Lowest Noise Transistors?

[Ginsly]

In trying to de-hiss my Executive (Bosstone) a bit, I came across @Chuck D. Bones awesome post about mods for that circuit (thanks @jwin615).

It's mentioned that 2N2222A's can be noisy, and any sort of low-noise NPN Si would probably be a better choice for Q1.

BC109Cs came up (don't have atm), but it would be great to know for future reference- what are a handful of the (generally) lowest-noise silicons? I have a small assortment, but I really don't know which are known to be quiet or noisy. It'd be great to have a little "starter list"!

On the flip side, what are some of the noisiest? And do the benefits of those typically offset the higher noise floor?

 

[Feral Feline]

BC549 NPN EBC 110-800 LOW NOISE
BC549C
BC550 NPN CBE 110-800 LOW NOISE Tayda 550B

Russian KII303A and KII303I

To some extent the 2N5089

 

[jwin615]

I believe anything modern that is labeled for audio is generally low noise as are some other small signal models

https://www.mouser.com/c/semiconductors/discrete-semiconductors/transistors/bipolar-transistors-bjt/?q=low%20noise%20npn&mounting%20style=Through%20Hole

 

[Ginsly]

As usual, thanks for the info @Feral Feline & @jwin615 !

I've seen BC549C named as a functionally identical transistor to BC109C, but in a plastic casing with lower noise.

I recently got some from Mouser (GREAT link btw, @jwin615) and they're listed as BC549CTA - not sure what the "TA" is for...