Did I fry my ge transistor?

[Bucksears]

I finished up my GGG '69 Fuzz Face (neg. ground) tonight and it had no sound at all. After checking it over again, I had Q2 in backwards.
It was on for all of 5min.; is it possible that I fried it?

I haven't had an opportunity to try it out correctly due to the late hour tonight.
Thanks,
- Buck

[reverberation66]

   seems like it should be fine, I think some of these fuzz circuits will still work even with the transistors in backwards.

[darron]

   seems like it should be fine, I think some of these fuzz circuits will still work even with the transistors in backwards.

yeah. i don't think that will damage it. i've even shorted positive and negative together accidentally over night with a battery in it. worked fine still, thought the 1000uf capacitor i used to prevent motorboating nearly exploded out of it's case! i guess most of the heat got burnt off in there and expanded it. probing it incorrectly in my dmm hasn't damaged the transistors either. they were ac128's

[zjokka]

   seems like it should be fine, I think some of these fuzz circuits will still work even with the transistors in backwards.

like this?
http://www.muzique.com/lab/reverse.htm

[R.G.]

I finished up my GGG '69 Fuzz Face (neg. ground) tonight and it had no sound at all. After checking it over again, I had Q2 in backwards. It was on for all of 5min.; is it possible that I fried it?

Is it possible? Yes.

Is it likely? No.

Germanium devices are sometimes more robust about being reversed than silicon, at least the devices made before planar processing. A very few of those older devices are actually symmetrical - the base-emitter and collector base junctions are almost alike.

Try it. Likely you'll be fine.

[petemoore]

  I somehow ended up with some SB transistors [so, good'], which are fried, at the time I was building and tweeking TB's FF's and RM's.
  For my initial tests, after battery non-shorting test, I'd pop in some 2n3906 or other ROTM PNP, until I got some sound and nothing way out of whack voltage wise, then apply the GE's.
  Then I'd test transistors in the DMM"s hfe sockets, or just put them in a known working circuit.