[sdiy] germanium transistors

[Tom Wiltshire]

On 20 Jan 2009, at 20:42, Antti Huovilainen wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Jan 2009, Tom Wiltshire wrote:
>
>> destroy them with heat, and they're so variable that the best way  
>> to get a good sound is to test a few likely candidates in the  
>> circuit once it's built.
>
> I don't think this is necessary. The bunch I bought years ago were  
> either pretty close to the "best" values (gain 100..120, low  
> leakage) or completely useless. I measured all and threw away the  
> bad ones. The testing procedure is really simple (9V battery, two  
> resistors and a DMM).

I wasn't suggesting that you don't test the transistors. I tested all  
mine for gain and leakage. Then I built the circuit, with a socket.  
Then I took the mostly likely candidates from the testing and tried  
them until I found one that had a sound I liked.

Seemed to me to be a simple way to get a good sound. YMMV.

T.