calling all Germanium Transistor Gurus

K

knappster

Active member
I have some Ge laying around and im wondering if they are of any use to anything on Pedalpcb. the only one I know that I can use is the 2n404a for the harmonic perc. im sure you guys get this a lot, sorry if so.

SFT353- hFE 269
SFT 319- hFE 23
Acy31 - hFE 82
AC162- hFE 192
2N408 -hFE 71
2N1305 hFE-109
2N404a- hFE 80

any help is greatly appreciated. :giggle:👽
 
It is important to determine whether each is PNP or NPN. Also looking at data sheets to confirm pinouts when building with them. And finally leakage would be an important value to measure for each. Not sure how you determined hfe, but if it was just using a multimeter transistor hfe measurement this can be inaccurate with germanium and leakage needs to be accounted for.

I use this tool to calculate hfe and leakage:
stompboxelectronics.com

Germanium Transistor Gain (hFE) Tool - Stompbox Electronics

The germanium transistor gain tool lets you simplify the process of calculating the hfe for germanium Fuzz Face circuits.
stompboxelectronics.com stompboxelectronics.com

Considering the above are correct hfe values then everything but the hfe 23 will work well (depending on leakage and the circuit used in).
 
I used a drok transistor tester. It shows pinout,VF. They are all PNP. I don't know how to tell leakage so I'll have to deep dive that article you sent..thanks
 
knappster said:
I used a drok transistor tester. It shows pinout,VF. They are all PNP. I don't know how to tell leakage so I'll have to deep dive that article you sent..thanks
Click to expand...
Search YouTube for some demos then of the different Ge fuzz circuits offered here and see what is in line with the sound you’re looking for.

As you mentioned the Harmonic Percolator, that’s always a good choice. Uses a PNP Ge and is still negative ground so you can connect to a standard DC jack. The Twin Face on here also has a built in voltage inverter to use PNP Ge’s and still connect to negative ground.
 
Don’t get so held up on the component number for Ge transistors, just the hfe and leakage. Then try different transistors out in a circuit and you’ll get some different sounds so can experiment to see what you like best.
 
Yeah I think that's best. I have some more sockets so I can swap in and out different Transistors. I think I'm addicted to fuzz builds. I just don't have the know all's about the important stuff yet lol like leakage etc.
 
knappster said:
Yeah I think that's best. I have some more sockets so I can swap in and out different Transistors. I think I'm addicted to fuzz builds. I just don't have the know all's about the important stuff yet lol like leakage etc.
Click to expand...
Fuzzes sure are addicting. One under the radar one I liked breadboarding was the Elka Dizzytone, although don’t think there’s a PCB here for it
 
kerryfine said:
Fuzzes sure are addicting. One under the radar one I liked breadboarding was the Elka Dizzytone, although don’t think there’s a PCB here for it
Click to expand...
I just built a dizzy tone. Theres a forum here about using the Burns buzzaround PCB modded for the dizzy tone. It sounds really really good.
 
GERMANIUM
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You know it's ok to trim the leads, right?

What part # did you end up using for Q3? What's Q3's collector voltage when BALANCE & SUSTAIN are dimed? What part # did you used for D1?

Inquiring minds want to know. 😁
 
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