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What's the best temperature to run a germanium effect in?


g400man

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Yeah, just wondering, I got my HBE Germania 44 treble booster and was just wondering, my house right now feels like 65 degrees sometimes and I know that germanium effects get affected by varying temperatures

 

i can't answer your question, but i have a proposal for you.

You should record the hbe at different temperatures. Say it's 65, record. Then up the thermostat to 70, let it sit. Then record. Up the temp to 75, then let it sit and record. Again at 80, 85 and 90 degrees. You can also leave your hbe in the frig :)

Come back to us with your report :cool:

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i can't answer your question, but i have a proposal for you.

You should record the hbe at different temperatures. Say it's 65, record. Then up the thermostat to 70, let it sit. Then record. Up the temp to 75, then let it sit and record. Again at 80, 85 and 90 degrees. You can also leave your hbe in the frig
:)
Come back to us with your report
:cool:

 

thats a really good idea...if you do do this i'm curious to hear the outcome

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Your at pretty much the optimal temp at 65-70 degrees, you would have to go about 20 degrees either way to see a big difference. If you get over about 85degrees the fuzz gets weaker and really gates early. This is just my observations with my fuzz faces and tone benders. I remember reading stories about caesar diaz putting SRV fuzzface in the freezer while they did some recording to cool of the transistors. I think the bias pots on the newer clones take care of a lot of this problem.

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Yeah, just wondering, I got my HBE Germania 44 treble booster and was just wondering, my house right now feels like 65 degrees sometimes and I know that germanium effects get affected by varying temperatures

 

They do not do well in hot weather.

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does the temp really affect the sound?

 

Yep, the gain on germanium transistors shoots through the roof when heat is applied. This make fuzz faces cut off the sustain of a note and sound really, really grainy. I'm not sure what it does to treble boosters, but I imagine it does the same thing.

 

As for the optimum temperature for a germanium device, it's the temperature it was originally biased at, give or take a couple of degrees :thu:

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You need to find the optimum temperature to give best gain (i.e. sweetest tome) and breakdown voltage (sweetest clipping) of germanium for its specific bandgap for the transistor used. Generally colder = more gain, but that can be harsh with too much gain.

 

So find the sweet spot range of temperatures.

 

The you'll just need to take a 2510 to the gigs to control this.

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hey so I stuck it in my freezer for about 15 minutes and got the metal housing pretty cold, to the point where you actually couldnt hold it, it was pretty cold. and noticed it was so to say maybe a tad less fizzy sounding, though as it warmed up after 45 minutes I never a change.

 

maybe ill conduct another experiment, Ill hold it up to my blowdrier on hot and on max for ten minutes and get it hot and then see a difference.

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hey so I stuck it in my freezer for about 15 minutes and got the metal housing pretty cold, to the point where you actually couldnt hold it, it was pretty cold. and noticed it was so to say maybe a tad less fizzy sounding, though as it warmed up after 45 minutes I never a change.


maybe ill conduct another experiment, Ill hold it up to my blowdrier on hot and on max for ten minutes and get it hot and then see a difference.

 

 

are you {censored}ing kidding me?

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Ah, the sweet aroma of fine vintage corkage. C'est magnifique! :thu:

 

The ambient temperature range for a germanium diode is around +/- 80 degrees centigrade. Max reverse voltage DOES degrade with elevated temperatures, but if you can hear the difference in any room in which YOU can stand the temperature, then your ears are better than my beagle's! :cop:

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nope, not kidding, popped it in the freezer and then took it out

 

 

you do realize you can ruin your pedal that way?

 

you know when you leave a cold glass of water sitting on a table and water condensates on the outside of it?

 

guess whats happening inside your pedal when you take it out of the freezer and it warms up.

 

OOPS.

 

you have officially made it as an inside joke at the shop. if someone says or does something stupid, we say "Go take your fuzz face out of the freezer."

 

 

DO NOT put pedals in the freezer. there is nothing good that will ever come of it, and the possibility that you could {censored} your pedal up.

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Yep, the gain on germanium transistors shoots through the roof when heat is applied. This make fuzz faces cut off the sustain of a note and sound really, really grainy. I'm not sure what it does to treble boosters, but I imagine it does the same thing.


As for the optimum temperature for a germanium device, it's the temperature it was originally biased at, give or take a couple of degrees
:thu:

 

Well, that explains a lot for me.

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