Boost

We have been longtime mutual admirers of the fine folks at Benson Amps. To commemorate both Benson Fest 2024 and our camaraderie, we cooked up this 2-in-1 combo pedal featuring the Germanium Boost and the Halberd.

The Halberd is a staple of our lineup, delivering transistor-flavored overdrive with a distinctive weight and clarity that make it hard to turn off. The Germanium Boost is a master class in elegant electronic design, containing an automatic biasing circuit that elevates even the lowliest old stock transistor into a colorful gain stage. As soon as we got our hands on a Germanium Boost for the first time, we knew these circuits were made for each other.

Both sides are individually switchable. By default, the Boost is fed into the Halberd—it’s the perfect way to kick the drive sound into high gear. To add further versatility, we broke out separate inputs and outputs for each pedal. The output of the Boost is normalled to the input of the Halberd by default, but you are free to route them any way you like. Put other pedals between them, swap the order, even run them in parallel in a dual mono configuration.

The artwork, by our good friend Bryan Aiken, features a medieval spin on the iconic Benson amps floral tolex pattern, serving as a visual expression of our mutual mind meld. We had fun bringing this pairing to life, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Note: the Germanium Boost takes about 10-20 seconds to stabilize when first powered on.

• Boost (unlabeled, but you can’t miss it): Sets the output level of the Germanium Boost. More is better.

• Pre: This sets the overall signal gain of the Halberd. Lower settings impart light compression, then increasing amounts of clipping up to a fuzzy overdrive, depending on the Voice and Depth settings.

• Depth: This is an adjustable low frequency shelving filter at the Halberd’s input, and is very interactive with the setting of the Pre control. It can be thought of as a second gain control affecting low frequencies only.

• Tone: This is an adjustable high shelf cut at the Halberd’s output, helpful for taming harsher frequencies especially at high gain settings.

• Post: This sets the Halberd’s overall output level, and is buffered for full transparency at all signal levels.

• Voice: 3 position switch to set the Halberd’s overall drive character

  • Clang (up): increases gain in the upper midrange, for an aggressive sound and a sharp attack

  • Standard (middle): moderate gain with a gentle mid push; identical to Halberd V1

  • Deep (down): a full range gain boost with woolly saturation and a fuzzy note attack

We have been longtime mutual admirers of the fine folks at Benson Amps. To commemorate both Benson Fest 2024 and our camaraderie, we cooked up this 2-in-1 combo pedal featuring the Germanium Boost and the Halberd.

The Halberd is a staple of our lineup, delivering transistor-flavored overdrive with a distinctive weight and clarity that make it hard to turn off. The Germanium Boost is a master class in elegant electronic design, containing an automatic biasing circuit that elevates even the lowliest old stock transistor into a colorful gain stage. As soon as we got our hands on a Germanium Boost for the first time, we knew these circuits were made for each other.

Both sides are individually switchable. By default, the Boost is fed into the Halberd—it’s the perfect way to kick the drive sound into high gear. To add further versatility, we broke out separate inputs and outputs for each pedal. The output of the Boost is normalled to the input of the Halberd by default, but you are free to route them any way you like. Put other pedals between them, swap the order, even run them in parallel in a dual mono configuration.

The artwork, by our good friend Bryan Aiken, features a medieval spin on the iconic Benson amps floral tolex pattern, serving as a visual expression of our mutual mind meld. We had fun bringing this pairing to life, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Note: the Germanium Boost takes about 10-20 seconds to stabilize when first powered on.

• Boost (unlabeled, but you can’t miss it): Sets the output level of the Germanium Boost. More is better.

• Pre: This sets the overall signal gain of the Halberd. Lower settings impart light compression, then increasing amounts of clipping up to a fuzzy overdrive, depending on the Voice and Depth settings.

• Depth: This is an adjustable low frequency shelving filter at the Halberd’s input, and is very interactive with the setting of the Pre control. It can be thought of as a second gain control affecting low frequencies only.

• Tone: This is an adjustable high shelf cut at the Halberd’s output, helpful for taming harsher frequencies especially at high gain settings.

• Post: This sets the Halberd’s overall output level, and is buffered for full transparency at all signal levels.

• Voice: 3 position switch to set the Halberd’s overall drive character

  • Clang (up): increases gain in the upper midrange, for an aggressive sound and a sharp attack

  • Standard (middle): moderate gain with a gentle mid push; identical to Halberd V1

  • Deep (down): a full range gain boost with woolly saturation and a fuzzy note attack