I know that the z means they are high voltage, so of we wanted to we can use them in something other then effects. There are a few different ones. The fz are low noise versions. I have 150 ac128z vi that I haven't opened yet, so I can't comment on the gains, I'm going to test them by the end of the week, cUse I'm still in construction of my office/soldering lab/studio so things are all over the place, and I have another 150 on the way. Something to keep an eye on is the Roman numeral, iv, v, vi, or vii which tells you the gain rangers. Vi is supposed to be between 75-150hfe, v 50-100hfe, vii 125-250hfe, iv is lower then 100hfe.
I also have to test the 150 ac125fz's I have which have no Roman numeral, sound could be a crap shoot. I also have another 150 of those on the way.
Something to keep in mind is that when you buy Ge transistors in bulk you'll have to sort for gain and leakage. The leaky ones will still be good in some circuits like a tonebender where you want leaky transistors. The Ge transistors I have with the least leakage are the Russians.
Take a look at the thread I started "great jumping germaniums." I've been collecting/hoarding for awhile mostly Russians. We've been trying to keep a thread on the sound qualities of each, as well as gain ranges, and consistencies of batches. All in all if the price is right it worth the risk chase you'll have a stock of them you could use for different things. And the ones that really are bad, use them as diodes.
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