Germanium transistors from the former USSR are cheap, generally high quality, available in large quantities and very cheap compared to their European counterparts.
They are their own thing and are not direct copies of European transistors - you can find similar transistors, but they are never like-for-like replacements. They nearly always sound different and have their own character. So when sellers on eBay compare the Soviet version to a western one, just use this as a rough guide.
Note:
- Check pinouts, as B, C, E is common
- The emitter is often marked with a dot on the case
- The case is sometimes connected to the base
- hfe on most datasheets will be on the high side, due to high test currents. Look at the minimum gain as a more likely average than the maximum
- They tend to be low leakage compared to European transistors, which means that many will not work in circuits that require high leakage to self-bias
Hi Andy! I just bought a batch of Russian transistors and diodes for testing purpose so this is useful info. I bought them on Etsy from a Ukrainian seller for about 15 usd.
ReplyDeleteI found some 1T320B's I've never heard of before, they have a decent gain so I've tried them on some of my builds and was pleasantly surprised that they sounds pretty good.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16JpGCInjsXp47FWoqpeBrqWUkPLjPBb1/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16D5tXTvq66h9q8y5yiRkSTj2jqDooggK/view?usp=sharing
Hi Felipe. Nice buy - they’re so cheap it’s hard to go wrong. I’ll see if I can track down some info and add them to the spreadsheet.
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