Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Hagerman's Gamma Radiation harnesses 7 x Transistors for a highly textured 2-Clipping Stage Distortion - with 43dB's of gain onboard
I’m a huge fan of discrete transistor overdrives and distortions - they tend to deliver some of the most richly textured outputs. And here we have 7 Silicon Transistors split into 2-Clipping Stages, with the ’Energy’ Tone Ctrl coming between those 2 stages and acting like a sort of Treble Booster to enhance certain frequencies and textures. The second Tone control then further refines the output!
This pedal has been out for a couple of years - I’ve only just recently come across this courtesy of my friend Paul L Ewing’s Stomp Box Steals Site.
Jim Hagerman describes his Gamma Radiatiøn as follows :
"GAMMA RADIATIØN is a distortion pedal kit where you do final assembly yourself. The circuit board is preassembled and tested; all you need to do is plug all the pieces together. Based on my "gamma" patent from 1995, this circuit runs two clipping stages in series with an ENERGY (tone) control in between, for more control of voicing. Turn down the DRIVE control and the volume on your guitar for spooky clean, warm tones. Crank it for radiant joy. Plenty of output level for overdriving your amp as well."
So in a similar way to the JHS NOTAKLÖN and NOTADÜMBLË pedal kits - the PCB is fully loaded, and you just really need to slot the board in and attach the Jacks, no soldering is required!
Controls - Level, Drive (43dB of Gain), Tone, Medial Tone Control.
Of course I've just recently picked up the Horrothia Triage Deluxe Transistor Preamp - and that's one of several Transistor Overdrives / Distortions that I own - I've always liked the textured output of Discrete Transistor overdrives - and this is a unique variant of that type - as described above.
I know Jim Hagerman best for his many Tube Preamps, Overdrives and Boosts. He famously recently released the Tubekløn which will probably go on the wishlist too - while my likeliest next Hagerman acquisition is the Reactivator 12AU7 Tube + 4 Transistor Overdrive - with separate Boost Channel.
Walrus Audio also collaborated with Jim for their Silt Harmonic Fuzz.
The Gamma Radiatiøn is just $129 on the Hagerman Amps Webstore. I paid a further $30 for shipping to the UK, and mine should arrive within a week or two hopefully!
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