BC183C

[SillyOctpuss]

I have a ton of bc183s and none of them measure above 330 hfe. Most are actually in the 225-250 range.

Does anyone have any BC183Cs that measure 5-600 hfe they'd be willing to send me? I'll quick happily pay for the parts and shipping etc.

I can find a few on ebay but I don't want to order another load that turn out to be between 216 and 329 hfe.

 

[fig]

Mine are around the same...You could look in the BC84X-85X range

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Mine are around the same...You could look in the BC84X-85X range

I've got some Bc549s that are 5-600 but I'd like to try some bc183s if I can find them in that range. I'd like to see if I can hear any real difference tbh.

Plus if I'm being honest I've already labelled the enclosure bc183 but have realised I prefer a higher hfe than I have in that transistor



It's nice to see you around BTW dude @fig

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Also I've found that the Bc183l I have sound totally different to the Bc183, even with identical hfe in both Q1 and Q2. The 183l sound a lot more like the bc108 I have. The bc183 are definitely darker, smoother and a bit thicker sounding.

Bc183l - almost impossible to photograph in this light




Bc183

 

[fig]

Mine came from SBP...some are in the lower 400s but mostly mid 300s.

My obsolescence was also accompanied by a lower hfe.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Yeah mine start at 216 and go to the mid 300s, I have one which measures at 398hfe but that's the highest I've got.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I ordered 20 bc183c from an ebay seller I've bought from before and have a reasonable level of confidence in. They all measure between 509 and 560 on my dca55. I'll pop them in my Fuzzface over the weekend to compare with the Bc549c that's currently on there.

 

[Big Monk]

I've changed my tune with respect to super high gain devices in the C gain bucket.

They don't introduce THAT much more gain and sizzle but tend to bring on excessive extra noise.

I always go back to one of my main guitar heros, Mr. Gilmour, and try to remember what he was really using that DeArmond volume pedal for: A sort of Pre-Gain for the BC10xC Arbiter units.

They are wild, but not always in a good way.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I've changed my tune with respect to super high gain devices in the C gain bucket.

They don't introduce THAT much more gain and sizzle but tend to bring on excessive extra noise.

I always go back to one of my main guitar heros, Mr. Gilmour, and try to remember what he was really using that DeArmond volume pedal for: A sort of Pre-Gain for the BC10xC Arbiter units.

They are wild, but not always in a good way.

So far the two transistor combos I'm enjoying the most are matching bc108s biased at 5.75v and bc183 q1 approx 220hfe, bc549 q2 550hfe biased to 5v. I'm going to try a bc183c in place of the bc549 to see if I hear any difference (I probably wont). I'm enjoying both sets so much though that I'm probably going to have to build a second silicon fuzzface. I don't feel like I'm getting excessive noise with the higher hfe bc549 tbh.

 

[Big Monk]

So far the two transistor combos I'm enjoying the most are matching bc108s biased at 5.75v and bc183 q1 approx 220hfe, bc549 q2 550hfe biased to 5v. I'm going to try a bc183c in place of the bc549 to see if I hear any difference (I probably wont). I'm enjoying both sets so much though that I'm probably going to have to build a second silicon fuzzface. I don't feel like I'm getting excessive noise with the higher hfe bc549 tbh.

No, that’s fair.

The BC549C I was using in my original Pompeii board were suffering from some layout issues I think.

I had long runs of non shielded wire and the LED trace was running too close to the output.

I was just listening to the revised circuit and at full whack, with the BC549C in Q1 and Q2, it’s surprisingly quieter than the early revision.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

No, that’s fair.

The BC549C I was using in my original Pompeii board were suffering from some layout issues I think.

I had long runs of non shielded wire and the LED trace was running too close to the output.

I was just listening to the revised circuit and at full whack, with the BC549C in Q1 and Q2, it’s surprisingly quieter than the early revision.

I was getting quite a lot of noise with mine as well with just the board + long cable runs plugged into my testing rig but in the enclosure it's pretty quiet... for a fuzz face.

 

[Big Monk]

I was getting quite a lot of noise with mine as well with just the board + long cable runs plugged into my testing rig but in the enclosure it's pretty quiet... for a fuzz face.

I think the polystyrene caps across B-C of Q2, across the output resistor and across the feedback resistor are shunting more noise than the MLCC cap I was using as well.

But I could be crazy.

I did use shielded wire and the Cliff EMI/RFI washer on this revision.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I think the polystyrene caps across B-C of Q2, across the output resistor and across the feedback resistor are shunting more noise than the MLCC cap I was using as well.

But I could be crazy.

I did use shielded wire and the Cliff EMI/RFI washer on this revision.

I had a quick blast with the bc183 in place of the bc549 and swear it sounds darker. I might be crazy too. I'm going to be doing some recording next week so I'll know then if I'm crazy or not.