Smallbear germanium transistor recommendation for Muffin Factory?

[Song Naga]

Hi all,

First stompbox build in about 25 years, though I've been building modular synths for the past 5 years so I have some soldering and audio electronics experience under my belt. I also develop audio projects on the Daisy Seed platform, and found myself here by way of the Terrarium PCB. I'm going straight to building a Muffin Factory to save myself from having to collect a bunch of different fuzz pedals. The BOM for this project calls for 2 "GE" transistors, what would you recommend from Smallbear to best fit this component spec in this project? GE transistors are clearly a serious rabbit hole in the hobby, and I'm hoping to avoid a deep dive into that at this time, since I'm just getting started. Thank you for your expertise!

 

[VanWhy]

I used MP38A's in my build. Something NPN, low leakage in the 50-80 hfe range. Small bear seems a bit pricey so if you do have a tester there surprisingly some legit options on transistor lots on eBay.

 

[PedalBuilder]

Try some MP35 or MP38 transistors. They’re reasonably priced and sound great in that circuit if you get ones with an hFE around 50.

 

[giovanni]

If you need PNP and are in the US I’m happy to mail them to you. I built a few fuzz factories from GPCB and I have a stash of Ge PNP.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

MP38s work well in my modd'ed Hoof. Low leakage & medium-low HFE is the way to go for a Sweet Muff. Check the collector voltages on the Ge transistors, anything above 3V is acceptable.

 

[Capn_starsky]

MP38s work wonderfully. I also have some 2sd187s from smallbear that work quite well. Same comments as above, low leakage, moderately low HFE, I think all mine were with 2 of each other around 58 when tested with a DCA75 quickly.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

MP38
No need to match them or anything. It's just a BMP.

 

[Song Naga]

Thanks all! I've managed to secure some choice bits from another member of this forum, totally making it worth the minimal effort to find and join this forum. It sounds GREAT after sorting the grounding problems I was having with it that was grounding the signal to the pedal chassis (whoops!). I've also built a War Scythe and Twin Fuzz now, so I am totally fuzzed up! Wish I had the ability/access to build these 35 years ago, I would have (and plan to) play these for life.