BAT41 vs BAT46?

[HamishR]

If I'm using a pair of diodes for clipping will I notice much difference between a pair of BAT41s and a pair of BAT46s? I mean they're both blue!! And very, very tiny.

 

[Big Monk]

If I'm using a pair of diodes for clipping will I notice much difference between a pair of BAT41s and a pair of BAT46s? I mean they're both blue!! And very, very tiny.

What are the forward voltages? That’s really all that matters.

 

[jhaneyzz]

If I'm using a pair of diodes for clipping will I notice much difference between a pair of BAT41s and a pair of BAT46s? I mean they're both blue!! And very, very tiny.

The 46's have 5 more units of "jenai se qua"

 

[HamishR]

I love a bit of je ne sais quoi! It's essential for any OD to work. If I actually know what is happening it's like letting the magic smoke out. Ok, BAT46s it has to be then. Unfortunately I only have BAT41s on hand, hence my question.

 

[jhaneyzz]

I love a bit of je ne sais quoi! It's essential for any OD to work. If I actually know what is happening it's like letting the magic smoke out. Ok, BAT46s it has to be then. Unfortunately I only have BAT41s on hand, hence my question.

Maybe it’s like golf where a low number is better.

 

[Big Monk]

I’d measure the Vf and go with whats right for that circuit. The part number shouldn’t matter at all.

 

[HamishR]

I'll just buy some more BAT46s and try both then.

 

[temol]

There's small difference in Vf.

 

[Feral Feline]

I wonder how much of a difference can be heard between the two, if any, as the graphs are so close.

Of course, some with better ears will hear the difference, some will think they hear the difference, and people like me will hear no difference at all.

 

[HamishR]

Thanks Temol - a definitive (ish) answer. I'll just use my BAT41s.

 

[temol]

Out of curiosity, I quickly put dod250 on breadboard and tested various diodes. In the "250", the diodes are after the opamp, in the hard clipping configuration (two parallel diodes to GND). Two test scenarios:
- generator (500Hz 250mVpp) and oscilloscope for screenshots,
- guitar (straight into audio interface + speaker cab IR) for sound files.
Diodes in the following order: AAP153 (germanium), BAT46, BAT41, BAT42, BAT85, GAZ17 (germanium), 1N4148 (note much higher signal level, hence the scale change from 100mV to 200mV per division).

Set 1 - gain set so that there is no flattening of the sine wave peaks.
Set 2 - maximum gain.

Set1


And audio
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ii86q6cuiseagi/diodes2.wav

 

[temol]

Set2


And audio
https://www.dropbox.com/s/26pyzh7f4orcxs8/diodes.wav

 

[swyse]

Out of curiosity, I quickly put dod250 on breadboard and tested various diodes. In the "250", the diodes are after the opamp, in the hard clipping configuration (two parallel diodes to GND). Two test scenarios:
- generator (500Hz 250mVpp) and oscilloscope for screenshots,
- guitar (straight into audio interface + speaker cab IR) for sound files.
Diodes in the following order: AAP153 (germanium), BAT46, BAT41, BAT42, BAT85, GAZ17 (germanium), 1N4148 (note much higher signal level, hence the scale change from 100mV to 200mV per division).

Set 1 - gain set so that there is no flattening of the sine wave peaks.
Set 2 - maximum gain.

Thanks for sharing, I had a listen to the clip before checking out the order to try to not color my listening. I'm a bit surprised how different some of them sounded. I quite liked the bat41 (my favorite schottky diode by far so no surprise) and the bat85 surprised me, that isn't a diode I've ever tried but I'll definitely have to pick some up to play with in the future.

 

[HamishR]

I wonder what these diodes were originally designed for?