B.G. Harding Zonk vs Zonk II comparison (silicon vs germanium)

As you can hopefully tell, they sound similar but not the same. The germanium Zonk (the blue one) is brighter and always gated. As you turn down the guitar volume, it only gets more gated.
With the silicon Zonk II (the silver one) you can get a clean sound if you set the bias (middle knob) hotter (counter-clockwise) and reduce the guitar volume. If you set it colder, it will be gated and stay gated as you reduce the guitar volume.
The germanium version is a positive ground circuit like most vintage fuzz, whereas the silicon one is negative ground, like most modern pedals. This is a departure from the original Zonk II from the 60's, which had a positive ground despite being a silicon based fuzz. The original also lacked the bias control.

[@kesamek8537]

Hi and happy/happier 2023 I hope for us all. The silicon sounds much more immediate and lively to me, I like it and wonder (you know I will say this!) how a hybrid would compare. The germanium has a very friendly character but also a 'far away' fluffy pillow nature, I find this with all pure germaniums, that goes well with some single coils but still kind of soapy sounding when compared with a good silicon.

[@kesamek8537]

Since I had extra coffee today, feel like adding the germanium sounds better as 'evolving tone' where the notes have some change during attack/decay more than the silicon does, something that germanium seems to do really well and a good reason to prefer one. Get both, obviously :)

[@evirobbbb]

@@kesamek8537 thanks! I made the video after a request on instagram. It's natural to wonder how the 2 versions compare, but back in the 60's, the silicon "Zonk II" was not strictly an attempt to reproduce the germanium sound. From what I've read, they were looking for a way to make a fuzz that was cheaper and easier to produce and the circuit is quite different. Chances are, the gating was something they wanted to "cure". There is a schematic for a hybrid version out there, but I haven't tried it yet.

[@kesamek8537]

@@evirobbbb Ahhh now that makes sense ... the silicon does take some personality away from the Zonk but has its upsides in return ... hybrid ooohhh xD but then I am biased, I like hybrids a lot... hey did I see you have a Colorsound style booster now?

[@evirobbbb]

@@kesamek8537 I built a one-off as a kind of test. I wanted to see if I could do it with a chip instead of discrete transistors. I was really pleased with the results, but I've got my hands full with other projects at the moment so I haven't made any more.

[@TheFlutecart]

I think your compressor pedal is broke. - Ha!