Germanium Transistors for Fuzzrite

[Elijah-Baley]

Hello,
I'd like to build once a Fuzzrite Germanium transistor version. But every time I stuck because I don't know where I can find a pair of good transistors.

The original transistor are:
Q1 - 2N2613 - PNP - hfe over 120 and Q2 - GN408 hfe about 65.
Catalinbread Fuzzrite has a 2N404 and GT308A.

https://aionfx.com/app/files/docs/orpheus_ge_documentation.pdf

I seen some DIY pedals with two AC128 (hfe around 100-200, but it wasn't sure), SFT337 and 2SB415, a pair of MP42B (hfe 100 and 50), ECG102 and ECG158.
I read that a pair of germanium transistors with the right hfe should be fine, but this is still not so easy, because this transistors are rare not always selected by hfe.

I used to buy from Musikding and Banzai Music.
Musikding, though has selected transistors, has also a very low availability, nowdays. Maybe I can find Q2, the lower hfe one, there. While the higher hfe transistor, over 120, maybe Banzai has one, but with them is better to ask if the item is in stock. Could be available one or two others transistors, but with a large range of hfe, and considering the costs I don't want to buy a bunch of useless transistors.

Du you have some European source where we can find a good pair of transistors for this pedal?

Thanks!

 

[DeadAirMD]

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

eBay is usually not a best place at all to buy any electronic components from. But some brave souls here have found a few reputable sellers. This is one of them, based out of Poland I believe. Just order a ton of transistors, diodes, and some cool looking "straw hat" LEDs from this seller. If the link doesn't work for you, search for SOVCOM, that's the seller's name on eBay.

There's another seller I think that goes by Alex1 or something like that. I'm sure someone here knows the exact name.

Good luck!

 

[jwin615]

eBay:
Alexr1/sovcom
Langrex(uk based)
Next5, formerly on eBay but now has a shop. USSR transistors by the piece. WW shipping. Good dealings with them.

 

[PedalBuilder]

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

eBay is usually not a best place at all to buy any electronic components from. But some brave souls here have found a few reputable sellers. This is one of them, based out of Poland I believe. Just order a ton of transistors, diodes, and some cool looking "straw hat" LEDs from this seller. If the link doesn't work for you, search for SOVCOM, that's the seller's name on eBay.

There's another seller I think that goes by Alex1 or something like that. I'm sure someone here knows the exact name.

Good luck!

Alexer1. That’s Oleg and he’s in Odesa, Ukraine. I’ve bought from him a number of times and everything has been in great shape. For your needs, @Elijah-Baley, assuming that you don’t need leaky transistors, order some GT309B, GT309E, or GT310B. I’ve used all three of those types for various builds, and a random sampling will have transistors with gains around 65 as well as gains over 120. Just make sure that you mind the pinout when building, as the GT309 series doesn’t use the common EBC pinout.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

I'm look at this seller you mentioned, thanks. Well... I have to say a new transistors world is open in front of me.
There's a lot of choice here.
I'll buy some stock where I could have the fortune to find those hfe value.
There's some particular transistor I could use in the Fuzz Rite circuit or I just take count of the hfe?

 

[PedalBuilder]

I'm look at this seller you mentioned, thanks. Well... I have to say a new transistors world is open in front of me.
There's a lot of choice here.
I'll buy some stock where I could have the fortune to find those hfe value.
There's some particular transistor I could use in the Fuzz Rite circuit or I just take count of the hfe?

I’d focus on hFE, rather than transistor names, with the caveat that the data sheet hFE for Soviet transistors is often measured at a higher current than we use, so the data sheet hFE may be higher than what you’d measure with a DCA55. If you are thinking of buying some particular transistors and want a second opinion on whether they’re the right ones, feel free to message me and I’d be happy to help.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

Thanks, Pedalbuilder!

Do you mean that the hfe I read in the description is underestimated than the one I'll read then on my multimeter?

For example:
MP42B PNP ~AC128 OC75 - Forward current transfer ratio (hFE) 45...100, it could be... +10? +20?

I guess that is important to choice the most indicated range hfe I need.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

I still need a little help, please.
I'm starting to select my ideal range hfe transistors for Fuzzrite (but even more other fuzz, too, because there's a lot of pieces for just one fuzz pedal ).
Thanks!

 

[Coda]

I still need a little help, please.
I'm starting to select my ideal range hfe transistors for Fuzzrite (but even more other fuzz, too, because there's a lot of pieces for just one fuzz pedal ).
Thanks!

I built one last year. It is excellent. I’ll dig through my note from then and see if I can add any helpful info…

 

[jwin615]

I still need a little help, please.
I'm starting to select my ideal range hfe transistors for Fuzzrite (but even more other fuzz, too, because there's a lot of pieces for just one fuzz pedal ).
Thanks!

Some good info here already if ya look about.

N

Thread 'What to do with high leakage, high gain NPN Germanium transistors?'

Dec 28, 2022

So I recently got a batch with HFE between 100 and 200+, and leakages between 500 & 1000.

I know a EQD Tone Repear sounds great even with those mad values from my personal testing. Am also looking to experiment with dizzy tone circuits, where I know q3 requires some leakage to bias properly.

What other circuits can I throw these bad boys into? I'm down to explore any suggestions you all may have!

• nickquack
• Replies: 13
• Forum: General Questions

Included is @Chuck D. Bones most excellent explanation on leakage.

And the link to this sb blog from the former link

The Fur's Rite - A Fuzzrite Clone

I'll echo, with leaky GE, is not hard to make a pedal that works. But it takes extra work to make a fuzz that rips. Gotta get that bias right. That's how you get that 1in20 or 1in50 fuzz(speaking of the original g3 fuzzes). The fuzzrite is a pretty small circuit. If you haven't gone down the breadboarding path yet, it would be a great circuit to start with.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

I hoped I wouldn't worry about leakage, (somewhere else I read about leakage with pnp transistor couldn't be a problem, usually).
But do you advice to select the transistors I'll buy by hfe and leakage?

In this moment I have in my cart GT309B (60...180 hfe), and I have to decide about MP42B (45...100 hfe).

 

[Elijah-Baley]

I got the transistors, and I started to measure the hfe.

GT309B, with my multimeter, go from 85 to 182, those are 50pcs.
But I found three weird measurement with three of them. A pair of those start from a value and keep going up slowly for several seconds.
Another starts with a higher value, over 500, and goes up 600, 700 and over...
What exactly is this issue?

 

[jwin615]

I got the transistors, and I started to measure the hfe.

GT309B, with my multimeter, go from 85 to 182, those are 50pcs.
But I found three weird measurement with three of them. A pair of those start from a value and keep going up slowly for several seconds.
Another starts with a higher value, over 500, and goes up 600, 700 and over...
What exactly is this issue?

Probably slowly adjusting from the heat from your hands. Ge-s are temperature sensitive. Some much more so than others. If they are warmed from handling, it will take a while to settle.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

I'm not sure. It's just those three. all the other 47 are stable.

One has that very high hfe, over 700, I didn't wait until it stopped, but it was keeping going up, and not really slowly.
The other two are have an hfe value pretty high, around 160, 170, but again, I didn't wait until that was stable.

 

[jwin615]

I'm not sure. It's just those three. all the other 47 are stable.

One has that very high hfe, over 700, I didn't wait until it stopped, but it was keeping going up, and not really slowly.
The other two are have an hfe value pretty high, around 160, 170, but again, I didn't wait until that was stable.

I've had other non-ruskie germs run away until they short or measure as a diode. Always figured it was from tin whiskers. I have had a small percentage of Ruskie germs and others that were just bad. Usually read as a jfet or pair of diodes. It happens.
The 160-170 ones are likely fine. Those are probably the gems in the batch. I don't know that I trust the 700 one though. Would definitely socket it before commiting to using it.

 

[PedalBuilder]

I've had other non-ruskie germs run away until they short or measure as a diode. Always figured it was from tin whiskers. I have had a small percentage of Ruskie germs and others that were just bad. Usually read as a jfet or pair of diodes. It happens.
The 160-170 ones are likely fine. Those are probably the gems in the batch. I don't know that I trust the 700 one though. Would definitely socket it before commiting to using it.

I’ve used 309s with hFEs in the 160-180 range in several builds (Trumpet fuzz, high gain fuzz face), and they sound great. The 700 ones sound suspicious, but @jwin615 is right, you should try them socketed or on a breadboard before tossing them in the diode bin.

 

[Elijah-Baley]

Yes, the one over 700, is very suspicious. Anyway, I'll try to measure it again, and see what exactly do and what value it reaches.
I'll measure even the two around 170 a bit unstable.
Anyway, yes, I'll test it with the fuzz circuit, just to see what happens.

Thanks!