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Germanium, how does that work?


companyman

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I'm debating putting the maestro back on to see if I can get along with it....I am looking at it and think that all I have to do is screw the 4 bracket screws back in and pull the stop piece and bolts out of the body, not sure if the thread things in the body will interfere with the maestro's functioning properly. I am also not sure of what to expect action-wise when I put it back on, intonation could be weird too, and I'm not sure how to deal with that.

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yep. there are still some good transistors out there, but they are hidden in weird places. maybe some old guys garage who used to have an electronics repair shop.


most of them have been "ferreted out" by pedal geeks....


but i bet the military still has a stockile of them somewhere.


the electronic warfare gear i was trained to run in the 80s was still TUBE gear.

 

 

makes you wonder if Mike Matthews has a connection with Russian military Germanium chips to be able to mass produce the new Germ Muffs and Germ OD pedals?

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makes you wonder if Mike Matthews has a connection with Russian military Germanium chips to be able to mass produce the new Germ Muffs and Germ OD pedals?

 

 

seriously, there are probably millions of Russian Germanium transistors around. The vintage parts place I bought my Germanium's from have hundreds in stock from 45p and that's just one place in the UK.... and don't forget that EHX produce most new valves in Russia, so it wouldn't really be a suprise if they had boxes and boxes of transistors too.

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seriously, there are probably millions of Russian Germanium transistors around. The vintage parts place I bought my Germanium's from have hundreds in stock from 45p and that's just one place in the UK.... and don't forget that EHX produce most new valves in Russia, so it wouldn't really be a suprise if they had boxes and boxes of transistors too.

 

 

that's correct. there are probably STOCKPILES of germanium transistors in russia - i wonder what kind of quality they are?

 

i doubt they would be as good as Mullard and Texas Instruments.

 

but i bet there are plenty of useable ones...

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I have a question for any EHX Germanium OD owners, does it need to first in the signal chain like a Fuzzface to sound good? See, my Double Muff demands to be first, and I want to put the Germ OD after it , will this sound bad? I'm hoping Fender&EHX4ever will pipe in here, I think he has one?

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I have a question for any EHX Germanium OD owners, does it need to first in the signal chain like a Fuzzface to sound good? See, my Double Muff demands to be first, and I want to put the Germ OD after it , will this sound bad? I'm hoping EHX&FENDER4ever will pipe in here, I think he has one?

 

 

I'm a Double Muff guy as well. Although the thing's antisocial, I think it mainly hates buffers? So hopefully it would work with the Germ OD in front of it, given that it's TB? I'm not sure what they would sound like together, though...

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that's correct. there are probably STOCKPILES of germanium transistors in russia - i wonder what kind of quality they are?


i doubt they would be as good as Mullard and Texas Instruments.


but i bet there are plenty of useable ones...

 

 

I think you would be suprised, IvIark tested the Russian made transistors I had and every single one had zero (or close to zero) leakage and good usable Hfe, maybe they don't sound as exactly as good as Mullards in a fuzz face, but they are as close as most people wouldn't be able to tell... the only thing they lack is the mojo numbers printed on them imo.

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that's correct. there are probably STOCKPILES of germanium transistors in russia - i wonder what kind of quality they are?


i doubt they would be as good as Mullard and Texas Instruments.


but i bet there are plenty of useable ones...

 

 

You americans have this ridiculous pride in things made in your country, but the russians were still using 'obsolete' tech like valves and Ge transistors years after you were, and had the benefit of improved production techniques etc.

 

A lot of the soviet stuff from back in the day is still working now!

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You americans have this ridiculous pride in things made in your country, but the russians were still using 'obsolete' tech like valves and Ge transistors years after you were, and had the benefit of improved production techniques etc.


A lot of the soviet stuff from back in the day is still working now!



actually JAPAN was probably the best manufacturers of semiconductors, but the USA did indeed lead the world when it comes to electronics.

the USSR was always about ten years behind us, tech-wise..

but yeah -- it would be COOL if we could find some stockpiles of USEABLE soviet germanium transistors. the mullards and NKT's and other "mojo" transistors are SOON to be extinct :eek:

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You americans have this ridiculous pride in things made in your country, but the russians were still using 'obsolete' tech like valves and Ge transistors years after you were, and had the benefit of improved production techniques etc.


A lot of the soviet stuff from back in the day is still working now!



Mullard was a British component manufacturer who formed a partnership with Philips (a dutch company) and formed Mullard-Philips... Philips continued to use the brand name "Mullard" in the UK until 1988.

....in 2007 the name was revived by Sovtek/EHX to make 'mullard' branded valves (in Russia)... so I suppose the name is Russian now. :)

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oh...forgot this

 

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~wylie/Mullard/Mullard.htm

 

if you are interested in reading about Mullard transistors, it's not very much but interesting all the same.

 

my favorite line:

 

"There is an ongoing market for the OC45 on eBay because it was used in some early guitar effects units ("fuzz boxes") and purists insist that only the original will do. There are even people who talk about the "germanium sound", and do not mean poor signal-to-noise ratio!"

 

:lol:

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oh...forgot this


http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~wylie/Mullard/Mullard.htm


if you are interested in reading about Mullard transistors, it's not very much but interesting all the same.


my favorite line:


"There is an ongoing market for the OC45 on eBay because it was used in some early guitar effects units ("fuzz boxes") and purists insist that only the original will do. There are even people who talk about the "germanium sound", and do not mean poor signal-to-noise ratio!"


:lol:



damnit....was just going to post that :lol::lol::lol:

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