How Rude!

Yep, the 2026 Summer Cyan is rude, barky, and aggressive.  I used a pair of vintage Telsa 101NU71 germanium transistors in Q1/Q2 and boy do they have attitude.  This marks the first time I have used germanium in a Summer Cyan build.  In the past I have tried for an "Idealized Fuzz Face" concept - not this year!  This year the summer Cyan is buzzy, fuzzy, unruly, gainy, grainy, and over-the-top. 

 

I leaned into the inherent flavor of these transistor by adding trashy sounding 1N4148 diodes in one position, and modern 80n diodes in the other.  The middle position is pure germanium transistor roar.  The volume knob clean-up isn't a sheer dropoff, it is more of a gradient.  There are some fuzzy OD tones to be had for nice rhythm crunch.  Check out the demo below:



The graphics are the first time we have made a pedal with our UV printer, and the "Blue Oxide" graphic turned out amazing!  The blue and rust tones are accented by copper-style control knobs and a grass-green aluminum bias knob.  The whole effect together is meant to evoke an old abandoned Studebaker dissolving in the desert under the summer sun.  We also added a Tesla badge on the front to remind you that there is something special in the trunk.

• Ge/Si Hybrid Design

• Vintage Tesla Germanum Transistors

• Cyan 80n, Blower, 1N4148, on Toggle

• Blue Oxide UV Print • Rude, Barky, Aggressive

• Laser Etched Tesla Accent Badge

• Copper-esque Knobs

• Grass Green Aluminum Bias Knob

• Wood presentation box and goodies

The 2026 Summer Cyan Ge/Si Hybrid Fuzz is limited to 20 pieces.

Sonic Notes:

The 2026 Ge/Si Summer Cyan has a mid-forward voicing that cuts through a mix.  It is more of a '60's flavor fuzz with a lot of "trashy" tones to be found.  The demo is a good example, the intro 9/8 riff is set to a more compressed buzzy sound with the 1N4148 diodes engaged.  You can hear some of the muted string harmonics poking out fairly loud due to the compression and added fuzz harmonics.  But when it opens into the 4/4 melody portion that is on the more open Blower setting to give the single notes more weight and strong pick attack.  It performs well on a mix of guitar pickups, but not very well on bass.  I used it on bass for the demo but I would not recommend it.  The inherent "barky" nature and very low fuzz onset threshold make it quite finicky with bass.  I have other fuzzes that are more suited for bass.

Another thing to keep in mind is that germanium is temperature sensitive.  I have tuned the 2026 Summer Cyan to room temperature, but it can still drift.  Use the Bias Control to readjust if you find it drifting, that is what it is for!  I have also tested the 2026 Summer Cyan post-buffer and it performs well, verging on great.  There is a change in tone and gain, but it is a positive change.  This bodes well for those who like to stack gain.  I'm not much of a stacker myself, but in my experiments the SC responded well to being boosted.

Summer Cyan 2026 Limited Edition will go live on Saturday, July 4th at 10am MDT.   $299.  Limited to 20 pieces.