SWITCHING bipolar transistors magic (a bit redundant, yet)

[Steben]

i don't know whether you guys are very aware of this, but a lot of transistor types that fly around in here (2N2222, 2N3904-06,...) are apparently switching transistors. In specifications I discovered that they all seem to have small fall, rise and especially storage times.

My dad, an early seventies-educated (HiFi) electronic engineer (the type that was brought up with "forget about tubes") always said: "you know what (he was thinking:...you stuborn destruction maniac...):if you really want to fry transistors, choose switching types. They don't suffer from that awful (what he called) solid-state sticking". he ment what we kwow as splatty, blurry buzz. Now, thinking about that, it's clear that a lot of the choosen types here are! 

[DDD]

IMO the low-power switching transistors are actually general purpose ones with un-specified noise figures etc, or initially designed for the switching circuitry. They do not differ too much from the other trannies (except of the very special switching types).
Again, their functioning in the guitar or audio stages don't differ from the usual ones.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I wonder if "switching" transistors, in general, are designed to have a more rectangular transfer function?
As in, the exact opposite of that Ge roundness?
True, most applications (except the fuzz face) are designed so that there is enough feedback to flatten out any 'character'.

[km-r]

^

thinkin the same thing...
all switches care about is "ons and offs"... IMO, not proved.

[Steben]

As I recall, Germanium ones are "round" for several reasons.

1. First, most obvious yet also not important, they have lower gain. these means in most cases rounder, yet with same gain as silicons f.e., not distinctive.
2. They suffer "slower, narrow bandwith", thus produces less high trebles, especially when steep (high gain) signals.
3. The knee voltage is lower and smoother.

What I actually pointed to was the fact switching transistors (silicons) are "faster", meaning they are "less muddy clipping" in comparison to normal silicons. Nothing to do with roundness, yet all with gathering of electrons (memory) when solid state bipolars are clipped, resulting in a ripple at the end of the clipping cyclus, giving muddy, unrelated noise harmonics. The faster the transistor, the less memory, the less noise ripple, giving more theoretical clipping (like diodes).