Solid gold beta germanium custom shop VS the Regular Beta What is the actual difference?

#2
Nighttrain1127 said:
I am looking at both of these pedals . anyone tried both and can offer info on the differences between these two ?
I am looking for tonal differences like smoother od and warmth ect. not the build/component difference.


Thanks
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There are good clips available of all three versions, have you listened to them yet? I'd suggest that as a good starting place, and make sure you listen through good speakers or headphones.
 
#3
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The Custom Shop Germanium Beta is a specialized tuning of our highly successful Beta bass overdrive. Featuring a dynamic JFET preamp and a quartet of NOS Soviet Germanium diodes, the Germanium Beta offers gobs of gooey, vintage tone with increased compression, softer clipping and tighter saturation. The range of the Germanium Beta has also been tweaked offering more available treble response, a flatter mid structure, and slightly tighter low-end presence. Shroud in our signature Bullion Gold and Black colors, the Germanium Beta is a great choice for those looking for a uniquely smooth take on the classic Beta bass overdrive.
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#5
Nighttrain1127 said:
I did listen to them but was just looking for information from anyone that has actually used them . Thanks for the video links.
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The Ge Beta *just* came out, you'll be hard pressed to find many people that have tried it at this point in time...although there may be a few early adopters out there. Maybe you should be the first to grab one and make the comparison. ;)
 
#7
Nighttrain1127 said:
That is exactly what I was trying to avoid. Having to buy them both and then lose money on one when I have to flip it.
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Give it a few months, they'll pop up for sure. Then just buy both used, you should be able to flip the one you don't want easily enough.

I tried a regular Beta and didn't much care for it, and owned a Black Beta (LM308) which sounded amazing on its own but got buried in a live mix, so I sold it. I don't think I'll try the Ge Beta...
 
#9
I will probably pull the trigger on the Germanium at some point in the near future. Currently I am a Beta Drive owner and I am in love with this pedal. Total Motown thump, dub kind of sound. Used as my (almost) "always on" pedal (some times it is just too deep with not enough clarity for certain grooves). But if you're into the vintage sound (i.e. rolled off highs and pronounced low-mids with some hair on it) it's a winner for sure.

I'm actually hoping the Germanium fills in the gap for the other 25% of the time that I need a more hi-fi sound but with the same sort of bottom end. While I haven't used it (and it is pretty new so reviews are gonna be scarce for a little while) I can say from videos I've watched that it appears to truly be very similar to the original Beta (gain staging and breakup is about the same), but without the vintage EQ of the beta.
 
#15
So the solid gold custom shop germanium od came in Friday along with my Barbershop the two are really nothing alike. The solid gold has a nice grindy buzz to it and you can make it more buzzy by turning the tone up. If you leave the tone centered and the gain low it can sound kind of like the barbershop but not as touch sensitive . The more gain you add the more od/dist you get. It can get pretty crazy with my Darkstarred P-Bass . If I turn the output of the bass all the way up there is no clean on the custom shop germanium . The barbershop handles this much better but I did not get the solid gold for clean. Now to find a normal solid gold beta so I can compare the two. Also plan on getting a Blueberry and an amptweaker Bass Tight Fuzz see how that works out.
 
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#16
Nighttrain1127 said:
So the solid gold custom shop germanium od came in Friday along with my Barbershop the two are really nothing alike. The solid gold has a nice grindy buzz to it and you can make it more buzzy by turning the tone up. If you leave the tone centered and the gain low it can sound kind of like the barbershop but not as touch sensitive . The more gain you add the more od/dist you get. It can get pretty crazy with my Darkstarred P-Bass . If I turn the output of the bass all the way up there is no clean on the custom shop germanium . The barbershop handles this much better but I did not get the solid gold for clean. Now to find a normal solid gold beta so I can compare the two. Also plan on getting a Blueberry and an amptweaker Bass Tight Fuzz see how that works out.
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The touch sensitivity thing (lack of) doesn't surprise me, as the Beta circuit is quite compressed in its nature (IMO/IME). I like the sounds of how dirty it can get, although the Black Beta definitely had lots of dirt on tap. My question would be how is it in a band mix. Keep posing updates, I look forward to hearing more!
 
#17
blindrabbit said:
The touch sensitivity thing (lack of) doesn't surprise me, as the Beta circuit is quite compressed in its nature (IMO/IME). I like the sounds of how dirty it can get, although the Black Beta definitely had lots of dirt on tap. My question would be how is it in a band mix. Keep posing updates, I look forward to hearing more!
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The classic Beta is very touch sensitive so I'm suprised that the Germanium wouldn't be. I keep mine on one setting 99% of the time and between how aggressively I play and my volume knob I can go all the way from clean to full on vintage grind.
 
#18
Esoge said:
The classic Beta is very touch sensitive so I'm suprised that the Germanium wouldn't be. I keep mine on one setting 99% of the time and between how aggressively I play and my volume knob I can go all the way from clean to full on vintage grind.
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I had the opposite experience with the classic/Orange Beta, I found it to have a compressed quality that couldn't be dialed out, no matter the setting.
 
#19
blindrabbit said:
I had the opposite experience with the classic/Orange Beta, I found it to have a compressed quality that couldn't be dialed out, no matter the setting.
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I'd agree with compressed. But compressed on the way out. The input is still very touch sensitive at least in my experience. Takes a little fiddling to find the sweet spot but once you do it's a "set it and forget it" kind of thing.

I'm also curious if you play passive or active. Because I found that all my basses work beautifully with it because they're passive but my friends active bass was way too hot for the pedal with out some sort of buffer to bring down the volume before it hits the input stage of the Beta.
 
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#20
The Barbershop is very touch sensitive in comparison the beta Germanium takes a bit more to get it to growl depending on how high you have the gain set. But it does have a lot more Midrange not as dark or compressed as the original Beta going from memory. I like the new one (CS Germanium) will use it no band setting probably Wednesday . It is definitely more open sounding depending on where you have the tone set but it does not get as thick and gooey as the Non CS.
 
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