Part Garden Germanium Fuzz — Mask Audio Electronics
In this episode the Mask Audio Electronics Part Garden Germanium takes center stage — featuring the Frank Brothers Arcade with Righteous Sound Gazing 1991 Pickups, into the Benson Amps Monarch 2x12" via the Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander, with the Echo Fix EF-X3 Analog Tape Delay/Reverb throughout the demo.
Mask Audio Electronics is the work of Alec Breslow — a builder who started with DIY projects and has grown into a line of production pedals, making the things he wants to see out in the world for people who share the love of fuzz and noise. The Part Garden concept grew from a simple idea: what if you took two fuzz circuits, tuned them to bring out the best in each other, and built the stacking architecture directly into the pedal? The original Part Garden is silicon. The Germanium version is a softer, more vintage-voiced interpretation — "if Part Garden is a fuzz that can be turned into an overdrive, Germanium Garden is an overdrive that can be turned into a fuzz."
Four controls, no tone knob — because the gain controls do the tone shaping.
Knob I sets how much signal enters the first fuzz stage — the general gain level. Set it higher for clangy, high-end-forward character. Knob II sets the gain between the two fuzz circuits, and subtly attenuates bass frequencies as it's turned down — higher II for thicker, lower-mid content. Knob III is master volume. Because all three knobs interact with each other's tonal character as well as level, every combination is a slightly different voice. There is no wrong setting — compensate with III and you've found a new tone.
The Texture knob changes the gain structure of the first stage — increasing gain and compression as it's turned clockwise. At maximum it's so compressed nothing passes through unless boosted by an external pedal. The YUH toggle switch changes the effective range of the Texture control: up position gives optimal range for general adjustment, down position allows finer tuning of more extreme compressed sounds — functioning as a second channel in practice.
The guitar volume knob cleanup on this pedal is exceptional. Rolling back produces glassy, open, bell-like tones that retain all the harmonic complexity of the fuzz without the saturation — this demo explores that range in depth, particularly in combination with the EF-X3 tape echo.
🎛️ Mask Audio Electronics: https://maskaudioelectronics.com
🎸 Frank Brothers Guitar Company: https://www.frankbrothersguitars.com
🎸 Righteous Sound Pickups: https://www.righteoussoundpickups.com
🔊 Benson Amps: https://www.bensonamps.com/guitar-amplifiers
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🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade | Righteous Sound Gazing 1991 Pickups
🎛️ Mask Audio Electronics Part Garden Germanium | Dual Fuzz | I / II / III / Texture / YUH | No Tone Knob
🎛️ Also: Echo Fix EF-X3 Analog Tape Delay/Reverb
🔊 Benson Amps Monarch 2x12" | Boss Waza TAE
Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Lauten Audio LS-208 | Royer R10 & R121 | Sennheiser E906 | Ableton Live 11
