Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro compressor pedal
True Grit
Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro compressor · Source: Pigtronix/YouTube
Pigtronix has added the new Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro pedal to its line-up. As the name suggests, it adds germanium diodes to the original Philosopher’s Tone pedal to widen the tonal characteristics.
Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro
If you are looking for a versatile ‘vintage flavoured’ compressor then this new Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro could well be worth considering. It is powered by germanium diodes that add a dash of nice usable distortion and has an internal 18V circuit, which in theory should give you a touch more headroom. Pigtronix states that it has “a smooth top-end and rich midrange response” and this is all piled on top of their original photo-optical compression circuit. I can imagine it should all make this quite a musical sounding compressor effect.
Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro compressor pedal · Source: Pigtronix
True Grit
This unit runs off a standard 9V power supply and is small enough to squeeze onto most pedal boards, yet still manages to have four dedicated control knobs labelled Volume, Blend, Sustain and Grit. The latter control lets you add in that germanium diode distortion part of the circuit, whilst the blend control allows you to bring in some of your unaffected clean guitar’s signal. That should help keep your playing dynamics intact.
Volume and Sustain are your normal compressor controls. I like that the pedal is pretty versatile while giving off a bit of a vintage vibe. Having that internal 18V headroom is always a bonus. It is also not overbearing and appears in the video below to allow the guitar to breathe and not mask the core tonal characteristics. This pedal can do both super clean and dirty, depending on how you dial it in.
The Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Germanium Gold Micro compressor pedal is, of course, true-bypass and so won’t mess with your tone, but be mindful that you can only run it off an external 9V power supply, which is not included in the price.
RRP – USD 134
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