What diode is this?
- Thread starter jdduffield
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Feral Feline
Well-known member
What is the writing on its wall?
Can't quite make it all out, but appears to be an 85C of a sort. Rotate it in the next pic so the reflection isn't obscuring the text above the 85C.
Can't quite make it all out, but appears to be an 85C of a sort. Rotate it in the next pic so the reflection isn't obscuring the text above the 85C.
jdduffield
Active member
The only other picture I have of it on the breadboard is this.
I would have to desolder it from the PCB to take more photos. I know it isn’t a magic diode or anything like that. In fact, I got it from some free parts kit that came with a cheap soldering iron on Amazon. However, it sounds good and my brother-in-law wants me to make him the same pedal. I “could” desolder it from the board but thought I’d check here first in case someone recognizes it. I remember it measuring 0.74 on a voltage meter. The germanium’s I had were measuring lower, like .3ish and the LEDs were higher like 2.5ish. This one broke up at just the right spot for what I was going for.
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Feral Feline
Well-known member
The important thing is to use something with the same/similar fV — which you have recorded;
so a bog-standard 1N4148 or 1N914 should suffice!
Really, most Si diodes will give you that ballpark.
At least you won't have to hunt down exotica-unobtanium.
so a bog-standard 1N4148 or 1N914 should suffice!
Really, most Si diodes will give you that ballpark.
At least you won't have to hunt down exotica-unobtanium.
jdduffield
Active member
I have those two values. Thank you. I also happen to have a 1N4742A which is also pretty close I think.The important thing is to use something with the same/similar fV — which you have recorded;
so a bog-standard 1N4148 or 1N914 should suffice!
Really, most Si diodes will give you that ballpark.
At least you won't have to hunt down exotica-unobtanium.
jdduffield
Active member
thomasbe86
Well-known member
The 1N4742A is a 12V Zener diode. but if you measured it at 0.74 (assuming it was at 0.5mA) you can try and find the closest equivalent on this link here.
It is worth notting that as @Feral Feline mentionned, any regular silicon 1N4148 or 1N914 is a perfect replacement, would'nt hear a difference, would'nt read the difference on an oscilloscope either.
I would personally just stick the cheapest I have around this range and get on with it, with no incidence whatsoever on the sound of your pedal.
When adding up diodes in series you just need to add up the Vf to get the overall (two BAT41 in series with Vf at 5mA of 0.627V will give you an overall Vf of 1.254V at 5mA), nothing wrong with that, if it sounds good, it is good.
Here is an extract showing silicon diodes with a Vf of 0.7V to 0.8V at 5mA I measured.
jdduffield
Active member
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I’m learning so much on this forum, which is nice because I’m pretty new to this stuff.
Silver Blues
Well-known member
That being said, you can still use Zener diodes as regular clipping diodes as long as you have an antiparallel pair; in this arrangement, the Zener voltage doesn't come into effect and they'd look like a pair of regular silicon diodes (in which case there's not much point, just use a pair of 4148s). But you can use them in more interesting ways (see here, source of the below excerpt).
