Bows Germanium Preamp Booster
Aaron Rogers
Ho! Ho! Ho! Wrap up your tone tighter than Christmas in July with the Bows Germanium Preamp Booster! The Bows is a transistor-based boost/overdrive that's anything but clean, and naughtier than, well, a really naughty thing. It features selectable "Treble" and "Full" modes and an extra 15dB of gain above unity to squeeze a diamond from that lump of coal you call a guitar tone.
In "Full" mode, the Bows adds a beefy low-end push without getting flabby, like Santa Claus running a marathon in the desert, which makes it great for thick, chunky rhythm playing. The Bows' "Treble" mode excites the resonant vowel-like upper harmonics in your tone for rockin' cocked-wah lead sounds, and spiky, trebly, staccato bursts. Try wrapping the Bows around your favorite overdrive or fuzz pedals for a confetti explosion of sound!
The Bows is a Germanium preamp designed around a rare NOS OC139 black glass transistor. For being a little one-knobber the Bows wears many hats. Right out of the box it's got several tone shaping abilities spread between two modes: Full and Treble. Full mode is warm with a lot of body and low end. Treble mode is a resonant, treble booster with a “cocked wah” tone that can drive any tube amp into harmonic rich distortion territory. Each mode has a little bit of grit to start with, but as you get passed 12 o'clock on either setting their subtleties are accented. The vowel-like sound out of the Treble side will be more prevalent as you bring the Level up. Doing the same on Full mode will get you a nice, full bodied crunch tone that retains clarity. Place any drive pedal before the Bows and it's another story. Full mode turns a dirt signal into a crumbling wall of sonic chaos, while Treble mode becomes an ultimate lead tone. Each and every Bows is built one at a time by real life human beans in the temperature controlled bubble of Akron, Ohio.
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When he's not building pedals, EQD's Lamont Thomas is Obnox aka Nox. Watch him rip thru the garage-punk barnburner "Enter the Hater" and be sure to scoop up the seven (!) records he's slated to release this year. His latest LP, "Niggative Approach" is out now on 12XU!