Re: Great Jumpin Germaniums! (Ge Diode and Transistor Reviews & Discussion)
Posted by IvIark on
URL: http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/Great-Jumpin-Germaniums-Ge-Diode-and-Transistor-Reviews-Discussion-tp13256p13585.html
Some people think that the constituent material in a resistor can affect the sound, and I am quite open to the possibility of things like that because I do think there can be subtle differences with some caps for instance. and more obvious differences in diodes and transistors beyond their most commonly compared characteristic like gain and forward voltage. These things are inherently imperfect so I don't really buy into either side of the argument whole heartedly and prefer to just see things as I find them through my own building experience and using my own ears. But with resistors I've never noticed anything which would make me choose one type over another when the value is identical. You can make fantastic effects with all of them.
I have a lot of all the common types of resistors we use, metal film, carbon film and carbon comp and am happy to use any in my builds. One thing I will say is that you could use a 10% carbon comp and when compared to 1% metal film with everything else being equal (in terms of the other components) you can hear differences, but I would say those differences are due to the compounded tolerances and not material.
And this is where I DO (sort of) buy into the argument for different types. If you make two identical pedals, one with 1% metal film and one with carbon comp then it may be that the 10% tolerance and drifted values of the carbon comps simply gets your build in a sweet spot in terms of bias and filters which sounds better. It may not be for mojo carbon reasons but who cares, it's the results that are important. Of course the reverse may be true and the drifted values may take you away from a sweet spot you found with the metal film build, but either way having a wider variety of values due to tolerance and drifting does at least give you some scope to experiment beyond the often perceived "strict" values used in the schematics and layouts. And I quite like that unknown quantity, especially as I'm someone who builds for myself and so am not aiming in the slightest for consistency or repeatability like you would if you were producing commercially in quantity.
The only time I would religiously use one type of resistor before another would be for something that needed more precision like maybe a crucial voltage divider where you really wanted to hit a certain value, or maybe a very close value required for the control of an IC which I needed to be exact, and then I would always use metal film. For looks, it's carbon comp every time
At the end of the day I've heard a lot of people over the years say that transistors of the same gain, diodes of the same forward voltage and all ICs sound the same too, so I've learnt to largely ignore what other people think and use my own ears to decide what is or isn't important to me. After all, there's no one else I'm ever trying to please with my builds other than me
URL: http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/Great-Jumpin-Germaniums-Ge-Diode-and-Transistor-Reviews-Discussion-tp13256p13585.html
Some people think that the constituent material in a resistor can affect the sound, and I am quite open to the possibility of things like that because I do think there can be subtle differences with some caps for instance. and more obvious differences in diodes and transistors beyond their most commonly compared characteristic like gain and forward voltage. These things are inherently imperfect so I don't really buy into either side of the argument whole heartedly and prefer to just see things as I find them through my own building experience and using my own ears. But with resistors I've never noticed anything which would make me choose one type over another when the value is identical. You can make fantastic effects with all of them.
I have a lot of all the common types of resistors we use, metal film, carbon film and carbon comp and am happy to use any in my builds. One thing I will say is that you could use a 10% carbon comp and when compared to 1% metal film with everything else being equal (in terms of the other components) you can hear differences, but I would say those differences are due to the compounded tolerances and not material.
And this is where I DO (sort of) buy into the argument for different types. If you make two identical pedals, one with 1% metal film and one with carbon comp then it may be that the 10% tolerance and drifted values of the carbon comps simply gets your build in a sweet spot in terms of bias and filters which sounds better. It may not be for mojo carbon reasons but who cares, it's the results that are important. Of course the reverse may be true and the drifted values may take you away from a sweet spot you found with the metal film build, but either way having a wider variety of values due to tolerance and drifting does at least give you some scope to experiment beyond the often perceived "strict" values used in the schematics and layouts. And I quite like that unknown quantity, especially as I'm someone who builds for myself and so am not aiming in the slightest for consistency or repeatability like you would if you were producing commercially in quantity.
The only time I would religiously use one type of resistor before another would be for something that needed more precision like maybe a crucial voltage divider where you really wanted to hit a certain value, or maybe a very close value required for the control of an IC which I needed to be exact, and then I would always use metal film. For looks, it's carbon comp every time
At the end of the day I've heard a lot of people over the years say that transistors of the same gain, diodes of the same forward voltage and all ICs sound the same too, so I've learnt to largely ignore what other people think and use my own ears to decide what is or isn't important to me. After all, there's no one else I'm ever trying to please with my builds other than me
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