Comments on: Effect of Heat on Ge transistors

By: admin

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:37:03 +0000

It is all to do with bias… it changes up or down depending on the temp, and will only sound good at the temperature that the bias is optimized for. So, hotter or colder than room temp can make the circuit sound less than perfect.

regards, Jack

By: pinkjimiphoton

pinkjimiphoton — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:13:09 +0000

interesting…it’s weird, i keep having the opposite problem with ge transistors…they sound great at room temp, but let ‘em get cold, boy, and they sound like poo!!! i’m in new england, so no idea how they’ll react in the heat, but they sure don’t like cold concrete floors!!! gotta hit ‘em with a bic lighter to get ‘em to work…

By: Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:21:04 +0000

Good thing my Germanium transistors are inside an enclosure where I can’t touch them. The real test to do is to find a wireless humidity and temperature tester to put inside of the Fuzz or whatever enclosure and keep track of changes in temp and humidity over a period of time. Keeping track of differences between changes while idle and changes that happen while playing.

By: Noel Grassy

Noel Grassy — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:58:31 +0000

Howdy, I’ve been wanting one of those Peak analyzers. Where did you buy yours?
Thanks for posting this data. I get outdoor gigs in the Summer and I’ve wondered why my Ge fuzz can’t be tamed for use. I usually omit it from the FX chain. Can these figures be brought back to usable with a bias control added?

By: admin

admin — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:24:57 +0000

Do you want to buy one of the AC188 transistors? I’ll sell you one for $8 which includes shipping. Write an email to me and I’ll reply with a Paypal invoice.

By: one leg

one leg — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:50:54 +0000

How much for one?

By: phill

phill — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:16:08 +0000

That’s incredible! Now stick ‘em in the freezer to test the curve.

It’ll be hard to find a valid use for this information though, considering most of us keep our transistors in little metal boxes that we throw around and jump on.