2N404 Question

[Papa_lazerous]

Ok I have found out about a rather large stash of unbranded 2N404's  I can get them for £0.10 each or $0.20 for the guys on the other side of the pond

Ok there is an element of unknown as I dont know what they are going to be like, but there are 12,000 at that price. 

Should I risk it and buy some if so how many at that price?  I was thinking I could buy allot and then trade with fellow diyers.  Not out to make a fortune or steal anyones business

[caress]

i've got some 2n404a's and they sound pretty good to me, although they are pretty low gain.  i got a few with hfe around 75-90 or so, but most were low, like 35-50...

here's some info
http://www.datasheetarchive.com/search.php?q=2N404

[Papa_lazerous]

That dont answer my question lol,

should I just go buy a shed load?

[GREEN FUZ]

They seem very cheap. What have you got to lose? Is there a minimum order?

[Toney]

 Well if it's from a source that you think may not been combed for HFE and leakage.. sure buy a test amount.
If it has anything to do with Ebay...er no.

[Papa_lazerous]

They seem very cheap. What have you got to lose? Is there a minimum order?

Min order is 4!!  ALthough I am more thinkng 4000

[Papa_lazerous]

Well if it's from a source that you think may not been combed for HFE and leakage.. sure buy a test amount.
If it has anything to do with Ebay...er no.

Not ebay lol I am not stupid.  I wouldnt know if they have been combed through its going to be hard to know on a batch that size.  Even with a small sample who could say what the others will be like.  I may just bite the bullet and speculate on them

[Toney]

Really, I'd just spend $10-20 and shoot your luck with a sample.
At that price even if the reject rate is high... the cost is no more than the GE diodes thay can become.

[GREEN FUZ]

Hey it`s your call. Looks like you`re going into the transistor business.

Seriously though I have no idea what they`re worth but the very briefest of Googles brought me to this site.

http://semiconductormuseum.com/MuseumStore/MuseumStore_2N404_Index.htm

[Papa_lazerous]

I've mailed them and said I want a sample of 100 or for them to take a sample from the batch and tell me leakeage Hfe so I can see what I am getting.

I will use quite a few myself.  as Transistors are costing me a fortune right now trying to find nice ones.

Also I could put a few on ebay.  At least there would be one person selling good ones lol 

[Solidhex]

Yo

  I have a number of 2n404/2n404a . I really haven't had much luck gettting good tones with them. Out of the batches I've had leaky ones are pretty rare and I have found a number of "magic zone" gain ratings but for some reason when I've put them in fuzz face circuits they sound incredibly anemic. They seem to be very quiet noise wise and clean up amazingly well but there's just no FUZZ!! I'd try a sample before commiting to a large batch. Anyone else experience this with 2n404's?

--Brad

[Papa_lazerous]

I got 100 coming my way for hardly any money so I will see how they are and not tell anyone where the other 11,900 ar at incase they beat me to them

[kupervaser]

So did you get them?

[alex frias]

mmmmmm

[zombiwoof]

Yo

  I have a number of 2n404/2n404a . I really haven't had much luck gettting good tones with them. Out of the batches I've had leaky ones are pretty rare and I have found a number of "magic zone" gain ratings but for some reason when I've put them in fuzz face circuits they sound incredibly anemic. They seem to be very quiet noise wise and clean up amazingly well but there's just no FUZZ!! I'd try a sample before commiting to a large batch. Anyone else experience this with 2n404's?

--Brad

I had a similar experience.  I bought a batch of 2N404's, tested them and found several useful ones for my Fuzz Face.  They biased up fine (I have a bias trimmer for Q1 in that FF), but the pedal just didn't have the sound I was looking for.  I put the FF away for a while, until I was able to get some tested tranny pairs to try out.  Put in an AC128K and a 2SB176 and it came alive!.  I had heard of guys having good results with the 2N404's in their Fuzz Faces, but in my case I was not really impressed with them.  YMMV.

Al

[tubelectron]

Hi,
It is said - but it maybe wrong - that 2N404 have been used in ZVEX Fuzz Factory...
For the curiosity, the only one Fuzz Factory I opened had one MSPA18 in front of two ZVEX-609 relabelled Ge Q's, in TO-5 casings.
A+!