The other unit, which I decided to keep and whose internals I’ll be sharing with you today, is still a bit “hissy” compared to its less expensive (new) Manayo predecessor showcased in November, but not egregiously so…yet, at least…Ī few basics before proceeding with the dissection: first, the XLR connector:
#GE TRANSISTOR RADIO VINTAGE FULL#
Alas, my repeated efforts to contact Triton Audio via email went un-responded perhaps the “lifetime warranty” is only valid for the original product owner? Conversely, to TradePort USA’s credit, they did respond to my outreach (promptly so, in fact) and offered a full refund, including picking up the tab for return shipping.
The “lifetime warranty” promise is also documented right on the company website’s product page. Please contact us directly at to get a replacement unit. Therefore we give a lifetime warranty on the NOS germanium transistor. Unfortunately, because we use a ‘new old stock’ germanium transistor, in rare occasions the transistor can go wrong over time. Next to that we listen to every single FetHead Germanium before it is shipped. The transistors we use in our FetHead Germanium are selected and tested by hand. User forum discussions revealed that this was a known issue: see, for example, this company representative’s post in that same discussion thread: One of them, however, exhibited an audible “hissy” background noise “floor”, repeatable across the multiple microphones and audio interfaces I tried it with. Truth be told, I bought two FetHead Germaniums, both on eBay from TradePort USA, both advertised as “open box”, and both priced at just over $40. A low impedance output buffer provides output drive to long cables. We created a novel hybrid circuit that consists of low noise JFETs and a hand-selected ‘new old stock’ germanium transistor to take full advantage of the “Germanium” sound and at the same time achieve the same sonic quality we are known for. Germanium transistors were widely used in earliest transistor designs by Neve, EMI, Telefunken, and Fairchild, and have developed a reputation for a decidedly vintage mojo that remains sought after today. Our FetHead Germanium utilizes tried and true FET technology combined with a hand selected “New Old Stock” Germanium transistor to deliver 29dB’s of germanium flavored boost. Sounding full and rich it is reminiscent of much higher priced vintage gear, making FetHead Ge’s desirable coloration a really great addition to (interface) preamps which sound rather neutral. It provides a punchy and direct, ‘larger than life’ germanium sound for dynamic and ribbon microphones. This proliferation of the FetHead product foundation…well…I’ll let the manufacturer explain:įetHead Germanium is high quality in-line microphone preamplifier. Your high school chemistry memory hasn’t failed you yet they indeed stand for “Germanium”. Look closely and you’ll see the letters “Ge” next to the product name.
Popular activators can cost well over a hundred dollars mine set me back less than $40 and works fine. The nifty thing about them is that they’re “fueled” by the same phantom power that would normally drive a condenser mic but won’t pass that DC on to the dynamic or ribbon mic, which doesn’t need it and could in fact be damaged by it. They’re therefore commonly referred to as in-line preamps you’ll also sometimes see them called “activators”. Such devices sit in-between a dynamic or ribbon microphone’s output and the audio interface or other connected device’s microphone input, boosting the levels to condenser microphone equivalents. That’s when I discovered I needed a “pre-pre-amplifier” (my wording), a widget which is also a requirement for similarly low output ribbon microphones.
While someone with a more booming voice than mine might be able to sustainably drive a dynamic mic to adequate output levels, my soft speech wasn’t up for the task, even if I cranked the audio interface’s preamp boost setting to the max (which would degrade SNR, of course)…that is, unless I shouted, which definitely wasn’t natural, not to mention unsustainable. Last November, within a “ microphone fundamentals” writeup of mine, I mentioned that an Audio-Technica AT2040 dynamic microphone I’d recently acquired had required additional signal boosting ahead of its connection to my audio interface device:
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