REFERENCE
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
GUITAR ELECTRONICS
Not my content, but these are some of the best explanations of the relationship between the pickup, pots and caps that I’ve ever seen. David from Ann Arbour Guitars knows his stuff and has the gear to demonstrate it really well. I think my favourite video is the capacitor comparison. I’d say a few … 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
Why you should test your circuits at high and low sound levels
Bit of a random post from me, as it’s been awhile – but I thought it might be interesting for some. So back in the day I used to work as a Sound Engineer, and one of the first things I remember learning about was Fletcher-Munson curves (now superseded), also known as equal-loudness curves. … Read more
OFF-BOARD WIRING: Tone Bender MKI off-board wiring for vero layout
Just a reference for me – this is specifically for this layout mounted above the pots. MKI TONE BENDER OFF-BOARD WIRING PLAN The final soldering of the board to the pots has not been done yet – that will be done when it is mounted on the actual enclosure lid, as opposed to the dodgy piece … Read more
TRANSISTORS: Soviet Germanium Transistor Data
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 … Read more
TRANSISTOR / DIODE: Soviet Semiconductor Device Designations
This has been transcribed from the U.S. Joint Publications Research Service No. 569 from 1978. Translations of Eastern European Scientific Affairs. Among other things, it contains a guide to Soviet semiconductors. The publication can be found in this folder. It’s a handy guide to Soviet transistor and diode numbering, as well as their … Read more
Tone Bender MKII – Component Values Table
Nice bit of MKII history on fuzzboxes.org The MKII might be the most popular of the Tone Benders, although personally I’m split between the MKI & MKIII. There’s also this interesting timeline on the D*AM forum. Not sure who made it, but it’s a handy reference (thanks ClassicFuzz). TONE BENDER MKII SCHEMATIC & VALUES TONE … Read more