Germanium Boost

Benson Amps was founded in 2012 by Chris Benson in Portland, Oregon, after his years as a repair tech at Verellen Amps and Old Town Music. Known for handwired, roadworthy amplifiers, Benson expanded into pedals that capture the same ethos: player-friendly designs built for working musicians.

The Germanium Boost solves the classic problem with germanium transistors: temperature sensitivity. Benson's proprietary voltage-controlled error-correction circuit continuously monitors and adjusts the bias point, eliminating the drift and unpredictable behavior that plague vintage germanium designs.

The single-knob interface belies the engineering underneath. Enhanced input headroom and optimized impedance mean it plays well anywhere in your signal chain—before or after other pedals, with humbuckers or single coils. The germanium character adds subtle warmth and compression without the temperamental behavior.