GT308V Russian GE transistors

[ChuckZilla]

Hey guys,

I have purchased over a hundred russian GEs over the last month in hope to get a variety, and as an investment in NOS which is sure to become increasingly hard to find in the future.

Today I sat down and checked my GT308Vs. I did not use a Peak Analyzer, or the circuit designed to use in conjunction with a DMM. (The one that lets you test for leakage.) I just used the Hfe function of my DMM. Out of 40, most of them have values in the 80s, 3 are in the 100s, and a couple are in the 70s. I did not have any above Hfe=109, or below 69 (except one that read 3?)

However, this does not take into account leakage. Also, I believe this transistor has a resistor shunt between the base and emitter. This confuses me because earlier posts have said this causes the Hfes to read low. I'm confused because these seem to read spot on despite using a simple DMM. I am also confused because I heard the shunt resistor would cause them to read lower than normal AC128 and such.

I'll tell you guys more as I learn it, and would love to hear your comments.

[LucifersTrip]

those GT308V's usually have very low leakage (~50uA) so a normal DMM won't be too far off. The majority I have have hfe ~70-80

they're good in FuzzRite variants, Q1 in a Fuzz Face, Q1/Q2 in a Buzzaround/MKIII, Rangemasters, and I'm sure others...

obviously, not great for circuits that benefit from leakage