Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Talisman Audio makes excellent use of a Soviet GP7 Gas Mask Canister to house its superior all-Soviet 2-Stage Ge/Si Transistor Switching Fuzz
So the enclosure and Transistors are period correct Soviet varieties - direct from the Cold War era! Moreover the Germaninum Q1 Stage makes use of a Sziklai pair of Germanium Transistors to exceptional effect.
Below you can see the actual GP7 Gas Mask - with said green canister on the side. I’m sure the Russian engineers would not have expected those to eventually end up as musical devices. Fantastic quality on the mask - with those brass insets - looks a bit sci-fi to me!
This GP7 Fuzz for me is far cooler and more practical than a vintage Fuzz Face - and of course a much rarer beast - particularly in the UK - where those GP7 Gas Mask Canisters are somewhat hard to come by.
Talisman's Tom has done a superb job here with the component selection, and the overall functionality - which includes a central Bias knob, and a Bright Cap switch, and of course the right-hand Q2 Ge/Si switch.
For Q1 we have GT404B and GT303D arranged as a Sziklai pair - this is done to multiply the output of lower gain transistors to make them useful for higher gain applications. All fuzz circuits require a certain hFE value, and specific level of leakage - which means that when you acquire a bag / box of transistors - only a small percentage will have the correct value range for those applications. By utilising the Sziklai pair method - you can combine 2 lower gain Transistors to deliver those higher values you need.
The end result is of course a fantastic sounding fully searing fuzz. I am very familiar with Soviet Transistors by now - as scores of my fuzz pedals feature them - the former eastern block is one of the few places you can still get hold of decent quantities of high value germanium transistors.
Controls - Fuzz, Bias, Level, Bright Cap : Off / On, Ge/Si Switch : GE MP37B / SI KT3102EM
The one proviso for this fuzz - is that you will have figure out a smart way to fix it to your board - via some kind of rim mechanics. As the perspex base plate is about 1/2" in which means it's tricky for velcro arrangement. I managed to find suitable transparent rubber feet / bumpers of the appropriate height - for my purposes - which need to be artfully arrange so as not to obscure the pretty point-to-point circuit inside - as you can see in the above visual!
There's a vast range of tones and textures onboard - while I always like my fuzz faces to be somewhat high-octane - and relatively cranked. Ancient wisdom on those early Fuzz Faces is to crank both the dials on those original devices. That was in part down to their reduced output. No such issue with this GP7 - it's loud and fierce in the best possible way.
I like both the Bright and Stock Modes on the Left-hand toggle-switch. While overall the stock Mode delivers more oomph - so that one's my default. And it's a similar story for the Right-hand toggle-switch - where I love the sound of that MP37B! The KT3102EM does that typical wiry silicon thing - which sounds great too, but for me there's always something extra special about those very best Germanium Transistors - and some of those Soviet ones have a really gorgeous sear to them - on top of those glorious rich gritty harmonics.
So the Left switch gets flipped quite regularly, but the Right one is mostly stuck on Germanium.
As for the 3 knobs - I tend to prefer Fuzz @ 3 o'c, Bias @ 10 o'c, and Level @ 3 o'c - that sounds particularly open, searing and beautifully harmonically richly textured.
As a classic 2-Stage Transistor circuit this has exceptional guitar volume gain cleanup - so you can ride the Fuzz / Gain fairly high on the pedal - and then temper that with your guitar volume.
Much like the Blue FX Piluxx Fuzz I reviewed yesterday - this is an equally perfect execution. That GP7 Canister is absolutely the perfect vehicle for this fuzz - and Tom has kept up the theme throughout. Totally a weapon's grade Fuzz - from the components it's made of!
All round excellent truly - I could not be more pleased. Initially the other Talisman I acquired - the Deluxe Face Blender was a little more immediate for me - but this GP7 is capable of equally great tones - you just need to dial it in right!
There's just something magical about the combination of that shape of enclosure and those components a fantastic and very distinct fuzz!
A GP7 Ge/Si Fuzz can be yours for just £250 - which I feel is excellent value for the uniqueness and engineering prowess of this circuit - which is of course a gorgeous and finely hand-wired point-to-point circuit.
Tom is currently working on a website - in the meantime you will need to contact him via www.instagram.com/talismanaudio/, and make payments via PayPal.
The Deluxe Face Blender review will be up next week!
Demos
www.instagram.com/p/DNLTVbbMEeN/
No YouTube Channel yet, that it fortcoming - but the above link takes you to an excellent Instagram demo.
