This germanium Pre-Amp boost is a reproduction of a rare 1950's Hofner Preamp unit.  It was designed to be used in the auxiliary input of the typical 1950's home's stereo hifi console or tape recorder (all which would be vacuum tube based) and allow a guitar to be plugged in and amplified. Effectively making your home radio into a guitar amplifier.  The only modifications to the circuit are a volume control and to remove the shock protection capacitor.  That capacitor was in place to eliminate the possibility of being shocked by a "hot chassis" radio.  In pedal form it is not needed, so we bypassed that section.  the Volume control allows you to dial in the amount of boost this circuit provides.

As a pedal this circuit is a fantastic clean or dirty boost.  Into a clean amp and lower volumes, it is a germanium loud button!  It just takes your signal and makes it quite a bit louder and sweeter.  Into a dirty amp, it pushes the signal into further overdrive.  With the volume control ay max into a dirty amp, it sounds like a vintage tweed amp on the verge of imploding into itself. 

​

Each Pre-Amp features

​

Point-to-point thru-hole construction

​

Vintage 1960's Philips AC107 transistor 

​

Vintage CTS, Stackpole, Clarostat potentiometer

​

NOS Philips electrolytic capacitors

​

1960's Wima TFF capacitor 

​

NOS Allen-Bradley carbon comp resistors 

​

Housed in a hammertone  gray 125b enclosure with Fairchild reproduction knob and dial plate