Germanium circuit: 500 or 19" rack? For dirt/drive or colouration.

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Joined
Nov 13, 2017
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Just posting this here to see what might be out there, sorry if it's in the wrong forum!

So, I already have gemanium fuzz and drive pedals for running my guitar into - one of my favourites is the Hudson Broadcast. I just love the way it sounds but it doesnt have enough headroom for line level instruments and I wanted to avoid buying a conversion box to match impedance, also it's not stereo.

Looking at my 500 racks I have a fair amount of modules to add some weight and colour to my drum machines, synths and tracks that I run out of my daw, but I was thinking about swapping some of the opamps on my API comps and CAPI BT50's which are currently loaded with 2520's. Im looking around to see if there's an API standard opamp that uses germanium transistors for some grit and drive.

I'm aware of the CA 0252 and the louder than liftoff rogue six, infact I think I have a VC528 with a pair of the 0252's in it.

I was also wondering if there is there any kind of DIY germanium unit, either 500 series (preferably of which I could use two) or a stereo 19" rack that utilises germanium opamps for dirt/drive/colouration? I think I would prefer to stick to as lower cost as possible and also something in the 500 series. Chandler is out of my price range and as far as I know TK audio discontinued the DP series preamps :(

Are there any kits or prebuilt opamps floating around that might add some significant colouration and drive? Or an off the shelf unit that can be modded relatively easily?

I was thinking about ripping apart 2 hudson broadcasts and building them into a small case and adding balanced inputs and outputs but my circuitry and electrical skills aren't really up to par.

Sorry about the direction of this post and the incoherence of my thoughts, it's kinda hard for me to break down whats in my head when I think of an idea or concept.
 
Nice to see our DP preamp mentioned here! A new DP3 is beta tested right now and will be released soon.
About the Chandler germanium, their potted germanium amp block is more or less a Neve B104 amp = germanium versio of the BA283 output stage. A funny thing is that the feedback and gai controls are doing the same thing, adjusting the negative feedback.
 
It's by no means the fun of building, but do check out the Kludge Germanium preamp for 500 series. Though I wish there were an output trim to drive the input a little harder, it is a heavenly sounding beast for when you want 'that germanium thing'. Priced very fairly to boot.
 
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