The General Electric 2N169

[Big Monk]

I'm posting this because after some time, I feel compelled to get some of these in people's hand before they are all gone.

These have been my main Germanium transistor for close to 3 years now. There are phenomenal. They are old school GE NPN with low leakage. My source has been Small Bear and for a time, these were seldom purchased and i have been monitoring the stock count on his site for almost a year.

Recently, the stock has been dwindling from somewhere close to 170+ units down to 43.

I urge anyone here remotely interested in this to purchase some. I recommend sets of 6 if you can swing it. I've purchased down as low as 3 units and gotten at least a good Rangemaster AND FF set, or a single Tonebender MK II set. hFE is pretty "tight" between 60 and 120. Leakage is typically less than 50 microamps.

Don't sleep on these because when they are gone, they are gone. I've found almost no other suppliers for these anywhere on the web.

2N167A Germanium Transistor NPN Flat-Hat GE

New England's source for guitar pedals, pedal parts and electronics.

smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com

 

[Big Monk]

Bump. I’m serious. These are the best germanium transistors I’ve ever used and they won’t last long.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Trying to fight my FOMO here but it's hard to justify the price when I've already got hundreds and hundreds of ge transistors. But the little black hats are COOL looking

 

[Big Monk]

Trying to fight my FOMO here but it's hard to justify the price when I've already got hundreds and hundreds of ge transistors. But the little black hats are COOL looking

They’ve been selling “rapidly” (by standards of germanium transistors) in the last 3 months. I watched them for close to 2 years and he sold maybe 10 in that time. Now they’ve been flying off the shelf.

I’ll be picking up another 8 or so, hopefully, before they go.

 

[bhcarpenter]

Thanks so much for the tip. I only recently got into building and have been amazed how difficult it is to source decent germanium transistors. I snagged some, and I’ll give everyone else a few days to do the same. If there’s any left in a week I’ll probably buy the lot. Just wanted to give everyone else a chance first

 

[Big Monk]

Thanks so much for the tip. I only recently got into building and have been amazed how difficult it is to source decent germanium transistors. I snagged some, and I’ll give everyone else a few days to do the same. If there’s any left in a week I’ll probably buy the lot. Just wanted to give everyone else a chance first

Good man!

 

[danfrank]

Man, these are gonna be like GameStop stock!
Stick it to the Si establishment!!

 

[fairbridge]

Wish the 2x orders I’ve made of 15 each were in the “tight” gain range! Best I got was 2 at 65. Some in 50s Most in the 30s. All have virtually no leakage though, so I’ve got a few rangemasters at least. I made a Fuzzrite though with two that were not accurately measured and I thought could be around the 100 and it sounded pretty good and had a good amount of saturation even though in reality they were probably really low gain. Is this because of the absence of leakage?

 

[Big Monk]

Wish the 2x orders I’ve made of 15 each were in the “tight” gain range! Best I got was 2 at 65. Some in 50s Most in the 30s. All have virtually no leakage though, so I’ve got a few rangemasters at least. I made a Fuzzrite though with two that were not accurately measured and I thought could be around the 100 and it sounded pretty good and had a good amount of saturation even though in reality they were probably really low gain. Is this because of the absence of leakage?

Did you get them from Small Bear? I was not aware they had raw stock left.

 

[fairbridge]

Sorry should've said, Amplified Parts. Didn't see you posted the link to Small Bear. Don't get them from Amplified Parts!

 

[Feral Feline]

Well, I missed the boat on SmallBear — they're all gone and I'll be mighty surprised if SmallSynthBearCube manages to find another load...

So where can I get any at all? Ahh Amplified Parts at increased cost with poorer spec — nonetheless a BirdGe in the Hand is worth two BirdGes in the OUT-OF-STOCK Bush. So, thanks for the heads-up @fairbridge!

 

[Big Monk]

Sorry should've said, Amplified Parts. Didn't see you posted the link to Small Bear. Don't get them from Amplified Parts!

That’s a bummer because they’ve got tons of them at AP.

Looks like their raw stock is not as good as small bears was.

Just a curiosity: How are you measuring them?

 

[traumprinz]

Big Monk: Were yours marked 2N169 from Smallbear? The Smallbear listing just says NPN flat-hat. I have a handful of transistors I purchased from that listing maybe 18 months ago and they are all unmarked. I think it was just a mix of unknown types in that package - could be 2N167, 2N170, etc. For 2N169, GE transistor manual third edition (1958) shows an hfe of 36-220 at Ie of -1mA, Vce=5V, although I see a "typical" hfe of 40 and also a typical hfe of 72 in some 3rd party datasheets/databooks.

 

[Kroars]

Heads up:

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/transistor-2n169-germanium-oval-case-npn

 

[Big Monk]

Big Monk: Were yours marked 2N169 from Smallbear? The Smallbear listing just says NPN flat-hat. I have a handful of transistors I purchased from that listing maybe 18 months ago and they are all unmarked. I think it was just a mix of unknown types in that package - could be 2N167, 2N170, etc. For 2N169, GE transistor manual third edition (1958) shows an hfe of 36-220 at Ie of -1mA, Vce=5V, although I see a "typical" hfe of 40 and also a typical hfe of 72 in some 3rd party datasheets/databooks.

All mine were originally unsorted stock from Small Bear.

All were very low leakage with hFE specs between 60-110.

I can’t speak for the stock at AP.