GERMANIUM
TRANSISTOR, VALVO: OC45 / OC44 Germanium Transistor Datasheets
Valvo transistors were produced in Germany, as a subsidiary of Philips (not unlike Mullard in England). More information on Valvo can be found here. My experience with Valvo, is that they are pretty much identical to their English counterparts. The OC45 is a PNP germanium alloy transistor intended as IF amplifier in AM broadcast receivers. … Read more
RANGEMASTER BOOSTER
Just a Rangemaster with a rotary switch for selecting input capacitors – it uses some odd parts, as this is what was available in my local electronics store – the 5 lug tag strip in particular, a regular Rangemaster is on 6. It’s also a slightly odd rotary, but it was all that was left … Read more
TRANSISTOR, GEC: GET Germanium Transistors
GEC is the General Electric Company of England, not the one from the U.S.A. These are occasionally branded as Mullard. Full write-up on GEC / GET transistors can be found here GEC GET 102 – 114 GERMANIUM TRANSISTOR DATA Type V Max Hfe P Max (mW) I Max f (Mhz) GET102 30 … Read more
TRANSISTOR, BRIMAR: AC113 Germanium Transistors
Brimar transistors were made by Thorn and were also commonly branded as Mazda. A full write-up can be found here The AC113 is an audio frequency amplifier or driver type germanium transistor. AC113 GERMANIUM TRANSISTOR DATASHEET TRANSISTOR EQUIVALENTS Being a fairly generic audio amplifier, they’re listed as being similar to a number of common amplifier … Read more
COLORSOUND x D*A*M: Fuzz Sound
Following on from the previous post, this is the D*A*M version of the Colorsound Fuzz Sound. Thread on the D*A*M forum can be found here. Basically take a D*A*M Fuzz Sound, and change the Fuzz pot to an internal trimmer. Unlike the regular Park 2 knob with a large 25u coupling cap between the darlington … Read more
PARK: Fuzz Sound, Two Knob Version, tag board layout
Request for Phil – one tag board layout for the Park 2 knob fuzz sound. I generally prefer to keep the links below the board, as it looks neater. I don’t mind linking two adjacent lugs on top, as you hardly notice it. One suggestion for this. The D*A*M Colosround Fuzz Sound has a few … Read more
HOFNER: Germanium Pre-amp
I only came across the Hofner Preamp quite recently, despite seeing some other builders making point-to-point style germanium preamps based on this circuit – the prime example being the R2R Electric preamp. There’s a good write up here, but in summary: Back in the day before guitar amps were affordable, and TV was a thing, … Read more
SOLA SOUND: Tone Bender MK1.75 ‘El Diablo’
The El Diablo… A Dave Main creation, part Sola Sound MK1.5 Tone Bender / part Vox Tone Bender – hence the MK1.75 moniker. And why El Diablo? apart from the colour, this thing sounds mean as hell. They appeared to use a couple of different transistors for Q2, but the OC75 remains up front – … Read more
VOX: Tone Bender, Tag Board Layout
While I was working on another fuzz face layout (the Sonus Jimi Mod 1968), I thought I might do a quick adaptation for the Vox Tone Bender, as there was room for the additional resistor. Quite fond of the Vox, so I’ll probably build this once I’ve finished my current project. Usually I like to … Read more