Problem - Ge Dallas Rangemaster and Fuzz Face hFEs from a Recent Order

[nation]

I recently placed an order with a well known and reputable seller - his transistor sets are audited and we pay the price premium for the comfort that they will be matched in the "golden" range for the given circuit.

I received the transistors today and was surprised at the hFEs.  The Rangemaster transistor clocks in at a very low hFE of 44 and the hFE for the Fuzz face set comes in at Q1: 77 and Q2: 136. Are these numbers acceptable to you for an audited and matched set? I was expecting a hFE of 75 to 100 for the Rangemaster and Q2 closer to 110 for the Fuzz face.

I understand that it's possible to make these work voltage wise but whether it'll work sound wise is another matter in light of me wanting to build a pedal that sounds as close as possible to the originals.

So what do you say, a valid cause for complaint?

[tonyharker]

Dont forget when these pedals were first designed high gain transistors were not available.  So those gains are not unexpected.

[nation]

I have read the same but in the context of what we now know are the best sounding original units a certain gain range has been identified to be ideal. Understandably, we can use transistors outside the golden gain range to produce a sound that's best for our ears given what we want to achieve with the circuit and hence the experimentation of buying unaudited transistors But when buying transistors that are supposed to be audited and tested for a given circuit I would expect those to be in the golden range for that circuit. Hence the surprise when I received the 44 hFE Rangemaster transistor.  GeoFX and all the comments I have read indicate that 75 to 100 for a Rangemaster to sound as it should and a lot of comments stating that going below that it won't sound great. The FF Q2 of 136 is also higher than expected.

So really, my question is if I buy an audited set would I be remiss in expecting that they come within the generally accepted gain range? If not then I may as well just buy a bunch of untested Transistors at a 1/0th of the price.

[thermionix]

1/0th

[PRR]

"Gain" is not the most critical parameter in this pedal.

Also the hFE of most germanium varies a LOT depending what current and voltage you measure at.

If you got them where I think you got them, he knows what his customers like. Socket them and try them, don't get hung-up on a number.