# Germanium Transistor Lot



## BuddytheReow (Sep 27, 2021)

Where's a good place to get a mixed bag of germanium transistors, both NPN and PNP for a relatively good price? I'm looking on ebay, but not sure if this is reliable (thinking J201s here) or if I should bite the bullet and randomly pick from Small Bear before they go. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## caiofilipini (Sep 27, 2021)

Smallbear would definitely be my recommendation. eBay is hit or miss, unless you know the seller's reputation.
Pedal Hacker is another great source, but they don't always have a ton of germanium transistors available.


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## fig (Sep 27, 2021)

Are you looking for experimental purposes, or do you have specific circuits in mind?

Edit: or another reason...sorry if it seemed I was limiting you to only those options.


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## BuddytheReow (Sep 27, 2021)

Nothing specific, per se. Maybe a tonebender or FF among others. Other schematics/layouts out there just call for a PNP or NPN and list the hfe and sometimes leakage. Since I'm not that knowledgeable on the part numbers I figured I'd get a mixed bag and experiment til my breadboard's melted.

Edit: From what I've read the part number really doesn't matter; it's the gain and leakage that does. Oh, and polarity too


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## chongmagic (Sep 27, 2021)

Just as an FYI, Small Bear is out of stock of most their Ge transistors.


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## BuddytheReow (Sep 27, 2021)

chongmagic said:


> Just as an FYI, Small Bear is out of stock of most their Ge transistors.


*Panics*


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## Harry Klippton (Sep 27, 2021)




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## fig (Sep 27, 2021)

Oh lookie, a new prop!


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## Big Monk (Sep 27, 2021)

BuddytheReow said:


> Nothing specific, per se. Maybe a tonebender or FF among others. Other schematics/layouts out there just call for a PNP or NPN and list the hfe and sometimes leakage. Since I'm not that knowledgeable on the part numbers I figured I'd get a mixed bag and experiment til my breadboard's melted.





chongmagic said:


> Just as an FYI, Small Bear is out of stock of most their Ge transistors.



They still have a ton of GE 2N169 “Flat Hats”. He must have abandoned his stash for matching. Get them while you still can.


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## BuddytheReow (Sep 27, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> They still have a ton of GE 2N169 “Flat Hats”. He must have abandoned his stash for matching. Get them while you still can.


What is that one used for? THe Ampeg scrambler? Are there others?


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## fig (Sep 27, 2021)

The part number is really insignificant (apart from PNP or NPN). What they are used in really depends on their individual gain and leakage.


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## peccary (Sep 27, 2021)

I've bought a few lots off eBay from Russia of different types. I'd guess that I could probably build about any germanium fuzz I'd want with what I have.


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## thesmokingman (Sep 27, 2021)

BuddytheReow said:


> What is that one used for? THe Ampeg scrambler? Are there others?


I built an NPN tone bender mkII on the carbon black pcb with those ... the transistors are a tight fit but it is currently my favorite pedal


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## Big Monk (Sep 27, 2021)

BuddytheReow said:


> What is that one used for? THe Ampeg scrambler? Are there others?



No. They are just generally awesome, low leakage NPNs. I had to abandon my Scrambler contest idea to keep my cost down on Small Bear. I ordered the Aion Aperture instead but I can point you to all the devices for the Scrambler if you want.


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## Big Monk (Sep 27, 2021)

chongmagic said:


> Just as an FYI, Small Bear is out of stock of most their Ge transistors.



There are tons of Germanium transistors left. He just doesn’t have any matches sets left.


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## Preverb (Sep 28, 2021)

I just decided to try and start building pedals but USPS recently stopped shipping to Australia.  Doesn't seem to be any decent source for Ge transistors here.


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## Harry Klippton (Sep 28, 2021)

Preverb said:


> I just decided to try and start building pedals but USPS recently stopped shipping to Australia.  Doesn't seem to be any decent source for Ge transistors here.








						diyguitarpedals.com.au, A shop for all diy guitar pedal enthusiasts!
					

diyguitarpedals.com.au :  - DIYGP PCBs & Kits Diodes Germanium Transistor Sets ICs Trimpot Transistors Wire Accessories Capacitors Pedal Decals Vactrol / Optocoupler Resistors Switches LED Enclosures Knobs DBE PCB's Clearance Hardware Potentiometers ecommerce, open source, shop, online shopping



					www.diyguitarpedals.com.au
				




DIY Guitar Pedals got you 👍 although I didn't check if any are in stock


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## Preverb (Sep 28, 2021)

Harry Klippton said:


> diyguitarpedals.com.au, A shop for all diy guitar pedal enthusiasts!
> 
> 
> diyguitarpedals.com.au :  - DIYGP PCBs & Kits Diodes Germanium Transistor Sets ICs Trimpot Transistors Wire Accessories Capacitors Pedal Decals Vactrol / Optocoupler Resistors Switches LED Enclosures Knobs DBE PCB's Clearance Hardware Potentiometers ecommerce, open source, shop, online shopping
> ...



Mostly out of stock.   He has AC125s that are out of spec.  Lower range. [Less than 60hfe (low leakage)]
Does that mean that they are going to be lower gain or that they are just going to be an overall mess?


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## Big Monk (Sep 28, 2021)

Preverb said:


> Mostly out of stock.   He has AC125s that are out of spec.  Lower range. [Less than 60hfe (low leakage)]
> Does that mean that they are going to be lower gain or that they are just going to be an overall mess?



He has some Russian Fuzz Face and Tonebender sets in stock.


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## Preverb (Sep 28, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> He has some Russian Fuzz Face and Tonebender sets in stock.


The Russian ones will work but will the Tonebender ones be usable with analogman sunface?


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## Big Monk (Sep 28, 2021)

Preverb said:


> The Russian ones will work but will the Tonebender ones be usable with analogman sunface?



If you are doing a Fuzz Face, get the fuzz face set. 

To answer more directly: Yes. There is usually a Fuzz Face transistor set hiding within a Tonebender set.


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## Mir9 (Sep 28, 2021)

Preverb said:


> The Russian ones will work but will the Tonebender ones be usable with analogman sunface?


If you look at the options page, there are many Sunface versions with different silicon and germanium transistors. I built one with high gain silicon, and another great sounding one with a pair of low gain Russian ones.

There's a newer Sunface with (different model than what I used) Russian transistors called BART.  With the Sundial, it's a very forgiving circuit, and just about anything you put in there reasonable will work.

Although it was a long wait to my country, I bought dozens of Russian transistors off ebay in one purchase based on friend's recommendations and they've worked well in Fuzz Faces and Benders.  I've also bought Fuzz Face and Tone Bender sets (one was an AC125 set from diyguitarpedals,but it was years ago) already measured for me before, and was able to get the same results after spending time auditioning my newer Russian batch.


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## Preverb (Sep 29, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> If you are doing a Fuzz Face, get the fuzz face set.
> 
> To answer more directly: Yes. There is usually a Fuzz Face transistor set hiding within a Tonebender set.



I was kind of thinking I will not be using fuzz in high gain.  I would rather have it be a bit too low in gain and required a boost pedal rather than too much if that makes sense.


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