What's the best place to buy transistors? And other transistor questions!

[thrashmetl]

What online vendor is the best to buy NOS germanium and silicon transistors from for building pedals? I've heard small bear isn't the best, at least as far as Big Muff silicon transistors go, because the Hfe's are generally too low. I've seen NOS transistors over on the Effects Connection site, any good?

Mouser Electronics seems to have everything, but they look like modern transistors. What's the deal with Mousers stuff? For example, I punched in BC239C transistors (common in vintage Ram's Head Muffs) and 2 versions came up in stock, one of which was BC239CBU with this description: Small Signal Transistors NPN 25V 100mA HFE/800.

Would this work? Or do they sound completely different?

[thrashmetl]

Anyone?

[sfx]

Banzai Music in europe has some nice ones including germaniums. Small Bear's matched Ge sets are excellent and take all the guess work out of making a nice Fuzz Face/Tonebender/whatever.

There are a huge amount of transistors that you can use in a Big Muff. Those BC239C's mentioned work great in a Muff pedal. You could also try the BC10X (108/109) series which are nice as well.

[thrashmetl]

I'm trying to find good ones though, that's the thing. I've heard that small bear has low Hfe transistors which aren't really a good thing.

Do the modern BC239C transistors at Mouser work just as well, or do they sound different?

Are the NOS transistors that Effects Connection sell any good or are they also low Hfe?

Who's the best?

[sfx]

Small Bear has transistors with all types of gain ranges.

Yes those BC239's would work fine. But sound different compared to what?

I would socket the transistor spots on your board and try a bunch of different ones and see what you like.

Here's some other suggestions: MPSA13, 2N5088, BC108 and 109, BC550

Try not to worry if something is "NOS" or not...

[NewarkWilder]

if you're talking about stuff like NKT275s, OC75s, OC76s etc ebay is your best bet and its kind of a crapshoot... if you're looking for the seriously rare stuff like NKT213s and OC81Ds... well... don't hold your breath. they are nearly extinct and pretty much impossible to find in any quantity unless you have professional scouts in europe and asia and its still really tough then.

i have my ebay saved searches email me every day for updates when rare stuff pops up--and then its either whoever gets the BIN or wins the auction, and you're usually still taking a chance on whether they are any good or not.

I've got a lot of big plans up my sleeve for pedal builds--but to have any kind of consistancy/volume in your line you basically gotta take difficult to find parts out of the equation, or at least have them be a sort of side project "when available" sort of thing.

but hey... if you get lucky with some really nice stuff, congrats. there are a lot of hunters out there and not much prey.

[Brad J]

Yup, Ebay, but as many as you can as 70% will be unusable unfortunately

[aziltz]

ebay will have lots of fakes. and honestly you won't be able to just buy a few and get good ones. all the builders than use them buy them by the thousands and sort through them for the good ones, you actually have to plug them in an measure some values. They're going fast and getting expensive, and its mostly a waste of your time.

The stuff that small bear has is great, but if you really want an opinion and not hearsay, pop over to diystompboxes.com and just do a search. Small Bear is great, they're just a little slow since they are getting caught up with expansion.