P416b ge transistor?

[Ravenswerld]

Has anyone used these in a fuzz face before with succes? Also, I can't seem to find the correct pinout. Anyone know? Thnx!!!

[Dex3887]

I had about 200 of them that I bought from great Aunt Bulgaria (Elena) on eBay, they  aren't the hottest transistors but they have a nice smooth top end sizzle. All of mine hfe are between 45-100 most are in the 60s and they sound great in Q1,2 of tonebender style circuits, all have mostly little to no leakage. the Tricky bit is they are BCE not CBE so either :  A) insulate the collector lead and bend it around OR B) Rejig the layout to accommodate BCE transistors, I've done both and bending them around is most effective. I have tried the lowest gain one had at 45 with a one in the 80's in a fuzz face and had great results, really creamy and it decayed into clean on sustained notes really well. Transistors aren't the only factor in making a good sounding fuzz face but they play an equal role with the components around it, IMHO.
Socket them shits and plug and play until your in the ballpark then you can tweak it to perfection.

[Ravenswerld]

Awesome, thnx for the info! How do I know which side is the base or emitter on the transistor?

[Dex3887]

 

On mine there is a star shaped character above the emitter. The bottom has them in a straight row which is kind of stupid. But I assume these were only meant for professional or military use so they would know which way to put it in. Heres 2 more pics I found I had saved.


The collector is the one with the K shaped letter base emitter has an e shaped letter

[Ravenswerld]

Thnx again dex. These are the ones I got. Umm, I assume the round image with an R looking image is either base or emitter. I don't see a star on mine. What do you think?

[Beaker]

Do you not have a multimeter with a transistor HFE tester built in? Easy to find which pin is which if you do. The base seems to always be the centre pin on these Soviet transistors. Expect to find quite a wide gain range in your batch - the main reason we tend to buy them by the hundred!

One word of advice - don't expect your transistors to be exactly the same as someone elses - even if you get them from the same seller. These Soviet era transistors were all made over a very long time period and in many different factories. Differences in shape and markings are to be expected. The same applies to Soviet diodes.

Just for the record, Maryam from bg-manue in Bulgaria is "Great Uncle Bulgaria". Elena8913 is obviously "Tomsk", as she(?) is from Tomsk in Russia. (Apologies to everyone not from the UK and therefore not familiar with The Wombles!)

[Ravenswerld]

Thnx! Beaker...this is the mm I own. Does this have the capabilities to check the transistors?

[Travis]

Beaker actually I have some Russian Ge that is not CBE but unfortunately I don't have any P416b to answer the question here

[rocket88]

i think i have some P416b's in my stash. i can check when i get home on friday. i think mine are similar to yours, so that might help.

[Dex3887]

Thats why I posted 2 pinouts. Almost all my soviet germ are cbe but these and the p27 I bought are bce. I would definitely look into a cheap multimeter or at least one of those $10 lcr meters on eBay they aren't as good as a dca55 but it'll tell you pinout and gain as well as fv of diodes.

And I apologize for the error these didn't come from Elena they came from Miles Marin so I was twice wrong on that. Sorry. I have ordered so much stuff from eastern Europe the past 3 years it gets a bit confusing as to what came from where. But I should have looked to be sure beforehand.  
And side note I wish we would have had the wombles.

[Dex3887]

Also. I don't think that one can test hfe, if it does it will have an attachment that plugs in those 3 holes.

 I have this really cheap one that has hfe that was $5 at Tractor Supply but I've seen the same ones at harbor freight and as a store brand  in countless other places. But be warned these are not accurate if its germanium as they leak and this doesn't account for that.

[rocket88]

I feel that one. I once had a 3kg package of Ge transistors and diodes come from Eastern Europe. I was surprised it didn't get held over by US customers. I'm not the emperor of the Ge Deathstar for no reason. Lol. But I will say, if you really want to jump down the Germaniun rabbit hole I would highly and I mean highly suggest grabbing a DCA55, you don't need the DCA75, to do your testing for a few reasons. First, it's reliable for testing hfe and leakage, with no need for doing calculations. Second, it's not really expensive especially when you factor in the time savings. Three, you never need to search for pinouts on any transistor you're working with because it tells you. Just makes life so much easier. I have a DCA75 for other reasons, mostly due to the fact that I sell and have a company, but I first got the DCA55 and always used it for testing my transistors for pinout, matching transistor, and to ensure they weren't duds before putting them into the board. I would even go as far as saying it's worth getting even if you're not planning on getting into Germanium builds, but then again I do go a little overboard.

[Ravenswerld]

Thanks for all the help! There's a little dot on the outer rim on top is the emitter and the middle is collector. For future reference. Yes, I agree I need to get a dca55. Probably will eventually when the funds are available.