Like the Germanium Fuzz before it, the Stonk Box attempts to take a classic 1960’s fuzz design, and bring the sound into the modern world without bringing any along the flaws and inconsistencies of the original. In this case, we set our eyes on the MK1 fuzz (which is itself a modified version of the very first fuzz ever). We kept the original controls (FILTER and VOLUME), and added a TONE control and a TRIM control to expand the palette of sounds available. Buffer and pedal order friendly (but with no pickup simulation, we had to tweak the output circuit this time). The original circuit is considered one of the hardest of the classic fuzzes to get right because of the difficulty in transistor selection...with our patented technology we can do it easily and consistently...for the first time ever! 

Demo by JHS Pedals

Demo by R.J.Ronquillo

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Stonk Box

We call this our Preamp because it is! The circuit is based on the our Chimera 30 watt guitar amplifier, but substitutes FET transistors for the vacuum tubes. The result is an extremely amp-like and versatile clean boost/overdrive/fuzz pedal that imparts rich harmonics and a very musical EQ to your signal chain…truly a Chimera in a box!

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Demo by Mike Hermans

Demo by Reverb

Preamp

When designing the temperature controlled fuzz, we tried some unusual approaches. One false start utilized a voltage controlled error correction circuit to bias a single germanium transistor. It ultimately didn’t work for the fuzz, which is comically sensitive to transistor gain attributes. 

We did find a place for it though. 

It turns out it was PERFECT for achieving a germanium clean boost that, (like our fuzz) is impervious to component drift, leakage, and temperature....moreso in fact. We also fixed a couple other issues preventing the germanium transistor from being used as a convinc- ing linear boost...we increased the input headroom (even a normal guitar signal will drive a germanium transistor into unwanted input distortion without some tweaks) and increased the input impedance (a BJT transistor would normally thin out bass frequencies and interact negatively with whatever flows into it). 

The result is a germanium clean boost that can utilize a germanium transistor WITHOUT the weird artifacts that were previously accepted as part of the deal...temperature sensitivity, drift, and suboptimal input impedance and headroom. 

After the boost is first powered up, it takes about ten seconds before the error correction circuit correctly biases the germanium transistor After this things get interesting....we can hear how having the boost engaged makes guitar signals sound more musical...even when set at the same volume as the bypassed tone. Notes are given a simultaneously smoother and more detailed character, like a compressor but different. Some people we’ve shown it to have noted that it appears to deemphasize the unwanted parts of a signal and enhance the good. It’s killer on bass. It helps acoustic guitar pickups sound more natural. And of course it’ll push your amp into a frenzy. 

Demo by JayLeonardJ

Demo by Demos In the Dark

Demo by AndyDemos

Germanium Boost

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The Cast Iron Stonk Box is a collaboration between KGR Harmony in Oshu, Japan and Knobhead PDX. We’ve known about Keijiro’s cast iron pedals for a while… He has a fantastic pedal line that utilize hand forged iron enclosures (in a foundry that also creates traditional cast iron tetsubin teapots… We recommend looking up the history of these… It is fascinating). 

Keijiro visited us a couple years ago and we floated the idea of doing a run of Benson Pedals using cast iron… He instantly said yes!

We reached out to Paige at Knobhead PDX to create some cool custom knobs for the project… We were going for something elemental that would offset the cold brutality of the iron with some warmth and light. We settled on a clear amber-ish resin which we feel achieves the effect we wanted nicely. 

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