Thorpy kind of reissues his Germanium Veteran - but across 2 separate compact pedals - the Have Blue Germanium Rangemaster and Tacit Blue Germanium Fuzz Face
OK - so it’s important to go back to the root of things to fully explain this launch. It goes back to 2017 - when Thorpy made a limited run release of the original ’Veteran’ combined Fuzz Face and Rangemaster. Only 100 were made of that model, populated with AC128 Germanium Transistors at that time - for what is still the rarest proper Thorpy production model run to date - excluding one-off specials.
Germanium Transistors are in limited and fast-dwindling supply - and their manufacturing variances mean you get a lot of unsuitable candidates from the same batch - where the attrition can be as much as 90% for certain applications. It involves a painstaking process of testing each Transistor for hFE and leakage and pairing them up for certain applications. So at the outset of such a project you don’t know how many of each pedal you can make - where you require 1 Transistor for the Rangemaser, and 2 for the Fuzz Face.
Thorpy favours the same transistor type for both those applications - which on this occasion is the same kind of military spec Transistor of a similar sort that was used on the Boneyard Multi-Bender. I’ve been sworn to secrecy - so the exact reference is a detail I cannot reveal!
Many, including my good self have been gently badgering Thorpy to do some sort of limited reissue of the Germanium Veteran - and where he never wants to do the same thing twice - he’s therefore split the two halves of the circuit into separate standard Thorpy Compact enclosures.
Per the below visual - this is simply an extraction / extrapolation from the original Veteran, while Thorpy has made some slight enhancements to those circuits - utilising NPN Type Transistors on this occasion, and also deploying an audio transformer in each pedal - such that you have a much freer placement of that pedal on your board - i.e. making them supremely pedalboard-friendly!
Due to the limited nature of the components used - only a few hundred (low hundreds) of each will be made!
So the two halves as such of the Veteran are translated to the 'Have Blue' Rangemaster, and 'Tacit Blue' Fuzz Face - where they each have the same controls as the original circuits - just in slightly different positions!
The pedal names are obviously derived from the military as all of Thorpy's pedal monikers are. The 'Have Blue' and 'Tacit Blue' are famous pioneering stealth aircraft prototypes - where the Lockheed Have Blue Stealth Fighter prototype was operational from 1977-1979 - where it later evolved into the F-117A Nighthawk. While the Northrop Tacit Blue was a prototype low-observable stealth surveillance craft - whose brief operation spanned 1982-1985.
These two pedals are the first to come under a special 'Secret Projects' Thorpy division - which has several more evolved designs in the works. The Tacit Blue was originally Secret Project #1, and the Have Blue - Secret Project #2 - where the early editions went to a very select and secret VIP cabal of pedal luminaries / collectors / enthusiasts well beyond my own humble everyman level.
Secret Projects #1 & #2
Have Blue Germanium Rangemaster - £249.99
Controls - Boost, Range.
The same Germanium Transistor is deployed here as in the Tacit Blue Fuzz Face - it's fairly high gain - and yields superior dynamics and headroom - with a most glorious texture. The Boost knob is a sort of Master Volume - impacting both Output and Gain, while the Range knob allows you to focus on specific frequency clusters across its sweep - where it is of course a Treble Booster at its peak.
Tacit Blue Germanium Fuzz Face - £299.99
Controls - Volume, Fuzz, Smooth (Impedance), Bias.
A gloriously textured extended range Germanium Fuzz face - with additional but essential for me - Smooth / Impedance and external Bias knobs.
I've not had too much time with my Tacit Blue so far - but Thorpy is a Fuzz Master of course - and this sounds glorious from the start - just as impressive for me as his killer Boneyard on first audition, and surely a must-have for all fuzz fans. While this is my 95/96th Fuzz Face I believe - and still an essential buy!
Both pedals here are very reasonably priced for what they are - while it's quite a big outlay if you go for both at once - £550! The Fuzz is the more important one for me - and that's already secured now - I need to be quick to make up my mind about if I want the Have Blue too - as limited quantities of each mean that these won't be around for too long! I'm hoping there will still be some Have Blues around at the start of next month!
So for everyone clamouring for a reissue of the Germanium Veteran - here is your new and improved candidate / or more correctly candidates! Have at it!
Both varieties of course available from the ThorpyFX Webstore and imminently at international dealers courtesy of MAS Distro. You will have to make up your mind which of the two to go for - the Tacit Blue, Have Blue, or both!
Demos
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
