Sounds like you git a bad one. Hopefully the next one will be good.

Elo, I’m new here! I hope this helps anyone who’s using it already, or thinking of buying it.

Now, let’s see, I bought Germanium 4, i few days ago. Overall, i like it very much. I haven’t used stompboxes before, always used multieffect pedals. Only recently that i’ve bought a good amp. “at least better than the one i had”. So you would understand fully what i think of the pedal, i’ll have to tell you what i use. A Mexican Fender Stratocaster fitted with Gold Lace Sensors and a Line 6 Spider III 30watt amp. I’m still experimenting with, cuz both the pickups and pedal are new. What i do is that, i usually set the gain and equalization to maximum on the amp, and then i’d control the sound through the volume and tone knobs of the guitar, which kind of makes things somewhat versatile. Plugging in the Germanium 4, added “for me at least” this thick sound, I love it. I’ve noticed that it works better on the Crunch channel of the amp, logically because of more gain. On the clean channel, the more the gain i use the lower it sounds, not the more distorted. So, perhaps you can use some little gain, for that slightly dirty clean sound, add some overdrive through the muffy, then stack the distortion for the solo sound. It has some sort of natural sustain, and i kind of evened out the high ends of the lace sensors. the guitar doesn’t sound either too muddy nor too high in the heavens.

I’ve fooled around a bit with the Bias and Volt knobs. Now, i’m exactly sure how they should sound. A counterclockwise Volt knob should start to clip, they say. it does that i think, the volume is lowered though throughout not just momentarily, and it sounds like zzzzzz. As for the counterclockwise knob, i think yes it’s more compressed, but also low on volume. I have no idead whether this is how these two should sound like, or my pedal has some kind of problem.

Other than this, i love this pedal. Just plug it in the amp and you’re good to go. i don’t think you even need a compressor. I have an old MXR Dyna Comp, from back then when they were still their own company. and it’s great. I know this shouldn’t be logical. but i don’t think i need to use it with the Germanium.

I hope this helps anyone.

P.S. Can’ wait to buy a Memory Man “that thing blew my mind away”

man, the distortion side sounds amazing, like a Fuzzface with a dying battery with the volts at 8:00 and the gain at 3:00 and the bias at 3:00 volume around 11:00. Then hit it with the OD side and sounds agressive as hell!

just thought i would weigh in: basically it’s a box of rock for potheads. other posters have done a pretty good job explaining the ins and outs of the pedal, but honestly it is like EHX studied everything i wished dual footswitch distortions would do and made the G4BMP do it. unlike the fulldrive 2, the MXR doubleshot, or the metal muff, you can use each channel independently. unlike the doubleshot, you can cascade distortions if you want to. unlike the box of rock, you have actual tonal control over the boost stage. unlike the fulldrive 2, the G4BMP sounds unique and can actually give tones you might not hear on AM radio. and it costs about half of what zvex, fulltone, and MXR ask for their boxes*. not to knock those pedals, but they didn’t do everything i wished they would or thought they could.

the G4BMP is noticeably lower gain than most fuzz pedals, but it can get pretty ratty if you want it to, giving it yet another heads up over the average dirtbox, and it’s nice to see a big muff that can sound completely rough and ragged – BMPs are gigantic, but always smooth. the tone wicker was a nice step towards harsher fuzz, and the double muff could get pretty jagged at full gain, but there was always something so well-behaved about EHX dirt compared to other EHX offerings. they offer an envelope filter, countless delay pedals, two tremolo boxes, and at least two flangers capable of self-oscillation, they currently sell two dedicated ring modulators, plus no fewer than three other pedals capable of creating the effect. they have manufactured and released Puretube Technology’s designs with very little creative taming (flanger hoax, pulsar, tube zipper, wiggler, plus others) – it’s about time they gave us a big muff that can spit and sputter as well as roar and scream.

also, unlike the fuzz factory or the woolly mammoth, the volts knob is marked VOLTS instead of COMP (ff) or PINCH (wm). it’s petty, but i’ve had it to death with ‘creative’ knob labelling. just tell me what it changes electronically, i’ll figure out how it affects the sound, thx.

*the MXR doubleshot is no longer being made. it didn’t sound all that great and it wasted a lot of potential but it had some good design ideas and it turned me on to the incredible potential that dual distortion boxes could have.

Hey. I’m wondering how the g4 compares to a standard NYC big muff pi and a germanium OD. the g4 wins on the price, but does it sound as good? and is the distortion really a fuzz, like the standard big muff pi, or is it actually a distortion? I love the sound of the big muff pi, so unless the distortion die is even MORE fuzzy than the standard muff, it’s a no go. I already have a great distortion pedal, and i don’t need another.