I've been playing around germaniums since I started making pedals and I can say that I'm not too inspired by them. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I remember playing with a old Jennings Growler fuzz (looks like a pie wedge) that sounded great to my ears. I think they had BC109's but I can't remember. So what is the best Si tranny? Is there the same type of variablity in Si as there is in Germaniums?
Hi,
The BC 109's are said to be good because many fuzzes at this time are built with BC 109's i'm not sure they are the best if their gain are too high,i prefer to take a BC 207 with a low gain than a BC 109 with a 200 or 3000 Hfe .Silicons seem to be closest and more consistant in a production serie than germs. I think there's no rules and less differences than germs but......
there are differences beetween silicons of differents brands ,age of fabrication, material,a plastic silicon with the same reference than will be more or less RF sensitive than a metal can Type,
Bruno
Sure, :D
The best transistor for any given circuit is the one the designer tells you to use. Effects are designed around transistors, so in most cases they aren’t something that can be swapped without altering some supporting circuitry. Many people have favorite transistors, picked for there “overdrive†characteristics. I don’t have a favorite, but if you want to see what can sound good, and what is commonly used, check out http://www.runoffgroove.com/
Personally, i love the PN100A tranys for boosters/OD's/Fuzzes, and they are cheap and easy to get. They have a higher HFE than the PN100's (at around 580), and have a sweeter sound.
QuoteSo what is the best Si tranny?
That's a little like saying "What's the best kind of boy or girl?"
In either case, you'll get different opinions based on the person giving the opinion and the intended use. In many cases the answer tells you more about the person giving the opinion than the answer you were seeking.
The best kind Si tranny is the one you can get that does what you want. Knowing that a Belchfire BCx74A manufactured in 1959 would give a tone second only to a deity does you little good if you can't get one.
And in most cases, it doesn't matter, or doesn't matter much. Classical transistor circuit design from the transistor Golden Age (1963 - 1978) held that good design made variation in the transistor parameters not matter to the circuit performance to the largest extent possible. That's how a lot of those circuits were designed.
That being the case, for signal duty, get a good, high gain, low noise transistor. I dreamed up Keen's Second Law based on this - when in doubt, use a 2N5088. They're high gain, low noise, easy to find, and relatively cheap. But I won't hesitate even one second at putting in a 2N4124, 2N4401, 2N3391, 2N5210, MPS8098, PN2222, 2N3904, ... the list goes on and on. Same for the BC series. BC549 is pretty good for almost everything. Use relatively good, standard amplifier transistors, and if you honestly believe that you can hear differences in type numbers that outweigh the five-to-one ratio of parameters within the type number, sub through parts to find the few special trannys that you can detect differences in.
However, don't expect your favorites to be someone else's favorites. That doesn't happen all that often.
I like the PNP 2N3906, and the NPN 2N29304.
just a personal preferance.
Luke