Hartman Vintage Germanium Fuzz

Germanium Fuzz Face clones are generally the hardest pedals when it comes to fine tuning your sound.

With that in mind, this pedal is the easiest of all in the above mentioned category, and I have tried quite a lot.

Very warm, it excells on the low gain settings. Anyway this is described by Hartman as low gain fuzz, and that 's exactly what it is.

I wouldn't use the high gain settings on this pedal because of the heavy phasing that is produced in this settings.

Seems to be very well constructed. No problem of reliability whatsoever..

I play classic to southern and alternative rock as well as experimental folk.
I ve been playing guitar approx. 15 years and I am a fuzz freak. Don't use tubescreamers and distortions much, just fuzzes. I also own and currently use on my pedalboard a fuzz factory, and a Lovepedals 200lbs of tone.
Comparing to the Fulltone '69 which I used to own and sold, this pedal is way better in the low gain settings, but it is worse on the high gain, "The Stooges" type of tone. I prefer the Hartman.

Quick and easy to get a good out of it. Don't believe mine came with a manual of any kind. It had two knobs.. I'd call that easy enough.

Big, thick and full of sustain. Really nice when you hit it hard with a bridge pickup and some output. I found it right on the money for getting just about any big fat solo tone off of Dark Side of the Moon. Seriously, this pedal is the best I've heard for that tone.

I'm using an american strat with a seymour duncan P90 in the bridge, delta tone (stock) in the middle and a texas special in the neck > various pedals > '64 fender tremolux head and 2x12 avatar cab.

Fuzz is noisey at high levels, can't do a whole lot about it. For what it does, this thing is a the pure real deal.

Loved the way it lays into heavy chording. Very musical pedal.

Seems really well made to me. Most of these handmade pedals are.

Between analog man and robert keeley, I thought the business couldn't get better(they are really great at customer service), but Theo Hartman gave me the most in depth answers to my questions and beared with my lack of knowledge of fuzz pedals. A 10 without a doubt.

I ended up trying out both the silicon and the germanium pedals of Theo's, but neither of them was what I was looking for. Theo Hartman let me exchange the first and return the second. This was over a period of a few weeks. I had no problems and he was extremely helpful and kind throughout the whole process.


Thanks Theo.

I play all kinds of music. This pedal was awesome for those floyd sounds and thick vintage 60s tones. For me though, this just wasn't what I was looking for.

Incredibly easy to use. Simple controls and an excellent manual if you have any problems.

The sound quality on this is something else. I have the old tank metal big muff and have found that to be a very very inconsistent pedal. I run in the following order a Boss CS2,Marshall Vibratrem,BK Butler Tube Driver, Hartman NKT275 Hendrix Mod, Sovtek Big Muff, MXR Phase 90 script reissue, Morley Sapphire Flanger and Akai Headrush E2. The Hartman unit is mega quiet even with as big a chain as I have. I use a G&L ASAT Special into a Hiwatt Custom 50. I must say to everyone that I was after Pink Floyd Dark Side Era sound and THIS ABSOLUTELY NAILS IT DEAD ON!!!

Built like a tank and certainly don't expect any problems gigging it without a backup.

Theo is a great guy and replies personally to your mail. Item arrived quickly and without being charged for rip off UK import taxes, vat etc (thanks for that Theo!).

I play a lot of Floyd stuff and had the later era sound pretty much nailed but this certainly nails Dark Side and before. If it were lost at half the price of most boutique shit. Fantastic!!

Very easy to use, unless your wearing cement shoes and cant hit the button easily...seriously though simple dealwith volume and fuzz setting, plus an led. Has a 9 volt adapter jack.This is the NKT275 version, Theo builds two models and they are supplied with good paperwork.

I have been playing for 25 years, the typical older guitar hero stuff....Hendrix,Page,Lowell George, Zappa, etc. This box does a very nice version of most of the tones associated with the greats. It will give you a fat Sabbath tone and when rolled back(fuzz setting) it really gets a great vintage rythmn tone. Of course it responds perfectly with your guitars volume knob...almost like part of the amp. I dont have much trouble with it as far as feedback, it can get the occassional squeal with single coils, mine are fralin vintage hot and on the bridge pick up is when I have gotten this squeal it goes with the territory in my opinion( vitage effect)and is not much of a factor. I originally ran it into a 1970 Twin and it was very bluesy and almost like an Isle of White Hendrix tone with the fuzz set at say, 4 oclock posistion. Now I am using an X100B Carvin and the box is even better, it gives this amp a more vintage\earthy tone. This box works really well with my Dice Treble booster in front of it or behind it...I prefer behind with the Dice driving the Hartman then switching the Dice off for thick gorgeous lead tones. In fact with this amp I feel comfortable in saying that there is not a tone that isnt achievable by adjusting that Hartman one way or another! I love it! Played for 5 hours the day I got it and am still impressed after a few months and I am usually the type who buys an effect pedal and puts it in the chain only to have it sit idle...not this baby.

Dead reliable so far. I have played out with it probably 6 times and she is getting the usual bouncing around\ road abuse. I use it every time my band records. I cnat see ever needing a backup because it is very well built and looks really cool.

This guy Theo is really easy to order from, I got mine on Ebay. I can imagine that his service would be top notch.

You could use this pedal with almost any amp and the tone would improve, it is a great match for me. Like I said 25 years of playing...still going strong. I would for sure buy another if something happened to it. I know this thing would be a killer metal box if you took the time to figure it out, it is versatile in my opinion. Try one! They rock.

Plug it in, turn it on, find the level of fuzz you like, and let your guitar's volume pot control the rest. Very simple pedal to use. Theo also includes a nice detailed instruction sheet, so it would be pretty hard to be at a loss with this pedal.

This is it folks, the fuzz. It rocks, it rolls, it purrs, and it can bite, all in a good way! I have heard soundbites of more expensive boutique Fuzzface clones - this matches them, at half the price. This adds a lovely fuzz crunch to what ever you play, and is super responsive to pick attack, and cleans up beautifully when you roll off the volume knob on your guitar. This responsiveness makes you focus your playing, as it is such a musical fuzz that you want to hear everything you can do.
I play a wide range of styles from blues, to experimental ambient, to dub, to melodic rock, to my version of metal. I can use this pedal in all settings. I cant say how much that it will make you sound like this person or that person, because I mainly jam on my own stuff, but I reckon that you may be able to find "that sound" with this pedal (how many great artists use fuzz?!).
My set up is Epi Les Paul Deluxe ->Hartman fuzz ->Big Muff Pi ->Mini Q-tron ->Small Stone ->Small Clone ->Guyatone Trem ->Holy Grail ->Boss DM-2 ->Akai E1 Headrush ->CMI SG610 Valve Amp.
I have got a setup that over all I am pretty happy with, and the Hartman AC128 Fuzz is a beautiful addition. I was never 100% happy with the Muff, and this does so much more, though if you want something over the top (and somewhat over-processed) the Muff has its place! This is not a death metal/extreme noise pedal, but it is up there with the best that fuzz can do.
Finally, absolutely no noise/tone colouration from this pedal.

When I got this pedal, there was something rattling inside - not to worry it was just one screw loose, easy to fix (Theo said that he had never had that happen before). Inside this looks to be the best made pedal in my collection. The metal casing (which looks beautiful BTW- kudos to Theo for best looking finish!) appears as though it would stand up to serious stomping, so I could not foresee anything happening to this pedal. I am not rich so I don't have back ups, but I doubt you would need it!

Theo is fantastic. He has answered all of my queries, promptly, and provided me with everything that I needed to know about his well made pedals. I have had no problem with his pedal, but if I did, I think that he would be as helpful as he has been so far, so no worries there.

As i said before, Fuzz is what this pedal does, and it does it well. It sounds great, doesn't colour your tone, cleans up well, sings when pushed, and I found it interacts well with my other pedals. IMHO this pedal can improve your playing by virtue of its sound quality, and extreme playabilty. And yep, if it was lost (?!) or stolen I would be straight online for another. I looked into fuzzface clones for a while before I chose this one, I had had my heart set on Analogman's Sunfuzz. I think that this compares wonderfully, and is far better value, cosidering you get a comparable pedal at half the price.

2 knobs, very easy to use.

Excellent musical Fuzz
Gibson SG>Hartman Fuzz>Carr Slant 6V = Beatle's "Revolution" gtr sound.
Guild Starfire>Hartman Fuzz>Fender Deluxe = "Hey Bulldog"

We'll see, appears to be very meticulously constructed.

Direct communication with maker, very satisfactory

Excellent Pedal. I've been a professional gtr player since 1992. I have a lot of Distortion, overdrive and Fuzz pedals. The Hartman fuzz turns every head in the room with its
musical authentic sound, very very useful, which is about the best thing I can say about any
piece of gear.

The germanium fuzz made by Theo Hartman is a very simple pedal to use.Just volume and fuzz level.It is a clone of the old fuzz face,and to me it is a very dinamic,versatil pedal.

I dont use this pedal to get the sound of another guitarrists.Actualy I found a wonderffull sound that is my trademark,just very little fuzz and volume down on my guitar to get a old jazzy sound out of my tele.I play brazilian music,and also rock and have performed for over 35 years,for big audiences.Now I do lots of smaler shows,the retro jazzy bossa schmatz,wich I think is foolish,but americans love it,what can I do.this Fuz come in hand because I can have my sound,be fjazzy and everything in between.No noise.Sound quality up there with the best pedals.I do have some great stuff,its is tone heaven,and true bypass.Use with mesa boogie,and my secret amp the Clipperton by D-Labs,only 7 watts of pure bliss for the coffee shop type gigs,and recording.

I have only one and I thinks it will hold well in my pedalboard.

theo hartman is guitarrist too and he knows what we need.Very prompt,easy to deal with.

All sayd and done this is a good pedal for those who knows how to use pedals.The pedal is good,if you learn how to use it well,it can be used in any kind of music,as long you use it at the right place in the music.To me its is great and I am using it to sustain the notes,and with little fuzz,great fat notes.