NPN Germanium Transistor Set for DIY Effects Pedals (Fuzz, Tonebender, Rangemaster etc.)

**Please Note – USA Shipping is currently not available for the transistors. The “Tariff War” has made it far to expensive to ship small parcels to the USA. Please contact us, as I can sometimes ship from Maine, USA – things have become complicated 🙁

You will receive five (5) selected transistors – not exactly those pictured. Please email and let us know what you are building, and I can gladly select the right gains for you. The transistors have been selected and checked with an Atlas DCA55 tester to determine gain (Hfe) and leakage (Icb)

 NPN transistors are great for Rangemaster, Fuzz face or Tonebender builds and allow you to use either a battery or a standard power supply on your pedal. Please note that we don’t supply the other parts you need for a complete build in this kit, we are supplying high quality, tested transistors to help ensure your project has the best performance and tone possible.

Please email to let me know what project you want to build if you have gain requests. Otherwise I pick a pair of moderate gain (approx. Hfe 60) and a pair of higher gain (approx Hfe 100) transistors with a couple in-between for flexibility. 

Here’s some more info on the subject:

If you have looked up info on original Fuzzes and Tonebenders, you may know that the original pedals used “PNP” (aka. positive ground) transistors. Many boutique pedal builders tout these PNP Ge transistors such as the OC81D, OC44, OC75, and so on, as being irreplaceable if you want to get a “truly amazing fuzz sound” (or voodoo/mojo statements to that effect).

The real story: Back in the 60’s and 70’s, using NPN Ge transistors would have been asking for trouble. The state-of-the-art in transistor production simply wasn’t up to the task of producing stable and reliable NPN (negative ground) Ge transistors, so PNP (positive ground) was the way to go. By the time Silicon transistors hit the scene, Dunlop and others started creating Silicon transistor fuzz boxes, so Germanium’s notorious unreliable characteristics led manufacturers along the Silicon road, and Ge pedals fell out of vogue.

As with all things that put their mark (sonically or otherwise) on a cultural era, interest in those “old tones” was rekindled in the 90’s and continues now, as players search for both a variety of tones and something unique to add to their sonic palette. Building your own pedal is a surefire way to not only have fun, satisfaction, and learn a thing or two, but also tweak your tone to YOUR liking, instead of relying on mass-produced pedals.

Germanium transistors continued to be produced into the 1990s (and some still are today) However, the process of producing NPN Ge transistors has so far improved as to approach the quality and reliability of Silicon. So we offer this “kit” of quality NPN Ge for you to build your dream fuzz. The advantages of NPN Ge include: