War Scythe - 2N1308 germanium transistors

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Londonsburning77

New member
Hello everybody,

I am building my second war scythe pedal. I used silicon transistor BC107A instead of the 2N1308 because I didn't find them. For this second one, I really want to try with the germanium ones.

Does someone know where I can buy it? Is there someone that is willing to sell me two (in Europ)?

Thank you very much !
 
Londonsburning77 said:
Hello everybody,

I am building my second war scythe pedal. I used silicon transistor BC107A instead of the 2N1308 because I didn't find them. For this second one, I really want to try with the germanium ones.

Does someone know where I can buy it? Is there someone that is willing to sell me two (in Europ)?

Thank you very much !
Click to expand...
Hi,

I'm also in Europe; and the kit i'll buy for this War Scythe PedalPCB has also a B107 silicon transistors instead of the 2N1308 germanium transistors.
But the orignal Hoof has an hybrid circuit combining selected NOS silicon and germanium transistors; so putting a B107 is not clonning the Hoof Side i think....

Did you find the germanium one and did you notice a big différence ? Which one do you finally prefer ?

I'm just an assembler and I don't know anything about electronics. I wouldn't even know which NPN Germanium transistors to replace this BC107 with to get a noise-free result and a sound close to the original.

If you have any leads, I'd appreciate some advice.
 
Where in Europe are you?

I buy a lot of germaniums from this vendor they're always good the CV7351 is just the military version of it

If you ask I'm sure he'll give you hfe and leakage specs

www.ebay.co.uk

CV7351 2N1308 Transistor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for CV7351 2N1308 Transistor at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.
www.ebay.co.uk

Here's the CV equivalents in case you're ever looking for germaniums you can't find you'll sometimes get the CV military spec ones

CV-international-transistor-equivalents-guid.pdf

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
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Thanks Mcknib,

I'm in France (wow shipping from UK ebay are such Expensive ; Four times the price of the transistor.)

Thanks a lot but as i said having hFE and leakage specs won't help me as i'm only assembling ; i really know nothing in Electronic..
So I don't know what values are expected for a good result and as i see there are big différences in hFe and Leakage values

I you have any advice ;) for the value or other idea it'll be great :)
I need two
 
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Paski said:
Thanks Mcknib,

I'm in France (wow shipping from UK ebay are such Expensive ; Four times the price of the transistor.)

Thanks a lot but as i said having hFE and leakage specs won't help me as i'm only assembling ; i really know nothing in Electronic..
So I don't know what values are expected for a good result and as i see there are big différences in hFe and Leakage values

I you have any advice ;) for the value or other idea it'll be great :)
I need two
Click to expand...
The CV7351 link on eBay is a good option if you aren’t able to measure. I think that in the link to the mods from Chuck you can find the best HFE values
 
harmaes said:
The CV7351 link on eBay is a good option if you aren’t able to measure. I think that in the link to the mods from Chuck you can find the best HFE values
Click to expand...
If you go with the Chuck values, you should also go with the Soviet germaniums. They sound just as good as their western counterparts and they cost a fraction of the price.
 
PedalBuilder said:
If you go with the Chuck values, you should also go with the Soviet germaniums. They sound just as good as their western counterparts and they cost a fraction of the price.
Click to expand...
Mp38A are great, little lower gain. 2n130x and cv7351 are brighter imo. I’m not sure it’s advisable to build this without being able to measure or experiment. At least that’s the fun and essential part for me with fuzz pedals. ;)
 
PedalBuilder said:
100%. I never build a fuzz without breadboarding and tweaking it first. That’s at least half the fun!
Click to expand...
i socket everything but i'm learning fuzzes require a lot more attention to components than i generally enjoy. once i finish the FV1 dev board i think that's more my speed...
 
Took a look inside an acquaintance’s EQD Hoof Reaper that he swore “sounded better than every other Hoof he’s played” (he wanted me to clone just the Hoof and Tentacle bits into a smaller enclosure), and lo and behold it had MP38s in it, fwiw.

(There was also a video on EQD’s channel where they opened up Hoof #001, and Jamie said that the germaniums in the circuit has changed over the years depending on what they were able to get, which a) explained the MP38s in the Hoof Reaper I saw, and b) reinforces the idea that there isn’t really a *definitive* Hoof BoM, so don’t sweat not being able to find 2N1308s.)
 
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Every time I use genuine 2N1308s (or the CV7351) I find them fussy to bias and thinner/brighter sounding than the Russian MP38. The MP38s almost always sound better to me - warmer, fatter, however you like to describe them. And they are generally easier to get working. As well as being way less expensive!
 
harmaes said:
The CV7351 is a good alternative indeed.
I bought some 2n1308 here: https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/2n1308-newmarket-germanium-transistor-x1pc/

Took a while and expensive.

I also have a good address for 2n1304 which in practice have a HFE between 70-100 for a very good price. Not sure if he’s shipping outside of the Netherlands. https://www.eoo-bv.nl/germanium-transistoren/17517-2n1304.html

Don’t buy the 2n1308 at banzaimusic because they’re fakes and off spec.
Click to expand...
Londonsburning77 said:
Hello everybody,

I am building my second war scythe pedal. I used silicon transistor BC107A instead of the 2N1308 because I didn't find them. For this second one, I really want to try with the germanium ones.

Does someone know where I can buy it? Is there someone that is willing to sell me two (in Europ)?

Thank you very much !
Click to expand...
I had trouble sourcing 2N1308 a while ago so I settled on 2N1306. On paper, they are basically the same, except the 1306 are >= 25v and the 1308 are >= 45v.
I ended up getting some 1308 that are dated 1981 but by that stage silicon had taken over and the aging germanium production factory had become less accurate and the transistors noisier.
With 1306, they have a lower forward voltage than the diodes in the octave effect, which keeps the fuzz quiet when you aren't playing. The 1308 forward voltage is higher which cancels out the "noise gate" effect you get with the 1306.
Bare in mind. Ive only used the noisier 1981 ones so it might not be true for earlier ones.
 
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