Diode question: Whats the skinny on Selenium?

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10/10/2000 1:49 PM
Sweetfinger	Diode question: Whats the skinny on Selenium? I'm well aware of the differences between Ge and Si diodes but have never heard anything about Selenium rectifiers. Do they have any particularly unique properties that would be of use to effect builders, or are they just plain obsolete and horribly expensive?

 

10/10/2000 2:34 PM

R.G.

They have a very large forward voltage and are leaky, as well as prone to aging effects. They possibly could have some neat sounds, but the down sides are so bad it's hard to recommend them for anything. What with being large and horribly expensive, they're a bad choice.     If you have some of these to play with, by all means mess around with them, but they're not likely to be good for effects in general.

 

10/10/2000 3:44 PM

Jim S.

Selenium diodes are most commonly found in old 50's era tweed guitar amps, used to rectify the the bias supply. Whenever I encounter one, I always disconnect it and wire in a new 1N4007 in its place. BIG increase in reliability and no detriment to tone.     I think selenium is also an environmental hazard. You're not supposed to just throw old selenium diodes way, because they qualify as hazardous waste.     One more reason why these are not being used any more.

 

10/11/2000 12:30 PM
Sweetfinger	Yes, I've seen them in the tweed amps, too. I don't have any but was slightly tempted-I think NTE has them.

 

10/10/2000 3:56 PM
JoeyD	Hey, I thought selenium was good for you!

 

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