Where to look for germanium transistors in old electronics?

[skiwagon]

Hi!
I'd like to build a fuzzface with ge transistors, but (I'm not teaching you anything eh?) most of them are NOS and are available mostly on the Internet. By the way I'm pretty much a newbie at making stompboxes

Since I find most of my parts in broken electronic hardware, do you guys know what kind of old electronics (B/W Tv sets, radios, etc) I could find ge transistors in? Would they be usable for audio and stompboxes? Anybody with experience on this? I know I would have to check them for current leak and proper gain.

I've been reading the forum for a while, which has proved very instructing and this is my first post. Thanks a lot!

Georges Philippe

[PenPen]

Welcome. I get my share of parts from salvage too. Though I've never messed with Ge anything. I'd imagine the best source would be OLD transistor radios from the 60s. The only place I've seen Ge transistors to salvage was in an old 60s drum machine box that a friend had me fix. Of course, he wanted it intact and working, so I couldn't nab the transistors. But I'd say that would be your best bet, look for OLD audio stuff at local auctions and thrift stores.

[Tubebass]

I got a bunch of germaniums (2N404 mostly) from an old Beckman rackmount frequency counter. So keep an eye out for old test equipment as a source of ge's.

[440hz]

old radios and cheap stereos from the 60's and early 70's
people chuck this stuff out, I don't do TV's myself so couldn't tell you, and I don't trash
good 70's gear. By good I mean silver face gear like pioneer, I collect that stuff.

I have only started stomp mboxes myself and the old transistors never used to interest me when
pulling this stuff apart, I was usually only after transformers and the like. Luckily I keep a lot of
junk like this, I always think it will be useful one day.

But you also get some great knobs and other parts on old junk, I have used some old silver ones on stomp boxes,
they look great and the bigger ones allow you to adjust with the side of your foot. If you want to get
really authentic you can pull old resistors too, I have started doing that myself and test them with a
DMM, I will use them in a project soon. I even keep some capacitors, I know the old ones go bad
sometimes, but I think some can be used if they test OK. Good to recycle this stuff and it all adds
to the mojo , not that I really believe the older stuff is better, often not, but it is nice to build from something
cool from scrap.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

The first generation of home organs. These turn up cheap at thrift stores (either nobody can play anymore, or they havn't got the space).Some contain over 80!!! because, each note is produced by dividign down that note an octave higher.. the dividing is done by a flip-flop, that's two Ge transistors right there
If the organ works, always check the net to see if it is collectable, though. Don't chop a treasure!!
same goes for the first generation of transistor radio,caution, some of these are collectable!

[petemoore]

  Yupp... I 've gotten a few 'JACKPOT!!!" scavenges with GE's.
  Old radio reciever amp thing had 8 Mesa transistors [2sa types], it came out of a console stereo. Pretty good pickin's they sound great, I have a few left...all under 60hfe though...
  Old pocket radio of the early type still has 7 or 8 in it...I haven't had the heart to tear that up just for another FF for me.

[smallbearelec]

As others have noted, if you happen to find a piece of obsolete test gear or music electronics that has a bunch, hack away! But my experience with old transistor radios in good general condition is that they are worth something as antiques. I would preserve those as is, and even maybe attempt to repair if the problems are not major.

[freak scene]

The first generation of home organs. These turn up cheap at thrift stores (either nobody can play anymore, or they havn't got the space).Some contain over 80!!! because, each note is produced by dividign down that note an octave higher.. the dividing is done by a flip-flop, that's two Ge transistors right there
If the organ works, always check the net to see if it is collectable, though. Don't chop a treasure!!
same goes for the first generation of transistor radio,caution, some of these are collectable!

i have an old hammond s 30 or something, it was their "small" home or church organ.  i got it for 40 bucks at an antique mall and it works.  it also has about 30 tubes in it.  i even scavenged an old clear top rca 12au from it.

[billou_35]

My big brother used to collect old pcbs when I was around 14 years old (now I'm 31  ).

Some months ago, I found these PCBs in a bag and what a surprise : 3 x OC75N + 3 x OC76. I think it was something like a tape recorder ?!

I measured the leakage and gain : perfect for Tone Bender Mk II ! 

Good Luck to You ! 

[Dan N]

Be careful parting out old transistor radios. The ones that still have the conelrad markings on the dial could be worth way more than the transistors inside.

I once traded 2 paper  bags full of old radios for 2 vintage ribbon mics and a Haynes Jazz King amp! Good thing I didn't tear up the radios for a small handfull of questionable transistors.

[jmusser]

I'm glad to hear there are other scavengers out there. I believe probably 75% of my builds are scavenged parts. I've found a few germanium transistors in old 70s radios, and a lot of germ diodes like 1N60s in old 8 track decks. One thing I do know, is that at least for now, there is a whole lot of real high quality Soviet germaniums on eBay that you can use in place of the expensive OC and AC types. I've bought them for like $12.00 for 50 for the GT series.  I've used them exclusively in Tone Benders, Shin Ei, ect., and they sound wonderful in there. Just pay attention to the pinouts, as they are not standard to what you are used to using.

[Peter Snowberg]

Multi-line office telephones from the late 70s and 80s can be a great source of Ge diodes.

[petemoore]

  Ye don't see transistor reciever/amps in tube style chassis, I think because of the early transistors used in the one I found the 2sa types in, that early manufacturing used what was available, tried...tube type frames...but it really isn't as necessary to have a full frame with no tube sockets, caps, etc. to be mounted solidly.
  Most of the transistor based units have 'partial framing instead of a regular rectangular box with detachable bottom. YMMV