Fuzz. You love it, right? It seems like the one constant in the gear universe is the relentless pursuit of ‘the’ fuzz tone. Whether it be Hendrix-esque or more Jimmy Page… or the ‘Black Keys’ thing. Fuzz is king. However, one of the reasons guitarists are always on the hunt for the perfect fuzz is the fact that their are just so many of them out there! Muffs and their derivatives. Fuzz Faces and their off-shoots. Silicon-based circuits. Germanium-centric designs. It’s no wonder the search goes on… especially in the world of boutique pedals where there seems to be a new fuzz box released every week! Some builders favor certain ‘ingredients’ when building fuzzes, while others are inclined to work as much into one enclosure… sort of a fuzz gumbo… in the attempt to make ‘One Fuzz to Rule Them All!’ We’re not saying that was the intent of Portland-based Spaceman Effects with the Gemini III Dual Fuzz Generator, but it could have been.

The Gemini III is billed as an all-discrete transistor fuzz that features two different circuits in parallel – one vintage germanium and the other modern silicon. The germanium side uses vintage 70’s-era new-old stock AC128 transistors. The Gemini doesn’t stop there however. The two independent tones can be blended together to achieve a derivative tone. The Gemini III sports three knob controls and three mini-toggles. The knob controls are Master, Filter and Blend. Master is the output control. Filter acts as a sort of tone control. At noon, the Filter has a wide frequency range, with full mids. The Ge/Si Blend knob allows the user to sweep between full germanium and full silicon-based tones. Each circuit has a choice of three gain settings via toggle switch. The third toggle switch controls the direction of the tone sweep for the germanium side, allowing for opposite sweep directions.

Got all that? Good. Let’s check out the germanium side of the Gemini III using the Stratocaster. With the bridge pickup, we’ll take you through each voicing option using the Ge-side toggle. With Master at 10 o’clock, Blend full left (Ge side) and the Filter knob at noon, here is the Gemini III. First you’ll hear the clean amp tone… then position one, then two, then three.

You can tell the tone gets punchier, and a bit more aggressive, as you cycle through the voicing presets. The Ge side offers up nice, thick fuzz tones with good articulation and clean-up. Now we’ll check out the full Silicon side of the Gemini III using the neck pickup on the Strat. With Master at 11 o’clock, Blend full right (Si side) and the Filter still at noon, we’ll go through the voicings again as before. Clean first, then voice one, two and three.

The silicon side of the Gemini III has that predictable hummy feel to it and offers up some fuzz tones on the woolier side of things. Again, the voicing get a bit more assertive and lively as you move from one to three.
Now, switching to the Les Paul, we blend the two fuzz circuits and let you here the full range of the Filter knob. With the Master at 11 o’clock and the Blend pointing straight down (full blend), you’ll hear the Filter at noon first, then full left, followed by full right.

The Spaceman Effects Gemini III is an expressive, full-featured fuzz offering the best of both worlds to any fuzzaholic that loves both germanium and silicon-based wool. There also is more to the pedal than we were able to get into here, with the germanium side sweep control and the sensitivities around the blending of the Ge/Si circuits – there are a lot of usable tones. The only things likely to keep you from adding one of these beauties in your tone arsenal are the relatively limited numbers built, as well as the price. Spaceman only built 90 of the standard issue Gemini IIIs with another 60 special enclosure models – split between copper and white. Also, the standard Gemini III runs a healthy $319 direct from the company. That price might scare away the gearheads that like to gamble with a C-note or two on a newer pedal to experiment with different fuzz tones. Regardless, we believe the Gemini III is the real deal and definitely worth a rocket ride if the opportunity presents itself. That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage may vary.

PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb RI using Lava Clear Connect cables. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.