Paia MIDI2CV8 Transistor substitute?

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

Regarding the transistor substitutes for the Paia MIDI2CV converter:

>Y-ellow.
>        When I was messing with VCF designs, trying to be as compatible with
>John's prefferred circuses and before I ran out of life-time to expend on
>the task, I used lowly ol' BC549s and 559s as substitutes. I also couldn't
>get the 4124s and 26s. They seemed to work just fine although I am aware
>they are quite different. I chose them soley because I had some in stock.
>
>my suggestion then is this. Jam in what ever you've got lying round and get
>the thing up and running. Then if the result is less than satisfactory you
>can worry about a substitute later. Try Diodes Inc for data sheets.
>http://www.diodes.com/
>

Keep in mind that even though the *function* of those transistors in that
circuit is not overly critical (in the schematic, they appear to be just
regular old garden-variety small-signal NPN's, used mostly as switches and
shunts), the pinout of the transistors you choose must match the pinout that
is expected by the circuit board.  I don't know the particular part numbers
that you mentioned, but I do know that many of the US-made transistors have a
different pin arrangement than most of the Japanese or European-made
transistors.  So, do a little research first, lest you go soldering an
Emitter where there's supposed to be a Collector or Base.

If your substitute transistor's pinout does not match, you may be able to
rearrange its three pins enough to make them find the proper destinations on
the P.C. board.  If it's tight after you rearrange the transistor's leads,
you could always try insulating them with a little bit of stripped wire
insulation, to ensure that they don't short out on each other.  Good luck!