Ten bags of one hundred each.
I counted them out into sandwich bags of 100 each. Nine full bags and 82 in the tenth one. So I didn't get exactly 1000 transistors, but close enough, particularly at the price.
Now I can test them a bag at a time and pull the ones that are in the range I need for Q1 and Q2 transistors. Which is sure to cut the numbers down significantly, also. Just randomly checking transistors I've already hit two that came up as diodes, so one of the legs is dead. Some will be completely dead. A lot won't have enough gain for the job. A few will have too much gain to work in the stock circuit.
These are Philips metal-can TO-1 transistors. The first run was in July of 1962, from what I can find online. The last run was in June of 1971. So at the very least these are 44 years old. Kind of amazing that they're still viable at all, but they really built transistors to last. The AC-130 had a minimum rated hFE of 50, but I haven't found any that test that low yet. Mid-60's is as low as I've seen so far. Of course, 50 was the promised minimum and they obciously made an effort to do better than that.
I should take bets on how many will be usable. I'd guess that about a third will be worthwhile for my new Fuzz Face design. Then of course it will take a pair for each pedal. So this huge stack is probably only about 150 pedals, but for me that's going to be a HUGE run. It will be my next project after the first run of Maestro Phasers (which will be 30 phasers). Probably March or so. Hopefully about the a month or so before the run of Troikas is ready.
I'm excited about 2016. The economy still stinks, but when did I ever let a little thing like poverty slow me down?
Ten bags of one hundred each.
I counted them out into sandwich bags of 100 each. Nine full bags and 82 in the tenth one. So I didn't get exactly 1000 transistors, but close enough, particularly at the price.
Now I can test them a bag at a time and pull the ones that are in the range I need for Q1 and Q2 transistors. Which is sure to cut the numbers down significantly, also. Just randomly checking transistors I've already hit two that came up as diodes, so one of the legs is dead. Some will be completely dead. A lot won't have enough gain for the job. A few will have too much gain to work in the stock circuit.
These are Philips metal-can TO-1 transistors. The first run was in July of 1962, from what I can find online. The last run was in June of 1971. So at the very least these are 44 years old. Kind of amazing that they're still viable at all, but they really built transistors to last. The AC-130 had a minimum rated hFE of 50, but I haven't found any that test that low yet. Mid-60's is as low as I've seen so far. Of course, 50 was the promised minimum and they obciously made an effort to do better than that.
I should take bets on how many will be usable. I'd guess that about a third will be worthwhile for my new Fuzz Face design. Then of course it will take a pair for each pedal. So this huge stack is probably only about 150 pedals, but for me that's going to be a HUGE run. It will be my next project after the first run of Maestro Phasers (which will be 30 phasers). Probably March or so. Hopefully about the a month or so before the run of Troikas is ready.
I'm excited about 2016. The economy still stinks, but when did I ever let a little thing like poverty slow me down?