Transistor as Clipping Diode?

[Wonderdog]

I took two basic silicon transistors, joined the right and center legs, and put them in place of 1n914 clipping diodes and it sounds really good.
Why does this work?

[R.G.]

Because internally all =>> bipolar<<= transistors ARE diodes. There is a collector-base junction, and a base-emitter junction. Connecting any two leads together and using the shorted two and the remaining one will result in it looking like a diode.

[Wonderdog]

Cool.  I used it to replace to red led's.  It sounds great.  Does it change the sound depending on which two leads are joined?

Also on another pedal I clipped the middle lead and just used the outer two.  Smoothed out the sound.  What is up with that? Same thing?

[kurtlives]

Makes good use of your old leaky/low gain Ge transistors!

[Wonderdog]

Makes good use of your old leaky/low gain Ge transistors!

Yep, I scavenged these off an old effect board.  Two different transistors, didn't care, just took out the first ones I found.  Maybe the difference gives a little asymmetric clipping.

[edvard]

I've done this before but short the base lead to collector:
http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.electronics.components/2007-02/msg00109.html

This is sometimes called a "super diode"; it has a maximum current
rating equal to the maximum collector current of the transistor, and
tends to have a nice low forward voltage drop at moderate currents
compared with average small signal diodes...

I read about this first in an old electronics text I can't remember now (ARRL handbook maybe?)
I don't know exactly what that means to guitar signals, but I know they sounded pretty good as feedback or clipping diodes in your standard single-op-amp distortion box.

[Wonderdog]

A Ha:  This is very helpful:

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/tran.htm

[aron]

Check out the Wiki link above.

[Wonderdog]

I did some measurements yesterday:

JFET 2N5458  xster:  Gate/Source shorted - .37 Vf   -     Measure across Gate/Drain - - .7Vf.

I think