Do your components speak to you?

[RandomGlitch]

Was rummaging around in my big box of components kindly donated by my Bro-in-law who no longer needs them.

I really should sort them out, they are just in a huge mess.  Anyway found a pack of transistors that I hadn't seen before, some of them are BC558's.

Now I've been looking at Fuzz Factory schematics for the past week or so, and it seems that these trannies can be used in place of the specified AC128's, which I can't find here in Australia.

It's as if they are saying "use us", "make us into a silicon Fuzz Factory" in cute little voices. 

Do your components ever speak to you like this? And are they correct in saying they will work in the Fuzz Face circuit?  I've read that they will work, but has anyone here actually done it? How were the results?

Thanks!!

[mth5044]

Man, you're just flat out crazy.

[Quackzed]

they dont talk to me, though some transistors scream when i burn their feet with my soldering iron...
mwaahaahaa....

[chromesphere]

He's Australian.  Of course he's crazy.  

Fellow aussie here

So to answer your question, no my components do not talk to me.  I have a few components that i have tortured as a warning to the others.  The voices have now stopped.

Paul

[Mike Burgundy]

Nurse! They're out again....

BC558 = PNP general purpose Si, so you can build an Si FF with them.

[R O Tiree]

Mine don't speak to me... when I've made them into something nice, they sometimes sing, though...

[R.G.]

... I'd like to teach
The part to sing,
In perrrrfect harmonyyyyy,...

[Mark Hammer]

Mine don't speak, they taunt and harangue.  Two drawers of germanium transistors and another drawer of power-amp chips say "You putz!  I'm sitting here wasting my life while you ignore me!  I could have been bought by one of those other 25883 forum members and given a productive life, but NOOOOOOO....you had to buy me!  I don't even care if they would have hooked me up wrong and cut my life short.  Anything would have been better than sitting here for years, languishing while the adhesive on the label of the drawer decomposes."   The SSM chips I bought 30 years ago, and keep meaning to use, say "What, are we supposed to be like some trophy wife you keep around to show off but never touch?  Either love us, or leave us!".

The boxes, on the other hand, are patient and complimentary.  Given the right combination of holes, paint, and legending, they issue a satisfied "Hey, thanks.  That was nice.  I needed that."

[Maik]

Do your components ever speak to you like this?

Normaly yes. That´s nothing famous...ever tried shromms?


ups, I didn´t say this! Was that little box under my table...don´t know what´s inside...

Hey Mark, do they have eyes? Show a hammer then and the jelling stops.

[Dave W]

My components don't speak to me until they're loaded on a PCB that's just sitting there waiting to be wired/tested/boxed.
Then it's more like screaming. Much like my ex wife. "Whenareyougoingtogetoffyourlazyassandcompletesomethingforachangeyoumiserablepieceof..."
You get the idea. 

[Jazznoise]

Liking the way most people seem to draw criticism from their inanimate (and unsoldered) objects! diyschizophrenia.com?

[garcho]

If I was my bipolar transistor, I'd be talking to me, too.

[Paul Marossy]

My parts tell me that I suck. I haven't spent any time with them for almost two years now.

[R.G.]

Besides, I don't want them to talk to me. I want them to whimper when they see me heading for the parts  bin.


Ohhhhh Nooooooo!   

[Mark Hammer]

It ain't soldering.  It's branding time!   

[Quackzed]

yeah, theyre not our cute little friends. we put them in hellish situations and take delight in the sounds of their suffering, it's really quite diabolical!
--- b.t.w mark, don't feel guilty about your unused parts... something tells me they are more than happy to relax and enjoy the gentle ebb and flow of your parts bin...

[PRR]

I won't talk about the voices.

> BC558's. ... ... seems that these trannies can be used in place of the specified AC128's

AC128 is Germanium. BC558 is Silicon.

Yes, they may be as similar as wine and beer, or wood trim versus plastic trim. I'm trimming some windows with this foam-plastic boards and it works good, but isn't the same.

Many circuits will need re-design to change from Germanium to Silicon. In this case, most of the simple Ge fuzzes *do* have similar Si counterparts readily findable.

> which I can't find here in Australia.

Small Bear has many of the odd parts used in classic effects, and will ship to essentially anywhere, and also Australia. I get stuff from 10,000 miles away fairly often, the world is getting smaller.

[arma61]

Do your components ever speak to you like this?
Thanks!!

my don't either! and I really wish they do... specially when you're going to pick up the wrong one... you know something like "No not me, I'm only 10k ... and you need a bigger one like 100k...... or No not me I'm old, I'm 742..... and you really need a 741 for that D+!!!!!   

Ciao

[bean]

Mine definitely talk to me. They always say the same thing: "Stop wasting us building shit that doesn't work".

I spend a good deal of time de-soldering and reclaiming them.

[DougH]

... I'd like to teach
The part to sing,
In perrrrfect harmonyyyyy,...