The Germanium pre-amp design by Chandler Limited designer Wade Goeke uses classic germanium transistors in all class A, transformer-balanced circuits. The use of germanium devices opens a whole new sound palate not found in any pro audio equipment currently manufactured.These incredibly smooth-sounding transistors were the basis of the earliest transistor designs by Neve, EMI, Telefunken, and Fairchild. Those familiar with these units can attest to the special sound of the germanium transistor. The Germanium series runs on +40 volt power, high current, and has a huge +34 output before clipping. The sound is warm and smooth, as with many vintage style circuits, but you'll find a whole new world of smooth audio here as well as a sound that settles in perfectly to your tracks without fighting. Add these new circuits to Chandler's new transformer line that combines the best parts of Chandler's favorite trannies, St Ives and Gardners, into new great-sounding input and output transformers.Gain/Germainium Drive This is your standard input gain control. It is a 10-position Elma switch with 3dB step increments. The full range of the unit is -5dB, with the pad, to +65dB, without the pad and Germanium Drive and Feeback at full. The actual amount of overall gain, however, is affected by feedback control. When the gain is at 0 and the feedback is at 0, the overall gain is +10dB. Increasing the feedback to 10 changes the overall gain to +40dB, with all the tonal changes described under the feedback control. Using different combinations of feedback and input gain is essential if you want to take advantage of all the tones available from the Germanium pre-amp.Feedback The Feedback control is essential to the sound and function of this pre-amp. Audio amplifiers incorporate some amount of negative feedback, which is where the output signal of the amplifier is fed back to its input. This affects the sound and function of the amplifier in many ways. THD, frequency response, gain, and amplifier stabilization change considerably with varying feedback. In use, you will find these results: When feedback is at 0 the unit will produce more high frequency information, less THD, less gain, and generally a more pristine, clear tone. Pushing the feedback higher will add THD, gain, a small bass rise, and a small high-end roll-off.Pad switch A 15dB Pad switch. Do not be afraid to use the pad on the unit as you will not find the adverse effects associated with many pads. The Pad is also very helpful with discovering all the tonal variations that the Germanium is capable of producing. Use the Pad when you are driving the Germanium very hard to keep the output levels in a usable range. Another important use for the Pad is to drop the gain to a line level while sending tape/disk tracks or line sources into the transformer-balanced rear input.Thick switch The Thick switch adds a gentle low end rise to the signal. It sounds simple but all of Chandler's beta testers commented about this being their favorite part of the unit. One said, "Why don't you just wire it in permanently?" and, "It's great for making large, meaty guitars."VU Meter An LED meter that functions in two ranges. The ranges are from -12 to +3 and +5 to +20dB. You can select the range with the pushbutton to the left of the meter.DI/Unbalanced In This is an unbalanced input for guitar, bass, samples, etc. Simply throw the toggle switch and you're off.48-volt switching 48 volt switches phantom power.Phase Reverses the polarity of the pre-amp's output.Special note about Thick switch In some cases, when extremely high gain and feeddack are used with transformerless microphones, you may get oscillation from the Germanium pre-amp. This is a very rare occasion, but Chandler thought it was worth mentioning. This was not compensated for in the final design for two reasons. First, any correction of this changed the sound of the pre-amp. Second, it happens in very rare instances when a combination of Gain, Feedback, Thick, and a transformerless mic are used, and all oscillation can be removed when the Pad is engaged.