Anyone tried the ASX12D as a replacement for old NKT275 ?

[blaren]

Hey everyone. First post I think. I've been lurking, reading, learning and mining for info here for a LONG time.
I won't go on about how awesome it is to have a research library at my fingertips (the internet and resources like this site)...but it sure is!

ANYWAY, I've built  few (3) Fuzz Face pedals in the last year or 18 months-ish. Oh...I'm gonna be 50 this Summer and I've been gigging in bars since I was 12. When we were kids we played into old Fenders and Traynors (I'm Canadian). Always dreamed of owning the Marshall stacks from the record covers and concert stages and of one day achieving that tone but it never happened until I was like 15 when my Mom bought me a Peavey Pacer amp that had built-in Overdrive.
We had been playing into wicked amps but didn't know it. We used them to amplify our instruments. When we would turn the vol up to the point of overdrive we would back-off thinking we were about to blow the speakers. Oopsies. If ONLY we had known that we DID have Marshalls (the old Traynor YBA1s) and to KEEP GOING on the volume pot once it started to break-up.
Well then we found-out bout pedals. We bought fuzzes. Maestros and others that (like those old amps) we would kill to have now!! But we didn't know how to use THEM either. They didn't give us that Marshall sound from all the records in our collections (SMALL collections back then lol) cause our amps were clean. Hit the fuzz and that's what you got. FUZZ...or FIZZ :-(

There...that's my underwear and I'm sticking TO it! I mean STORY....that's my STORY...
FF about a hundred years and I was re-introduced to fuzzes through Dingotone pedals who make a couple of WICKED fuzzes. That was when I learned that  fuzz, when manipulated by your guitar's volume pot becomes a "variable gain" machine that can help your amp go from spanky punchy cleans to crunchy OD to all out face-melt.

So I built my first one using a Synthrotek(?sp?) kit and germaniums I got from SBE. I bought 3 pairs. Their "best" ($) one and the two below that pair. From there my GAS and OCD took over and I went on a transistor shopping spree. HAD to try the AC128s of course...and the NKT275s...but I also bought some ASX12Ds from different Forum Brother.
The NKT275s were the new/modern ones but still sounded a little ...ummmm...more "REAL"?...warm? touch sensitive? ...than the AC128s (which are old/vintage). I play vintage gear and vintage tunes mostly...you know...vintage...like me!!

Wellll....the ASX12Ds are AWESOME!! I tried a pair with similar gains and leakage to the NKT275s ...(Q1~85 & Q2~115)..and actually, not similar leakages. The ASX12Ds have next to NO leakage.
I was expecting to hear some thinner brighter, fizzier, higher gain/fuzz than the AC128s and WAY moreso than the NKT275s but nope.
The ASX12Ds were like EXTRA NKT275-ish. They did everything the NKTs did well...BETTER! Warmer, fuller, bigger soundstage, and even better touch sensitivity :-O I've never tried the OLD NKTs (red dot, white dot....) and I can only imagine how great they must be. They SAY they're WAY better than the modern ones.

Have any of you tried the ASX12Ds? Have you compared them to the OLD NKT275s? How do they compare to the REAL DEAL NKTs?
I tried a second pair of slightly different gains and same thing. Warmer, fatter, bigger, more dynamic...same as the first pair (a little more gain this time but just as fat and warm as the lower gain pair.

So, now I have a few pairs of the SBE trannies...they are great but for my tone requirements, the AC128s, new NKTs and ESPECIALLY the ASX12Ds are all more "legit" than the $$ SBE units. Could be mostly to do with their gains..Q1 and Q2 were closer to each other gainwise than all my pairs. I have been using Q1 and Q2s that are about 30Hfe apart.

I'm gonna keep the SBE units for future use and comparison purposes instead of giving them away or selling them...BUT...if any of you builders have used or are using the VINTAGE NKT275s (the ACTUAL Newmarket made ones)...I have a couple of extra pairs of ASX12Ds. I probably SHOULD be posting this in the classifieds? but....I can give a couple of you a pair of the ASX12Ds to try and then report back what you heard. Unless of course you'd rather give me a pair of the old NKTs and I'll A/B them here and report back...lol...don't imagine many would JUMP at that "offer".  Maybe just give me like 4 bucks for shipping? Or..if that's against forum rules (asking for $ outside of the classifieds Forum)...I'll spring for the shipping as long as you promise to let me/us know how they compare.
And mods...if all of this is illegal procedure (giving stuff away) I apologize. Feel free to delete this post and I'll post a "Free to a good home" post in the Classifieds.

[blaren]

Hmmm. Or not I guess? No takers.
Oh well. That's all good. I'll try to find a pair of vintage NKT made NKT275a and do the comparison here.
I'll report back with my findings if I manage to scrape-up some NKTs.
Thanks anyway :-)
Maybe next time I suppose.

[duck_arse]

stick with it, bl, there are users here that wil probably jump at your offer, when they see it. sometimes goes quiet here.

[blaren]

That was my first post here I think.
Didn't even realize that this wasn't freestompboxes.org...or that there were two pedal sites I had lurked in. I kept going to that other site to see if there were any takers but I couldn't even find my posts. No WONDER!! It was cause I'm an IDIOT!!

Anyway, over the last couple days I figured it all out...that I had come HERE and not to the other place. I realized because I came here to ask for Eternity pedal info.
I got such GREAT help so fast it was CRAZY!

Time for PAYBACK...or PAY-Forward.

I'd like to renew this ASX12D offer. If anyone wants to try them I have a couple of pairs I can donate. All I ask is that you come back to this site and submit a tone report. I LOVE the ASX12Ds. I like them better than the AC128 and 125s, better than the NKT275s :-O and better than...well any other Ge PNP tranny I've ever tried in a FuzzFace. They clean-up and retain all your punch and snap as well as any NKT I've tried but the biggest awesomeness I find with them is that they are SO FAT sounding. They are WARM and silky. Like think of the difference between typical Ge and Si. Where usually the Silicon trannies can sound more aggressive, almost HARSH sounding (in a good way of course) compared to the rounder(?) warmer gentler break-up of Germanium, the difference between a good NKT275 and an ASX12D is similar. I guess you could say that they make an NKT275 sound HARSH!!!
I realize that some or a lot of people don't think warmer fatter and smoother is BETTER. Some people prefer Si to Ge. Some people probably prefer an AC128 over an NKT275. For me though, the ASX12D is the PERFECT FuzzFace Germanium. From snappy punchy cleans (with the guitar's vol rolled back) to fluid SCREAM and back.
Absolutely MY favorite Ge tranny for a fuzz and....well they sure don't seem very easy to find. I have a bunch of them but when they're gone...I have a feeling that's IT!!
Who knows..maybe there are millions of them sitting on a dusty shelf somewhere that people aren't selling because they don't really hear much about them.
When people see that NKT275s can sell for hundreds EACH, well they don't sit around on dusty shelves very often...but since the ASX12Ds aren't real popular or well known, there's a likelihood that they're out there...and CHEAP?

ANYWAY...if YOU have a sweet fuzzface (or fuzz factory) with socketed transistors, if you like to write reviews, if you have big ears, if you have and love NKT275s in your favorite pedal, and if YOU would like to try a pair of the ASX12Ds....HOLLER! I'll get a FREE pair shipped out to you right away.
Please no free-loaders (wait...I SAID they were FREE...) who are just after free stuff.  I'm doing this because I want to hear other people's opinions on the ASX12Ds and especially compared to the mighty NKT275s.
Optimally they will go to a member with a LOT of posts. An OG pedalbuilder who really knows his or her stuff and especially one who WILL post their findings either way. Hey, if you find that you HATE them, maybe they aren't defined or aggressive enough for you??...I want to hear it. I want your HONEST opinion of the ASX12Ds.

Shoot me a PM or an email (same name at gmail) and I'll get pairs in the mail right away to the first 2 or 3 responders (who meet my "eligibility requirements above).
Thanks everyone...thanks for having me, thanks for all the help I received in another thread and thanks for being a pretty awesome site. Well...we will SEE how awesome this site is. I can be pretty vocal, abrasive, opinionated, sarcastic, sometimes have a bit of pottie mouth, I can get a bit political (I know...a pedal forum is NOT my political debate soapbox...I TRY not to talk politics and religion but sometimes...uhhh yeah :frown:) but I am never malicious or mean or evil. Just a harmless idiot is all. Who knows...I might be back tomorrow under a different handle if I get banned right away ;-)

Anyway...HOLLER of you wanna try the ASX12Ds.