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RG you out there? about Germanium leakage

4/7/2004 10:11 PM
RedHouse	RG you out there? about Germanium leakage I used the test jig from RG's white paper "Technology of the Fuzz Face" to test 28 germanium NOS (AC128 and AC125) I got from a guy in the UK, with that jig only 3 out of 28 were under 500uA leakage and they only had gain of 35,45,65 all well below my expectations. (even NTE158's tested better than these, go figure) The thing is, lots of them were in the right gain range (70-130)for FuzzFace but had between 500 and 1,500 uA leakage. While the white paper indicates 500uA to be considered "bad" there-in lies my question... Q: what effect does the leakage have on the sound? is it just a matter of eating up current (bad battery life) or does the leakage cause crappy sound, or hiss, or what? I plan on using a power supply for my circuits (not battery).

4/7/2004 10:11 PM

RedHouse

RG you out there? about Germanium leakage

I used the test jig from RG's white paper "Technology of the Fuzz Face" to test 28 germanium NOS (AC128 and AC125) I got from a guy in the UK, with that jig only 3 out of 28 were under 500uA leakage and they only had gain of 35,45,65 all well below my expectations.
(even NTE158's tested better than these, go figure)

The thing is, lots of them were in the right gain range (70-130)for FuzzFace but had between 500 and 1,500 uA leakage. While the white paper indicates 500uA to be considered "bad" there-in lies my question...

Q: what effect does the leakage have on the sound? is it just a matter of eating up current (bad battery life) or does the leakage cause crappy sound, or hiss, or what?

I plan on using a power supply for my circuits (not battery).

Replies:

R.G. Sorry about the low "good" rate. Bu... -- 5/8/2004 5:14 PM