AliExpress Transistors

[ac30irons]

At the risk of a life ban I’m going as this question.

Has anyone bought any Ge transistors from AliExpress ???

I’m just looking at 2N1308s for around $2 a pop. I’m tempted to just buy a couple to test !

What do you all think ?

 

[PedalBuilder]

I’d be very skeptical of any western germanium transistors like the 2N1308 that are listed on AliExpress. They are almost certainly fakes. If you’re lucky, they are re-labeled Chinese germanium transistors. That said, there are some good Chinese germanium transistors out there. Search the forum for 3AX31* or 3BX31* to get an idea. I’ve bought both PNP (3AX31C) and NPN (3BX31A/B). Most of the PNP transistors were good, but I’d skip the NPN ones if I were doing it again, as almost all of them were duds. (Ali gave me a refund for the defective NPNs, so it could have been worse.) If you don’t want an adventure sourcing your transistors, you’re better off buying ex-Soviet germanium from Ukraine on eBay. Vendors like Oleg/Alexer1 from Sovcom are reliable and trustworthy; I’ve bought tons of stuff from him and all of it was good.

 

[Fingolfen]

I agree with PedalBuilder... I've gotten a ton of germanium off of Ebay from sellers in the former Eastern bloc (Ukraine and Estonia mostly), and I've had great luck with all of them... diodes and transistors.

 

[ac30irons]

Thanks guys, now I’m on Ukrainian NPN hunt