Messages

Built the cupcake in like an hour. Aquaboy though took me a good few hours.
Low rider is taking me forever. I'm just procrastinating finishing that thing up. These don't include boxing time though as I suck at that and usually don't box  them up right away.


I got tired of forgetting parts when orderring so now I copy every component I need into notepad, usually from BOM's on Bean's pdf's, and delete them one by one as they get ordered or verified in my stash.  Always check the mods for different values if I intend on tweaking. Been working out good as no forgotten parts since I started doing it.

I just finished up the stereo panneur  (two lunes with panning features) which I got from 4ms and I found the board as good of quality as MB's. The twelve board mounted full size pots sure made it a much easier build.  Only needed to adjust the led's and cds' to get both sides dialed in.  I sourced my own components but got the pcb and drilled enclosure from 4ms. Took my time and matched component values as close as possible for each channel. I love this thing. So versatile and sounds so good.  I have a thing for stereo effects anyway.

Those are some good gains on the 308's.   I finally did a decent test on the 308's that paul sent me.  I had to do a bit of tweaking, but they sound suprisingly good for such low gain. (40's-50's range). I'll have to get some in higher ranges and compare.

Those are good gains Quip. Did you pick yours up from gordeluxe? Are they the IT308B or the GT308B? I only had 3 out of 50 that were above 60 which is interesting compared to your results. Maybe ill pick up another batch to compare...

I got them from Goredelux. The 308's were listed as GT's. They were an odd  batch of 60 and have some written as 1T and some look like a TT with the first T chopped top left. Two different logos on them.  Most of the higher gain ones have 1T and a logo that looks a little like the soviet sickle with a small double T on top. The rest have that sideways smashed figure 8 looking logo. It could be my DCA55 also tests gains higher than other means too. I don't really want to any math and a test circuit to calculate another way. Barely have the time to work on my projects as is.

*** There's a third logo too. A circle with arrow pointing down and the top of trannies have a diamond imprint. Most of those tested in 50's and 60's.

My russian trannies came this week. Not too bad. the 308's had plenty of gains between 80 and 100 and many 60 to 80. The 108's are tiny with flimsy thin leads, have more leakage but still low. Haven't tested but a few so far and the gains are a bit higher overall to the 308's.  The mp39b's are low gainers. Got them basically to try out a JBF3 circuit.

Threw a little clip together using the SRC's in a FF.  Direct recording to pc so missing the tube amp influence. Fuzz on full all clips with guitar volume rolled back for left and right. Center I roll the volume up.  Touch of reverb added. Mexi strat with ceramic singles. Give you an idea of the fuzz sound these make anyway. Mediocre playing as usual.
SRTGERMS0.mp3 - 1.92MB

I ordered 3 batches of russian germs. Still waiting for them to arrive. I researched beforehand so I know not to expect much for gains on the gt308v's. I'm hoping the 10v gt108v's fair a little better for gains.

I took a little gamble with a stateside surplus dealer on some  TO-5 PNP cans with unlisted specs for cheap. 15 and 20 cents a pop. Picked up 40 from different batches. I was pleasantly surprised. About half of them had gains in the FF range (70 - 150). About a fourth of them had gains 40 to 60. A few went over 200, a few really low gain, and a couple over 300. Only a few I deemed unusable. One dead one. One common diode. One reported as a resistor shunt. A couple leaky bums. Leakage was moderate on most. from 40ua to 120ua. The higher gains tended to have higher leakages. A few had no leakage at all. These were all tested with a DCA55 so other means might give different results. I tried several combos in my FF test circuit and my pepper spray and they sound pretty good to me. I wonder what the 2N**** equivalent is. Top of the cans have SRC written on them follwed by a batch number I presume. Found out it stands for Summit Radio Corporation. Anyway I think I'll be getting a few more because they work and are dirt cheap with good yields.

If anyone is interested in these I'll gladly share the source but can't say you'll get the same results. I'll see how my second order goes.

Just signed up too. Been building MB projects for awhile. Always pleased with the results. Nary a problem to troubleshoot. Really like building the advanced stuff for the challenge but my favorite tones always seem to be in the simple circuits.