Russian Germaniums

[hamerfan]

Hi all,
I recently bought my first NOS Germs from Bulgaria. I asked for MP38a, because Chuck recommended them. They are awesome, low leakage, just one with a huge hfe (187).
What others are good russian Germs pnp or npn for building fuzzes like tonebenders, fuzzface ect.?

 

[PedalBuilder]

The search feature is your friend, as lots of people have posted about Soviet germanium transistors. (Many of them were manufactured in what is now Ukraine, not Russia, and the eBay shops that sell them are likewise located in Ukraine.)

Here are some of my favorites:
Very low leakage (good for Fuzz Face, Rangemaster, etc.):
GT308V
GT309B/G/E
GT310B
GT320A/B/V
P416B

Leakier (good for some Tone Benders and other leakage-biased fuzzes, but still low enough for a Fuzz Face)
GT115D/G
MP20A/B/D
MP21A/D/E

But seriously, use the search feature and see what people are using for different circuits and use that as a starting point.

 

[hamerfan]

I did a search with 'russian germanium' just brought up only 3, but no further recommendation or data. With the exception of the mp38a by Chuck. I also googled some spec sheets, but they were only in russian.

Thank you anyway. Your list helps a lot.

 

[temol]

GT402 B/G
GT404 B/G
MP42B

GT402/404 - warning - large package size

 

[lowpitch]

One thing to look out for is that hFE ranges given on listings may not be particularly accurate. If it says hFE 50-100 my experience is most of them will likely be around 50 or slightly under, not 75. Of course, there will also be many outliers, so best to order 10-20 rather than singles unless they were tested beforehand.

 

[hamerfan]

One thing to look out for is that hFE ranges given on listings may not be particularly accurate. If it says hFE 50-100 my experience is most of them will likely be around 50 or slightly under, not 75. Of course, there will also be many outliers, so best to order 10-20 rather than singles unless they were tested beforehand.

Thanks. That's what I want to do. But even these russian Germs are hard to get in bigger lots. So I look for other possible subs.

 

[PedalBuilder]

How many pedals do you plan on building? And which ones do you want to build?

 

[darwin999]

I also googled some spec sheets, but they were only in russian.

Google will translate those spec sheets for you, either translating them as a doc or as a picture.
Sometimes the translated wording is a little goofy, but certainly the symbols become legible.

https://translate.google.com/

 

[hamerfan]

How many pedals do you plan on building? And which ones do you want to build?

I have a potential seller on hand from the eastern part of Germany, which inherited a bulk of various russian trannies. He will look into it for me and wanted to know what I am looking for. All of them are untested.
My plans are: I want to do 5 of Szukalski Texel (Fet/GE) Booster for friends, a two tone and a Muff. Maybe more.

 

[swelchy]

generally if your using a cheap tester you will have some of those show up with large HFE like that 187..... it's likely a really leaky 80-90 hfe

 

[hamerfan]

My tester is a DCA55

 

[swelchy]

My tester is DCA55

then your spot on pretty much!

 

[Erik S]

I'd been meaning to order some germs for a while.

I just placed an order from this seller:

Items for sale by garbuz777 | eBay

Shop eBay for great deals from garbuz777!

www.ebay.com

Seemed to have a pretty good selection including some of the recommendations from @PedalBuilder and @temol above.

Thanks for the hot tips guys.

 

[MobyOctopad]

Been meaning to ask: has anyone ordered from Sovcom, Next5 or any of the other well-known sellers in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Wasn't sure if the current political climate's impacted shipping from them.

 

[owlexifry]

One thing to look out for is that hFE ranges given on listings may not be particularly accurate. If it says hFE 50-100 my experience is most of them will likely be around 50 or slightly under, not 75. Of course, there will also be many outliers, so best to order 10-20 rather than singles unless they were tested beforehand.

this is my exact experience.
even with ones where multiple images are posted of examples showing nice gains around 80-120, well i got fuck all of those, highest i got was an 87.
(RG keen test method)

another problem with expectations is that nobody ever fucken mentions their testing methods, so i have no idea how reliable peoples anecdotes are when talking about their Ge hauls.
i assume most people are using those bullshit TC-1 things (is the leakage measurement even reliable on those things?)

here’s what my sample of x20 MP38A looked like:

 

[drgonzo1969]

Been meaning to ask: has anyone ordered from Sovcom, Next5 or any of the other well-known sellers in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Wasn't sure if the current political climate's impacted shipping from them.

I’ve ordered several times from Sovcom recently. Gonna order more soon too haha. Great store!

 

[PedalBuilder]

I’ve ordered several times from Sovcom recently. Gonna order more soon too haha. Great store!

Same here. Oleg is the best.

 

[HamishR]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the HFE. It doesn't seem to make as much difference with these Ge transistors as you'd think.

 

[PedalBuilder]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the HFE. It doesn't seem to make as much difference with these Ge transistors as you'd think.

This. In most circuits the leakage matters a lot more.

 

[Silver Blues]

Also, I have heard that the Soviet germs "behave" like other more typical germs of higher gain, if that helps at all.
Also look out for 1T308V (the "military spec" version of GT308V), these tend to have good gain and negligible leakage and are very stable with temperature. GT109i, GT310B are also very nice.