2- 2n5089 differences?

[jimbob]

What are the differences between these 2 5089's? In terms of the best uses for distortion effects like the Blackfire.



610-2N5089 2N5089
Central Semiconductor  Central Semi Transistors
TO-92 NPN Gen Pur  

versus


512-2N5089TAR 2N5089TAR
Fairchild Semiconductor  Fairchild Amplifiers
TO-92 .

[niftydog]

They're made by different companies?!

and the datasheets are prepared in different ways.

fairchild says continuous current of 100mA, central says 50mA, but they don't mention the word "continuous"... so... ??!

I defy anyone to blind test these and tell me which is which.  Just go for the best price!

any time you see a part with the same part designator, you can pretty much rest assured that it's for all intents and purposes exactly the same.

If it were up to me, I'd go Fairchild, simply because I'm familiar with their stuff and they sell to a lot of manufacturers.  I've never heard of central semis before today!

[RedHouse]

Funny you should ask that question, I too asked that question recently and besides the 20¢ price difference here is what I found...

I called Mouser and spoke to a "tech" who looked up the two part numbers and additional info, he said "the difference was only their source" whatever that means (obviously two different manufacturers)

I ordered both the "Central Semiconductor" brand (like 26¢/ea) and some "Fairchild Amplifiers" brand like 6¢/ea.

The Central Semiconductor transistors are quite good, all had roughly the same hfe in the 340-390 range and it was easy to match up pairs.

The Fairchild Amplifiers transistors seem ok, they are on tape-n-reel (hence the suffix "TAR" to the part number), and to my dismay had pre-bent leads (Collector and Emmitter bent outwards away from Base lead) the Fairchild logo mark is suspitiously absent, and the hfe's were in the 390-500 range and all over the place (hard to get any 2 to match) they do work fine though for the price.

I must say IMO the "Central Semiconductor" seem the better parts.

[RedHouse]

Oh, and niftydog, they are different. The Fairchild's sound a bit raspy'er in the same circuit,  could just be the higher gain but noticable enough to convince me to use the Central's in decent builds.

But hey, as you say if you can't tell, might as well save some money.

[niftydog]

well that surprises me a little... but as I say, go with what you know, and fairchild are the bigger fish in the tank.

note that both data sheets list the hFE as between 400 and 1200!  talk about lucky dip!  Shame central don't have transfer graphs to compare with!

The gain of the stage should be limited by the surrounding circuit components.  It'd be interesting to suss it out with a CRO to see if there is any difference in the voltage gain.

maybe central are more picky with tolerances...

it'd be interesting to buy fairchild military spec to see how they compare.  (tighter tolerance, better matching...)

Tough call, someone else might like the raspy-ness!  I'd say that translates to better freq response!

[jimbob]

i played it safe and bout both. I was building the blackfire so i wanted something w a lot of gain-well see..thanks all!