Russian Germaniums

[hamerfan]

Thanks all! my local source only found P416 and GT308 in his stash.

 

[hamerfan]

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 bought my MP38a from Ebayer ELECMENTS13 from Bulgaria. Good trannies and fast delivery.

 

[schoeps]

Keep in mind that the terminals often differ on Soviet transistors vs Western/Japanese

 

[Cybercow]

Personally, I'm a big fan of MP20B Russian BJTs. They have a good range of gain factor with low leakage and are great for most any dirt/distortion/fuzz box build. I find them on eBay; mostly from Bulgaria or Ukraine. (Check the seller's ratings before pulling the trigger.)

 

[andare]

GT402 B/G
GT404 B/G
MP42B

GT402/404 - warning - large package size

Analogman calls these BARTs - Big Ass Russian Transistors.

I have some NPN 404s. High leakage. I used them in the Ge Fuzzrite I built in your beautiful wedge enclosure.

 

[andare]

Personally, I'm a big fan of MP20B Russian BJTs. They have a good range of gain factor with low leakage and are great for most any dirt/distortion/fuzz box build. I find them on eBay; mostly from Bulgaria or Ukraine. (Check the seller's ratings before pulling the trigger.)

NPN? These are used in the Death By Audio Germanium Filter IIRC.
And I think the Bonamassa Fuzz Face uses a version of these.

I think the Ukrainian vendor is Alexer. Don't recall the Bułgarian vendor but I think we all buy from those two. Great service.

 

[HamishR]

I once bought some Ge Transistors from a fella in Omsk. Postage was something like a dollar. When they arrived I used a google Cyrillic translator to read the address and looked up the seller's address on street view. Omsk is in deepest Siberia and this fella lived in the dreariest looking communist apartment building in an exceptionally dreary part of a desolate looking city. Street view is amazing. I felt it the least I could do to pay peanuts for excellent transistors from him. I feel for Russian people. Well not the wealthy dicks you see in European ski resorts, but the poor buggers who sell packets of old transistors from their apartments because they have been ripped off by Putin and his oligarch mates. I won't attempt to buy anything from Russia while they are invading Ukraine but I do have sympathy for the poor bastards of Siberia.

 

[Cybercow]

NPN? These are used in the Death By Audio Germanium Filter IIRC.
And I think the Bonamassa Fuzz Face uses a version of these.

I think the Ukrainian vendor is Alexer. Don't recall the Bułgarian vendor but I think we all buy from those two. Great service.

MP20B BJTs are PNP.

 

[Erik S]

So, now that I've got a bunch of these transistors ordered, and there's a PCB sale going, any favorite PPCB projects you'd recommend putting them in?

Stuff I've got coming:
MP38a, GT404B, MP21E, MP42B, MP20B, P416B

 

[schoeps]

So, now that I've got a bunch of these transistors ordered, and there's a PCB sale going, any favorite PPCB projects you'd recommend putting them in?

Stuff I've got coming:
MP38a, GT404B, MP21E, MP42B, MP20B, P416B

Twin Face, really any fuzz that uses a TC1044SCPA will probably use a PNP