What do I need to know before I order my first transistors?

[jwin615]

That's because I told you to go to the wrong site. Here you go:

(Limited) Bonamassa Germanium PNP Fuzz Face Set - GuitarPCB

Bonamassa style NOS Germanium Fuzz Face Set.

guitarpcb.com

"Zero leakage"
Umm?

 

[PedalBuilder]

"Zero leakage"
Umm?

Some transistor testers, such as the Peak DCA55, can’t measure less than 9 µA of leakage using their test parameters. If there’s less than 9 µA of leakage, the DCA55 reports leakage as 0 µA. There are several Soviet transistors that frequently have leakage that low. For example, at 70°F, about half of my GT308, GT309, GT310, and P416 transistors read as having zero leakage.

 

[MBFX]

You inspired me to make progress on an abandoned project. This is the Fuzz Face half of an "all you need" classic drive section. The other half will be a Rangemaster

 

[andare]

I just wanna say give Germanium a chance.

Once I was able to distinguish between germanium and silicon fuzz, the latter became unusable to me, for the most part. Too grainy and fizzy. Especially on cleanup.

However I don't claim to be able to tell the difference every time and I'm ready to be stumped and humbled.

It's it fun to explore and find what you like.

 

[yossarian]

You inspired me to make progress on an abandoned project. This is the Fuzz Face half of an "all you need" classic drive section. The other half will be a Rangemaster

Gret to hear my thread had a positive impact on the DIY world

 

[yossarian]

@MBFX StompBox won't ship to France unless I have an EORI number and the French website tells me that I don't get one if I don't have a business... stuck in red tape. So, your source is safe (at least from me )

 

[MBFX]

@MBFX StompBox won't ship to France unless I have an EORI number and the French website tells me that I don't get one if I don't have a business... stuck in red tape. So, your source is safe (at least from me )

Your English is so good! I had no idea English was not your first language, and I assumed you were from the USA. I'm sorry about that, and doubly so if you mentioned it elsewhere. Your most reliable source might be eastern Europe, via the EBay sellers other builders mentioned.

 

[derevaun]

I've gotten some good Ge transistors from Ebay lots... amid a majority of low gain and/or leaky ones. It's nice to have a stash and the low-gain ones can be put to some use, but I'd look for tested single transistors, or sets. For example, these always seemed like a good deal:

NPN Germanium Transistor Set for DIY Effects Pedals (Fuzz, Tonebender, Rangemaster etc.) - JoeDocMusic

*In stock, ships from Berlin, Germany * JDM Pedals brings you a KILLER selection of NPN Germanium Transistors for your DIY Fuzz pedal build. gin

www.joedocmusic.com

I haven't bought any from them so I can't vouch for them. I've gotten a few tested Ge transistors from Cameo's Components on Ebay. It works out to around the same cost per "good" transistor.

 

[passtheducky]

I didn’t know much about fuzzes, but as a first step I knocked together three Ge fuzzes from Aion and they all work perfectly and sound great. From there you can start tweaking, making adjustments that you might like etc. Or just play ‘em.

 

[TheHammer1982]

Ge fuzzes can really test your sanity, especially if they are going into a MK1 Tone Bender. I spent $40 on a transistor set from Small Bear and my MK1 sounded pretty "meh". Thankfully a very generous member here took the time to sort through his stash and test a bunch of Ge transistors until he found three that he thought would work well. What he sent ended up sounding fantastic!

Depending on the circuit you may end up spending quite a bit of time swapping transistors around until you find a combo that sounds right to you. This means buying several "matched" sets for whatever circuit you are working on or several lots and testing them yourself.

So far I've built a Ge Hudson Broadcast clone and a MK1 Tone Bender. Next will be a Ge Fuzz Face and then I'm more than likely done building Ge pedals.