Germanium Transistor

Germanium is a metalloid element with atomic number 32 and the symbol Ge on the periodic table. In the audio world, germanium served as a semiconductor in integrated circuits and transistors, particularly in the 1960s; it was largely replaced by silicon for this role beginning in the early 1970s because silicon was much more stable. However, there has been a resurgence of interest in germanium semiconductors for the warm, fat tone it can produce in microphone preamps and especially in guitar overdrive, fuzz, and boost stompboxes.