Germanium Fuzzface

[kirshman]

What's your favorite transistors to put in these that can still be found?  I've auditioned a few that I had in my box and am just not really happy.  Hfe guidelines?  

[Travis]

There are so many options. I got a bag of 2N404 a few years back and it couldn't be easier to get great results with those. There are different brands, my favorite is Texas Instruments but if you buy untested TI 2N404 right now they are mostly way higher hfe than you want so I don't recommend buying an untested lot of them at this point. Most of these have no measurable leakage (testing with DCA55) so they have better temp stability than most

For hfe I just use my ears. With those 2N404 you can do the rg keen 70, 120 hfe with 4.5V on Q2C and all that stuff and it usually sounds great.