[jazz_guitar] Germanuim and solid state myths.
Will Halligan
of germanium transistors. The reason
these became obsolete is simply because
they were unreliable. Their advantages
were simply that they required only .1v
to turn on as against .6v for silicon and
so were used for small signals such as
rf detection. But they were prone to
drifting out of tolerance and would blow
easily. Silicon has proved to have rock
solid stability.
The repairability of current solid state
equipment is not dependent on its
quality. Boss make superb pedals
but they are absolutely not in any
way repairable. They also - in my
experience - never go wrong.
The development of surface mounted
components and microscopic printed
boards has changed the face of
electronics. If you buy a current
solid state piece of equipment you
should be prepared to simply throw
it away if it fails. Fortunately
failure rate is fairly low.
Will
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Will Halligan
design considerations.
Pedals and amps with germanium
transistors generally did not
contain chips and were designed
differently. In fact older pedal
designs were much simpler and the
signal path much more straightforward.
The original Rotosound fuzz contained
just two transistors and was a Schmitt
trigger that produced a square wave at
the same frequency as the guitar note.
This would not work with chords so
various early fuzz designs came out
that had the transistors biased so as
to distort. The original Big Muff only
contained one transistor!
The less that is done to an audio
signal the better it will sound; so
simpler older designs are by their
nature better sounding.
If the same straightforward considerations
were used and a couple of BC107 transistors
were designed into a device that previously
was designed around OC71s I suspect that
the silicon could be made to sound pretty
similar.
Will
--- In jazz_...@yahoogroups.com, "Koek Wei Chew" <wckoek@...> wrote:
>
> I'm not sure if you are talking about amps or anything.
> I have both a silicone and germanium transister fuzz pedal and I do
> agree that germanium transister aren't reliable, they are prone to
> changes in temperature et all. But tonally, I still prefer them to my
> other silicone transister pedal.
> Myth or not, they do sound different.
Koek Wei Chew
I have both a silicone and germanium transister fuzz pedal and I do
agree that germanium transister aren't reliable, they are prone to
changes in temperature et all. But tonally, I still prefer them to my
other silicone transister pedal.
Myth or not, they do sound different.
Jeff Shirkey
They make some decent pedals, but I wouldn't go overboard about
praising Boss.
> but they are absolutely not in any
> way repairable.
There are lots of people who repair and/or modify Boss pedals.
Jeff
Chris Smart
The heart of my stereo system is a very simple class A tube amp
that puts out maybe 2.5 watts on peaks. There are only a few
components in the signal path and only eleven solder joints between
RCA inputs and speaker outs. On/off switch, a bias switch that
changes how the input tube effects the sound, and a volume knob.
That's it, and it sounds beautiful!
To think that when I was around 10, I didn't think a stereo was
cool unless it had a big graphic EQ, set to that familiar smile
curve with the bass and highs boosted, and of course the loudness
button had to be engaged... maybe one of those "stereo expanders"
turned on too.
Chris
Will Halligan
>
> I agree with you Will on simpler is better when it comes to audio!
> The heart of my stereo system is a very simple class A tube amp
> that puts out maybe 2.5 watts on peaks.
Chris,
Did you build it?
Will
Jeff Shirkey
On Jul 3, 2008, at 5:17 PM, Will Halligan wrote:
> Really?
>
> I would be very interested to know
> what mods can be done on a minature
> board packed with some 70+ active
> surface mounted components plus some
> 200 additional passive devices. T
www.analogman.com
www.robertkeeley.com
Those are just two of the most popular guys who modify pedals,
including a bunch of Boss mods.
Jeff
Will Halligan
I would be very interested to know
what mods can be done on a minature
board packed with some 70+ active
surface mounted components plus some
200 additional passive devices. The
printed track is the width of a human
hair and is double sided plus there is
absolutely no room between components.
It is not possible to do anything on
these type of boards without specialised
laboratory equipment.
I suspect that any "Mods" done are
to do with the input or outputs from
the boards. Even the on/off switches
seem so be Hall-effect solid state
devices.
Will
Chris Smart
>Did you build it?
Nope. Me and hot solder is not a good idea. :)
Steve Deckert did, and he also sells it in kit form.
www.decware.com
The output tubes are SV83's ... it can take EL84's fine though, and
is auto biasing and matching. The input tube is a 6N1p, although
people have tried various 6922's, 6DJ8's etc.
Chris
Will Halligan
of an average engineering workshop.
I checked out both sites they
give the immpression that these
guys have very extensive facilities.
Even so it is difficult to make out
what they actually do to the various
pedals - some of the descriptions use
endless superlatives to describe what
seem to be very basic (off-board,)
component additions. Such as true bypass
and gold contact sockets or a diode for
clipping.
Robert Keeley makes a big deal about modding
a Fuzz face - good grief, these only contained
three transistors!
My original point was regarding reliability
and I have never known a Boss pedal fail. My
chorus, T-Wah and Boss tuner are all
nearly 30 years old.
Will