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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Germanium diodes color code ?

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8/15/1999 10:13 AM
Arnaud	Germanium diodes color code ? I found a bunch of Ge diodes in my father's old components box. They are labelled with colors (red-green-black) like resistors.Just like the AA119 I've purchased (green-yellow-red).     Never heard about diode color code before. Does anyone know this diode code?

 

8/15/1999 1:17 PM
R.G.	As far as I know, there isn't a standard color code for diodes. There may have been one, or perhaps each maker used their own special markings, but I've never heard of a widely accepted code. Could just be a lack in my (ongoing) education.

 

8/29/1999 12:28 AM

JohnC

Arnaud.         In read in another message from you that you where from France, or you lived there.         I once asked about those AA series germanium diodes, and they semt not to be common in America.     You can still find them in Spain too. Those AA, (not the OA: OA90, OA91...) are very very good sounding diodes for the clipping stage in fuzz efects.         I think *vintage* Ibanez fuzzes sometimes used them (I've got a Double Sound, and it has a couple of those posibly AA with the red stripe on one end, in the clipping stage of the fuzz)         I don't know if they had code colors. All tha AA's I found had the red stripe on them. Maybe the color had something to say about the type of diode, and it uses, I don't know. But the red ones, at least, are great for those purposes I mentioned before.         JohnC

 

8/29/1999 9:16 AM

Arnaud

Thank you John !         The AA119's I own have no red stripe on one end. They are labelled green-yellow-red but the red stripe is in the middle.     But you are totally right: they sound REALLY good !         The ones I found in my father's components have a red stripe on one end (red-green-black) but I don't know if they are AA. They sound good too but the AA119's are just a little bit better (I put a switch on my Muff Fuzz to change diodes and hear the difference).         Do you have AA's labelled red-green-black ?

 

8/29/1999 12:34 PM
paul perry	The AA119 is a point contact germanium diode. Mullard/Philips made it, but so did many others.

 

8/29/1999 9:53 PM
JohnC	>Do you have AA's labelled red-green-black ?         No, I'm afraid I havn't. But I'll try to find some info on those colour codes if I can.         jc

 

8/30/1999 7:42 AM
Arnaud	Thank you !

 

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