Next: Control 24 with a G5
From: Scott Dorsey on 11 Oct 2005 13:29
Joe Kramer <musetrap(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
>Scott Dorsey wrote:
>> Joe Kramer <musetrap(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>>The new TapeOp contains an ad announcing Chandlers's germanium-based mic
>>>pre and compressor. Very interesting, but no info on the Chandler site
>>>yet. What transistors are used in these units?
>>
>>
>> I asked at the AES show and they wouldn't tell me. They did insist that
>> they are current production devices and not NOS.
>>
>> I know there is an outfit in upstate NY that is making germanium power
>> transistors, because jj told me at the show. He didn't know about small
>> signal stuff. I can't imagine any of the small transistor outfits in the
>> third world would be doing these because they're actually not easy to make.
>> Apparently the New York guys are making them for government applications
>> where the low turn-on voltage is important.
>
>Hey Scott, thanks very much for tracking down an answer to this. The
>plot thickens: not only are they germanium, but they're somewhat
>proprietary.

Right. The Chandler guys say they have been working with the plant
that makes them in order to get a product they are happy with. Probably
a matter of saying "I want this Hfe and this gain and the lowest possible
noise" and seeing how close they can get.

>A couple of years ago I built a run of fuzz boxes for sale, and bought
>some "fake" NKT275s (newly manufactured after original specs) from an
>outfit in New York, whose name I can't recall. They cost about $1.50
>each, but were fairly consistent in gain and low in leakage. Sounded
>pretty good. From what I gather the Fulltone fuzzes used "remakes" like
>these too. Possibly from the same outfit?

Maybe. There can't be too many companies making germanium. But there is
a _lot_ of NOS stuff out there, especially if you are not so picky about
Hfe.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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