Transistor hfe doubler?

[Matt]

Does this really work?

http://s.webry.info/sp/houshu.at.webry.info/200604/article_6.html

[zombie_rock123]

Never seen that before, but very interesting. I usually go for Darlington pairs where I need the higher HFEs and all I have to hand is low gain Ge. Definitely worth a breadboard!

[culturejam]

I think it should work. But usually, increasing hFE also increases leakage (and usually also noise floor).

I did some testing with very low gain Ge trannies (like 10 - 30) in darlington pairs, and while it did work, it sounded like garbage because of the amplified leakage.

[zombie_rock123]

Culturejam, were your darlingtons using Russian transistors? Ive always had great results with them but now I want to revisit and make sure I wasnt hearing things

[kgull]

A Sziklai pair is another interesting topology if you're looking to experiment

[culturejam]

Yeah, Sziklai pair works about the same. The classic model has a 1K-ish resistor from collector to base of the PNP to stabilize things, but it works without it as well. At least for fuzz circuits.

[Matt]

Lots to try out for sure. Thanks for the input. I have some Russian ge s laying around.