Best practices for socketed transistors?

[mdc]

Hi folks,

I just finished up a Scythe build and socketed Q2 (an AC176 on the pcb). I tried out a few different Ge NPNs and wound up going with a TR08. The AC176 I had on hand seemed to overload the circuit (sputtery/gated output), and the handful of OC140s I tried all sounded great but didn't seem to have quite the same high end bite that I got from the TR08. I googled around quickly and the TR08 doesn't seem to come up much in discussions of fuzz circuits, but for whatever reason this particular transistor in this particular build on this particular day sounded great.

So I'm just wondering what the more experienced folks on the forum do with transistors when they're building with sockets? In this case I trimmed the leads down and secured the cap to the socket with a little ball of blu-tack so it looks like a li'l mushroom. I've seen other folks heat shrink the leads, leave them full length, and then lay the transistor flat, secured with some tape.

I couldn't find 3-pin TO-5 sockets locally, so I wound up just breaking three individual SIP pin headers off a strip and soldering them in individually, which seems to have worked fine aside from the leads needing a little extra securing—from what I've read, the proper sockets will hold the leads tightly enough on their own.

 

[jubal81]

If it's a circuit I want to dial in and box, I use the first PCB with lots of sockets and when I'm ready I buy a new PCB and solder directly to the pads (no sockets).

If you're pretty solid on desoldering, you can remove the sockets on the original PCB.

I've also seen people use super glue or hot glue to secure parts to sockets.

 

[Nostradoomus]

If I’m really fixed to tinkering with it, I’ll solder in some alligator clips like these https://www.taydaelectronics.com/alligator-clips-10-pieces-bundle.html (cut them in half)
and it makes the whole process much less painful. Less fiddly than sockets and quite easy to remove.

 

[Robert]

You can also solder the transistors into the socket.

 

[zgrav]

I usually add enough solder to the transistor legs to make them shiny and they seem to fit in the socket better. will also solder the middle leg to the socket if I want to make sure it stays in place. easy enough to heat just one leg to swap that transistor if I want to try a replacement for it.

 

[mdc]

Thanks all - great suggestions all around, much obliged.