Favourite components

[paul.creedy]

With the intention of making a comprehensive list, I looked through a site full of vero layouts and listed all the transistors therein, ending up with a list of 88.

Having acquired a selection of transistors for both building and swapping, I'm now planning to buy a few more, but I'm not going to bother getting 10 or 20 of all 88, so are there any that you find yourselves using time after time, or some that you've discarded as being less than ideal for pedals?

Do you buy them strictly by their hFE, or are there other things I should be looking for?

Currently I've only got silicon transistors, and most are NPN, so acquiring some Ge varieties would be recommended I assume ?

Here's my current list, any suggestions of particular ones that are "must haves" or "worth having a few of to hand" gratefully received

NPN:

2N2222  - hFE 284
2N2222A- hFE 284

2N3904  - hFE 282
2N3904  - hFE 211

2N4401  - hFE 430
2N4401  - hFE 169 because these two are wildly different I'm tempted to order from sources just to see what else I can get.

2N5088  - hFE 488
2N5089  - hFE 498

MPSA06 - hFE 142
MPSA13 - hFE 25.4K (Darlington as I'm sure you all know )
MPSA18 - hFE 430

PNP:

2N2907 - these are a lot more variable, I'm getting measurements between 300 and 380 whereas the NPNs seem more consistent in each packet I've bought.

[duck_arse]

BC109 for pot-luck gains, BC109C for most gain/lowest noise. BC109A [good luck finding] fow lowest hFE's.
complement is BC179. both are metal can, w/ emitter tab so you always know ......

but - the BC108 and BC107 is similar, and comes plain, A/B/C ranges as well - complements are BC177, BC178.

and, sameish transistors, different packages - BC547, 548, 549 and complements BC557, 558, 559.

the BC family of parts is what I grew up with, before the tariffs were lifted and we had manufacturing industries here. there are many others in the BC family but I don't know them as well.

generally, get some low low hFE's, like less than 100, and some mid-lows like 150-200, and some 250-400's, and some way high gains like 600+, and you've got 90% circuits covered. germanium, on the other hand ....

you could probably get all you'll ever need by scouring the Small Bear website, you can also pick for extra mojos there. and you can rely on the parts being what it says on the tin. Ivan at [russian] diy-tubes has some good stuff too.

[paul.creedy]

Thanks for that

I have spent an hour on eBay ordering a number of transistors to add to my collection.

Much to my amazement I found someone selling some BC109As so I bought their entire stock ! Both of them will be in the post soon

[vigilante397]

2N3904, 2N3906, 2N5088, 2N5087. I don't even remember the last time I've used anything else in a build. I'm a simple man of simple tastes

But if you're talking about favourite components outside of transistors, 6N21B is my solid winner every time

[MaxPower]

2N3904, 2N3906, 2N5088, 2N5087.

Pretty much the same except add the bc549.

Favorite components: for guitar stuff: jfets and germanium diodes. For synth stuff: lm13700 and the CMOS CD series of digital ICs.

[EBK]

Bear in mind that there are some circuit arrangements on which the transistor gain doesn't much matter.  In these cases, the specified transistor is likely arbitrarily chosen.

This is almost certainly true for a circuit with a 2n2222, 2n3904, 2n3906, and many others.

[paul.creedy]

Bear in mind that there are some circuit arrangements on which the transistor gain doesn't much matter.  In these cases, the specified transistor is likely arbitrarily chosen.

This is almost certainly true for a circuit with a 2n2222, 2n3904, 2n3906, and many others.

Thank you (and the others who've replied), it's all information I'm slowly absorbing

Having said that, I have been having fun swapping transistors to see what happens, so while I'll settle for what I have and what's currently on the way for now, I can't guarantee I won't buy a few more varieties in the future

I was reminded earlier having finished populating a Parallel Universe vero that I need to order some more wire pretty soon, along with a few other off-board items like LEDs, jacks etc. before I run out.

[peterc]

2n2369 low gain Silicon NPN.

I have used them in silicon fuzzes, all mine had gain less than 120.

[paul.creedy]

2n2369 low gain Silicon NPN.

I have used them in silicon fuzzes, all mine had gain less than 120.

I had some of those arrive yesterday

Of the ones I tested, I got an hFE of between 40 and 90.

A number of the other varieties tested were around 430 which was less exciting as I reckon half of what I've got now measure that - the great thing is that even so they're only a few pence each, so I haven't gone hungry to buy them

If I bought 100 BC109As on the other hand . . . I think the two that are in the post cost around 1/4 of my order.

I'm tempted to order some more of the 2N2369s, I wonder if I'll be able to last the day* without doing it











*half an hour

[ElectricDruid]

2N3904, 2N3906, 2N5088, 2N5087. I don't even remember the last time I've used anything else in a build.

Like Nathan, I only use 2N3904 and occasionally 2N3906. At some point I arbitrarily decided to use them instead of the similar BC547/BC557 NPN/PNP pair. I got sick of the two different pinouts, so now I just use one.

My favourite non-transistor component is probably the '2164 quad VCA chip, or perhaps recently the VTL5C3 vactrol.

[dschwartz]

Transistor mmbt5089
My overall favorite..cd4049UB...by far

[willienillie]

2n2369 low gain Silicon NPN.

I have used them in silicon fuzzes, all mine had gain less than 120.

D33D30.  All I've checked have hFE's 70~135, sound great in a silicon Fuzz Face.  Plus, TO-98 package for added mojo.

[Marcos - Munky]

I basically use 2N5088/89 for npn transistors. For low hfe, the PN2369A is a nice npn si transistor. I found out I prefer a si fuzz face with those transistors than a ge one.