War Scythe germanium hFE/leakage

[prsman]

Any idea what germs will work well with this?

I was cheap and didn't buy pre-sorted transistors and they were in the range from 22-70 hFE all with low leakage.

What would y'all recommend? Use what I have or buy some with higher gain?

 

[nkt$275]

Sockets.
Let your ears tell you.

 

[mdc]

The reaper side isn't fussy at all - the ge transistor is being slammed into oblivion by the previous stage so pretty much anything will work and sound good.

I've not built the Hoof, but as long as whatever transistor you stick in there is biasing in the ballpark it's not going to be making a huge contribution to the overall sound of the thing. Big Muffs are super forgiving! You'd probably get more of a germanium-y sound out of it if you swapped the Red LEDs for Ge diodes. If you socket them I'd be curious to know if you heard any real difference between Ge transistors and low gain silicon like 2N3903 or 2N3440.

Anyway, this is all to say run what ya brung etc and it'll be fine.

 

[Bobbyd67]

The Reaper side needs to be leaky to sound smooth. A low leakage one will give you a gated velcro fuzz. But if you lower your guitar volume you can easily smooth it out.

For the big muff side I never noticed a difference with hfe and leakage, all combinations sounded pretty much the same.

 

[prsman]

The reaper side isn't fussy at all - the ge transistor is being slammed into oblivion by the previous stage so pretty much anything will work and sound good.

I've not built the Hoof, but as long as whatever transistor you stick in there is biasing in the ballpark it's not going to be making a huge contribution to the overall sound of the thing. Big Muffs are super forgiving! You'd probably get more of a germanium-y sound out of it if you swapped the Red LEDs for Ge diodes. If you socket them I'd be curious to know if you heard any real difference between Ge transistors and low gain silicon like 2N3903 or 2N3440.

Anyway, this is all to say run what ya brung etc and it'll be fine.

Awesome thanks. I'll socket some things and come back.

 

[prsman]

The Reaper side needs to be leaky to sound smooth. A low leakage one will give you a gated velcro fuzz. But if you lower your guitar volume you can easily smooth it out.

For the big muff side I never noticed a difference with hfe and leakage, all combinations sounded pretty much the same.

Thank you.