Russian npn germanium transistors GT311

[Meanderthal]

 I just got a NOS unopened box of 100 of em for dirt cheap. Flying saucers with 4 legs, one leg for the case(do ya just ground that one for shielding?). Can't find any datasheets, and google only got me this:

http://matthieu.benoit.free.fr/cross/russian_equiv.htm

Ummm... anyone know anything about/ever use these? I guess I'll be finding out for myself, but...

[$uperpuma]

after a little more digging I found a REALLY long list of parts that claims its an equivalent to this part : 2n1585 http://www.datasheets.org.uk/specsheet.php?part=2N1585

[MartyMart]

My russian data sheet/list states :
Ge NPN 50v max hfe 150 to 450 depending if it's A B or C suffix
Looking down on the top surface with "case" lug towards you pinout is

E C B
   G  ----> case pin

I have some GT309a and 309b which are superb and leakage has been minimal.
These are PNP though.
MM.

[Meanderthal]

 Thanks guys, That's what I was after. It seems these are what I hoped they would be.(except that pesky 4th leg) I'm probably gonna pop some in my NPN fuzzface real soon just to get a feel for em.

There's a guy in moscow selling these real cheap on ebay... in case anyone's interested.  Very fast registered shipping too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Germanium-NPN-Transistors-GT311E-RUSSIA-Lot-of-50_W0QQitemZ180082238252QQihZ008QQcategoryZ109456QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180082238252

[Meanderthal]

 Well, whaddya know... there was an old russian datasheet at the bottom of the box. Can't read a damn word, and even Martymart's pinout was more helpful than theirs, but one thing i could glean is that mine are the highest gain type- 'backwards N'. 'E' suffix is lowest, 'X with an I thru it' is medium.
These might turn out to be pretty damn useful...

[Dragonfly]

I dont do ebay...but if one of you guys would like to pick up a couple lots of these (100 transistors total) for me, i'll happily paypal you the money...

AC

[s]

'backwards N'. 'E' suffix is lowest

that I_E in latin (emitter current)

, 'X with an I thru it' is medium.

that's probably zh, what it means, no idea, I'm not russian ;-)

[dxm1]

I just emailed him - he's out of the -I  (И) suffixes. He has a listing for 50 of the low Hfe "E" types...

[Meanderthal]

 Damn, I should have figured he has a limited supply. I just figured where there's one there must be more... Sorry... I thought he had more...

But, he's also got the GT313 pnp version, 'A' suffix(lower gain, as MartyMart points out. I think a, b, and c must be pnp suffixes, and the cyrillic symbols for npn)  4 lots of 100 for the same sick price I paid for the npn. I already have hundreds of Ge pnp, it's the npn that I look for...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Germanium-PNP-Transistors-GT313A-RUSSIA-Lot-of-100_W0QQitemZ180080085846QQihZ008QQcategoryZ109457QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180080085846

I haven't HEARD them yet, but I'll get on it soon... so far all I have on hand to compare them with are OC140(for npn Ge.). But, everyone seems to like the 140s, so...

[DDD]

Russian pnp GT311 trannies usually have worse parameters than their npn "brothers" (GT313 for that case).
At the same time GT311 are quite expensive ones since they are actually super high-frequency transistors. Don't hesitate to buy them if the prices are low.
Also be careful when soldering them - they can be damaged easily with excessive heat, and try to avoid reverse of the supply polarity. I had a bad experience :-)

[puzzle87]

DDD
GT311 - NPN
GT313 - PNP

[MetalGuy]

If you need russian transistors data go here:

http://www.rlocman.ru/comp/koz/bipol/bih00.htm

Just in case this one is for russian FETs:

http://www.rlocman.ru/comp/koz/pt/Pth00.htm

[DDD]

SORRY,
it's vice versa! I feel very ashamed...
Russian PNPs much better than NPNs.
(puzzle87, thank you for you note :-)

[MartyMart]

Pick up some GT308/309 and GT402's ( crillyc RT ) all PNP and more often than not, they are low
leakage and sound GREAT
My 402's look great, battleship grey and twice the size of an AC128 !

MM.

[brad]

As much as I'd love to buy NOS Russian stuff, I can't shake my paranoia about them coming from a raid on an electronics store in Pripyat or something. 

[8mileshigh]

I have 50 of the GT313A but have never been able to get them to sound good in anything or work at all. Secondly, I get gain readings in the NPN and PNP slots in my multimeter, what's up with that ?  Has anybody used these in transistors in any popular projects ?  I'd like to find a use for them.

Chris

[Meanderthal]

 Ok, well, I had a chance to test a few of these. They're ok I guess. A bit noisy til ya touch the 4th leg, so I guess they need grounding, and gains of about 20 tested ranged from around 45 hfe to 115, leakage... I dunno... I popped what I thought would be good potential pairs in, and found that biasing them ain't quite as simple as OC140 or any of my PNP germaniums... it wasn't easy to find good sounding pairs, but they're in there. Granted, I didn't use a trimpot for bias, just the stock Dallas resistor values, but when you have a lotta Germs it usually isn't hard to find good pairs.
So, first impression- mediocre. And, none sounded as good as the OC140 pair I settled on. Still a good buy though, if they ever pop up again.

[Meanderthal]

 Oh yeah, one other thing to be aware of with these- doing the spaghetti leg insulator twist thing to match the pinout of OC140 is a pain in the ass... 

[luap77]

Hi,

I've used GT313A PNP in Fuzz Face and various boosters. Usually very low hfe (most are around 35 +/- 10, though range is 9-80 in my batch).

They sound really "full" or "thick" compared to may "2N" types in my collection, have extremely low leakage and are easy to bias if you use a trimpot instead of a fixed resistor. They do however have a audible hiss which most other germaniums don't. I cannot work out why they hiss or how to get rid of this without compromising sound quality, but I'm guessing it must be something related to the characteristic of the junction in these transistors. My batch was made in 1983 in USSR, so perhaps they got the leakage to near minimal (which it is) by doing something at the junctions that wasn't being done on the earlier germaniums?

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Paul E

[vanessa]

Pick up some GT308/309 and GT402's ( crillyc RT ) all PNP and more often than not, they are low
leakage and sound GREAT
My 402's look great, battleship grey and twice the size of an AC128 !

MM.

Marty and I have both checked these out. I really like them but there is some sort of hiss that's going on behind it all. They have low leakage and the gains are there, but the hiss at higher gain levels is not that great in treble circuits. They do well for Fuzz Faces (a circuit that is not treble dependent), but in Rangemasters and Tone Benders they don't stack up so good...