Germanium Muff Coming?

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:39 pm

Looky here - Mike Matthews lets slip that there's a Germanium Muff on the way.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:46 pm

more big muffs can only make the world better.

cool.

analogsystem · Post by **analogsystem** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:04 pm

I think the earliest muffs had germanium transistors in them.
They were the same as the guild foxy lady I think....sorry for posting without googling first as I'm sure this info is easily found.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:33 pm

Why would Electro Harmonix use NOS parts? Does anyone still make Germanium Transistors?

the isaac eaton · Post by **the isaac eaton** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:36 pm

I would buy one in a heart beat.

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:09 pm

timhulio wrote:Why would Electro Harmonix use NOS parts? Does anyone still make Germanium Transistors?

i'm pretty sure nte still sells germanium transistors. i think they also recently started making carbon comp resistors again.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:16 pm

Those OSG types rave about their Hoofs, and they're hybrid/germanium muffs. Could be good. Um. EH should make IC muffs though. They sound much better, and different, than most muffs you can get hold of these days.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:46 pm

those hoof fuzzes live up to their hype
Germanium muff is on my fuzz radar though

aen · Post by **aen** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:16 am

timhulio wrote:Why would Electro Harmonix use NOS parts?

It's one of their strategies. I beleive the tube in the tube zipepr or something is no longer produced, but EHX bought like amillion of them and then designed a product around it.

analogsystem wrote:I think the earliest muffs had germanium transistors in them.

No.

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:23 am

He's just probably using it because he owns a ton of old stock, quite possibly Russian.

chrismakesgod · Post by **chrismakesgod** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:31 am

More muffs can always be a good thing. Having three isn't classed as fuzz overkill is it?

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:46 am

timhulio wrote:Why would Electro Harmonix use NOS parts? Does anyone still make Germanium Transistors?

Mike uses them in his Fuzzface. I just got a gold one. It sounds great and I like it better than the New York Big Muff

Mustang Melx · Post by **Mustang Melx** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:58 am

timhulio wrote:Why would Electro Harmonix use NOS parts? Does anyone still make Germanium Transistors?

(I think) they used NOS transistors in the Germ OD too. I guess they have a big box of them somewhere!!

Post by **Mike** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:05 pm

People still make Germanium Transistors.

NOS is just marketing speak

aen · Post by **aen** » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:13 pm

It also might be because small commpanies are making better muffs than EHX, and they want to get in on that shizzle.

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:24 am

Mike wrote:People still make Germanium Transistors.

NOS is just marketing speak

Most of the stuff for sale isn't new, it's old. Who is making new germanium transistors that are good for low gain effects, please PM me links if you have them.

Skip · Post by **Skip** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:46 am

aen wrote:It also might be because small commpanies are making better muffs than EHX, and they want to get in on that shizzle.

this for sure

devnulljp · Post by **devnulljp** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:24 am

analogsystem wrote:I think the earliest muffs had germanium transistors in them.
They were the same as the guild foxy lady I think....sorry for posting without googling first as I'm sure this info is easily found.

Nope. The earliest muffs were SPT87103 or 2N5133/FS36999 (same thing) Si NPN, although there were PNP versions with FS36000s
The ram's head had 2N5133/FS36999 or BC239C, still Si NPN, althogh I have one with 2N5087 PNP.
After the op-amp phase, the 3034 had 2n5088s, Si NPN.

5133s

PNP 5087s

The Hoof has Ge trannies though -- I had one with 2N1302s that sounded great, but they usually seem to be 2n1308 or the CV equivalent.

EHX picked up the Guild connection when Mosrite tanked, so there are Foxey ladies that are Fuzzrites, EHX Axis Fuzz, triangle Big Muffs, and Ram's head Big Muffs

Post by **Mike** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:00 am

jcyphe wrote:
Mike wrote:People still make Germanium Transistors.

NOS is just marketing speak
Most of the stuff for sale isn't new, it's old. Who is making new germanium transistors that are good for low gain effects, please PM me links if you have them.

I'm fairly sure that the transistors I buy aren't NOS. I just buy from Banzai and they're considered "new" by the people that diss new AC128s and say they're crap (they're not).

There are different shapes you can recognise age by. I can't find the corksniffing website now though.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:15 pm

Interesting about the Guild Foxey Lady. Worth keeping an eye out for then.