What is your favorite top Germanium transistor?

[momo]

I just discovered a local tv repair shop and the guys basement is literally a gold mine of old components that we all love here...
He has all his germanium transistors classed by numbers and so he is willing to give me the ones I would like, he just wants me to come with specific numbers...


So can anyone point out their favorite germanium trannys that one would love to use in our builds?
I know the AC and 2N classes have great ones, anything else?
He does have a great variety as well as russian ones.


thanks!

[rockhorst]

Don't forget OCs: OC44, OC47, OC71, OC72, OC140 and OC141 in particular.

[tonyharker]

OC44, OC75 and of course the holy grail, NKT275

[thelonious]

Military designations of any of those, like CV7112=OC140

[LucifersTrip]

2N1302,4,6,8 are great NPN's that can be used in loads of fuzzes

[smallbearelec]

2N404, 2N508, 2N527, 2N1305, 2N1307. I will send you e-mail. I buy such parts regularly.

[digi2t]

Russian trannys to look for;
MP16B
MP20B
GT404V
GT402V

[Thecomedian]

MP20's are okay, but Ic is supposed to be around 25mA. With anything designed to cascade gain for distortion, it's important to wring every last bit or gain out of the transistor.

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-4734.html

<b>Gain </b>
<b>Gain </b> = Hfe = the Gain of a Bipolar Transistor e.g. 20, 100, 750, Max and Min figures sometimes stated.
<b>Gain </b> = Hfe Bias = the amount of current needed (in mA) on the Base Pin to achieve the Gain stated.
(can also take into account the Max Frequency and Voltage capability of the device, Hfe @ ??)

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/dlmain/Datasheets-X/DSA841000-16.pdf MP20B 25mA Hfe bias.

http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/2N2222A-D.PDF

DC current gains of 2n2222a is down to minimum 50 at .1mA, up to minimum 100 at 10mA.

An 80 minimum at 25mA may be down to 30 or 40 at stomp box current levels. Although that means the higher gain ones would be good.

[rocket8810]

Some were already said but as far as Russians go:
MP41A
MP20A
MP20B
MP38A
GT308V
GT308B
GT402V
GT402B
GT309V
GT108V
GT109E

Digi2t - where did you get good GT404's? I got some GT404V and GT404B and they are the leakiest transistors I've ever gotten some have leakage of 1000uA

[duck_arse]

does he have any 2SB? 2sb156, 175 and 324 will get you from low gains to high. there will be more japanese others will know.

[momo]

thanks everyone for the replies, I will go see him tomorrow and see what is.....

[LucifersTrip]

thanks everyone for the replies, I will go see him tomorrow and see what is.....

There's some good stuff suggested above, but I really think that if you have a "goldmine" in front of you,
you probably should be trying to score some of the quality 60's US/UK stuff first, since the Russian & Japanese
stuff is extremely easy to find at very low prices.

[momo]

I don't know what he has exactly other than alot of germaniums....so I will see tomorrow, as I understand it, I can take all I want as he has no use for it.
Thank god he is the collector type and I think he likes to see they will be used!

[candidate]

silicon in TO-5, TO-39, and TO-72 cases?

[gtudoran]

A working one....

Best regards,
Gabriel Tudoran
Analog Sound

[digi2t]

Digi2t - where did you get good GT404's? I got some GT404V and GT404B and they are the leakiest transistors I've ever gotten some have leakage of 1000uA

Good GT404's? I had to buy lots to get a few good ones. You'll go through a lot that suck to find some good ones, but, the good ones are great. Then again, I've found that is often the case with NPN Ge transistors, AC176's being among the worst.

[Brossman]

+1 for the 2n13xx series.  The NPNs make a great, simple fuzz.

[momo]

OK just got back from the shop.
Turns out he does not have as many usable ones for us all, he has tons of transistors, but only these came out in his database.
Luckily, he has all his stuff in a database..
The bag with the PNP S2A966, the 100 number you see is the min Hfe....
I would of loved to get some to you guys, but this is all I have and they are not tested yet.
I will be making a few fuzzfaces and tonebenders soon enough!
I really have been wanting a great tonebender for a long time now..

Now if I can score some etchant I will get to work.
They don't sell muriatic acid anymore around here, and no electronic shop, only one place left, they are checking to see if they have leftover etchant in a box somewhere....
Oh well, I still have a few fuzzface pcb's ready to go, but I would rather love to do a tonebender first.
Will test them out for leakage now..

[rocket8810]

Digi2t - where did you get good GT404's? I got some GT404V and GT404B and they are the leakiest transistors I've ever gotten some have leakage of 1000uA

Good GT404's? I had to buy lots to get a few good ones. You'll go through a lot that suck to find some good ones, but, the good ones are great. Then again, I've found that is often the case with NPN Ge transistors, AC176's being among the worst.

Aw man that's a huge disappointment. I've had amazing luck with MP38A's which are NPN. I guess I'll get some more GT404's and see what happens, worst case scenario they're usable as a Ge buffer. I think I bought 25 or 50 GT404V's and the same number of GT404B's.

[duck_arse]

I see some ITT BC140's there. next time you go, see if he has any ITT TT800 or 801. perfect for sillifaces.