Electronic Audio Experiments Halberd X Benson Ge Boost

We have been longtime mutual admirers of the fine folks at Benson Amps. To commemorate both Benson Fest 2024 and our camaraderie, we cooked up this 2-in-1 combo pedal featuring the Germanium Boost and the Halberd.

The Halberd is a staple of our lineup, delivering transistor-flavored overdrive with a distinctive weight and clarity that make it hard to turn off. The Germanium Boost is a master class in elegant electronic design, containing an automatic biasing circuit that elevates even the lowliest old stock transistor into a colorful gain stage. As soon as we got our hands on a Germanium Boost for the first time, we knew these circuits were made for each other.

Both sides are individually switchable. By default, the Boost is fed into the Halberd—it’s the perfect way to kick the drive sound into high gear. To add further versatility, we broke out separate inputs and outputs for each pedal. The output of the Boost is normalled to the input of the Halberd by default, but you are free to route them any way you like. Put other pedals between them, swap the order, even run them in parallel in a dual mono configuration.

The artwork, by our good friend Bryan Aiken, features a medieval spin on the iconic Benson amps floral tolex pattern, serving as a visual expression of our mutual mind meld. We had fun bringing this pairing to life, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.