I wanted to archive this for later reference. This was taken from a post on Madbean’s forum by Jon (Midwayfair)

Note that I have included notes of some diodes that I’m not selling (and some that you won’t be buying, like 1N914s and other 10c diodes). I included them for sound comparisons, and because they are diodes many people here will be familiar with.

Due to extremely limited stock on some of these, I may not be able to honor all requests for trios. I am working on getting more of some of the great sounding ones.

Please check the data sheets for Fv characteristics. Fv does not, however, tell the whole story, and several diodes in the same clipping range sound similar.



Germanium

1N34A

Single black ring

1. Dark, but otherwise generic “germanium” sound.

2. Much better in symmetric than double black bands. Crunchy. Good bass. Breaks up suddenly.

7 available

1N34A green band

1. Punchy!

2. Best 1N34a for pairs.

4 available

1N34A

Double black bands

1. Fairly classic sound, but a little louder.

2. A little fizzier.

3. Asymmestric is the best sound for these.

4 available

I had a more of these, but a few in the batch went bad. I also have a pair that’s over 1.0v Fv!

Tayda 1N34A

I had a heck of a time with these. Several in the test batch were “bad” and clipped in the high .4s and as high as .63. And those happened to be the first few I grabbed out of the bag. So my early results suggested that they were actually a silicon work-alike. However, further testing showed that they did pass the heat test, and other forum members did not have any problems. And the “bad” ones don’t continuously raise their Fv while being tested, so they might actually be usable in a stomp box. Fv .35v (DO-7 package). They sound good, but they’re both less grainy and less rich than other Ge diodes. I would use them happily for Germanium soft clipping.

The Tayda Do-35 1N34As, however, were DEFINITELY silicon. They’re in a tiny package, which is nice, but they did not sound like germanium nor was their clipping threshold correct (it was ~.65).

1N60

Double black band

1. Very compressed sound for a single diode. Very dark. Probably the darkest diode there is.

2. More of the same — still dark, very compressed. Really friendly to in-between positions on a strat.

Sold out for the nonce. I do have a couple in the private stash if you ask really, really nicely. 🙂

1N100

This is the Orange Squeezer diode

1. Sounds a lot like most 1N34As — dark with some highs attenuation, but less bassy. These compress a lot more, too.

2. Similar to the individual ones but with a more balanced EQ.

5 available. I might put more up (I got 25 from Effects Connection) if people really want them as clipping diodes, but you can order them from Effects Connection if you want more than one or two. I figure most people are likely to want one for a Cupcake, so 10 should do for now.

1N270

Black band

1. Very bright for a Ge single. Lots of character.

2. Clips hard but stays bright. Bassy.

Best as a single.

2 available.

1N270

Black and gold

1. Even brighter, less distortion, very bassy and full.

2. Like the black band but more touch sensitive. Great harmonics.

One of my favorites.

Get from Smallbear … None available from me. Sorry, I like them too much and only have a few.

1N270

Package is very similar to Smallbear and might be the same make.

The clipping threshold is fairly high for this diode (closer to .3 than .25), but the sound is very similar — bright, sparkly, and a tight bass. Good diodes. Now I just have to remember where I picked them up!

Smallbear generic

1. Compressed but natural sounding.

2. Glassy, compressed. Some more mids-focused breakup. Even, dare I say it, “Marshally.”

Very nice in pairs. This is a great sounding diode.

Get from Smallbear … I do have a couple (maybe 4) if you really never order from Smallbear and just want to hear them.

1N695

Green and blue bands

1. Clear but warm.

2. Still bassy, but brighter than the singles. Scooped sounding. Can get buzzy in some circumstances.

Sold out for the moment. [I have literally one left in my posession that isn’t soldered to something, so I can’t even pull them from my stash anymore. I’ll try to get more if Pedalhacker still has them.]

These are the Harmonic Percolator diodes. I’ve used them. They sound great, but they weren’t my favorite diode in that circuit!

1N695

Black case

1. Big and bassy. Less warmth than the colorful 1n695s.

2. A little scooped, but less so than the colorful ones. Fuzzy with good character.

Sold out. (Wow, all the 1N695s went fast … I have one more type of 1N695 on the way, but I’ll try to get more of both of these ASAP. I might order more if/when I use up what I have in my private stash, as long as I can still get them at that time.)

1N695 (marked glass case)

These sound very similar to the black case and seem to have a nearly identical forward voltage range (~.27, whereas the colorful ones are closer to ~.25 from what I have). I got them from smallbear but I’ve seen them around on Ebay some, too.

I didn’t get enough to sell, just a few to test. If I find a good deal on a lot on Ebay, I might be able to offer some for sale.

OA126

These are something special.

1. Transparent but bassy. Just a hint of distortion.

2. Touch sensitive. Breaks into really dark fuzz, but keeps chords clear. Harmonics are excellent. Top end is smooth. Very natural and tube-like.

Simply put, one of the best clipping diodes I tested, second only to the OA1160, which simply suited my personal tastes better. I recently put them in a Harmonic Percollator and they were pretty much godly in there – aggressive, punchy, no fizz at all, and yet still full of warm germanium flavor. These also have an extremely unusual character for a Germanium diode — the clipping threshold is above .55v on all the ones I tested, and some were above .7v. There’s a certain overdrive that supposedly used a germanium diode with unusually high clipping. I tested them in a Sunking and they were also fantastic. And LOUD.

8 available

OA95

1. Very balanced sound, no big bassiness. Controlled; highs are a little attenuated.

2. Breaks up quite a bit in the mids. Reacts well to dynamics. More high-end softening, with a tight bass.

It’s rare to find a Germanium diode that shouts “put two of me in a Tubescreamer.”

2 available

OA1160

1. Excellent on chords. Very natural sounding. Beautiful harmonics.

2. Perfect, amplike breakup.

3. If possible, even better. Maybe I should try them doubled …

Not much to say — these were my absolute favorites.

6 available

1N192

1. Dark, smooth, distorts easily. (Low threshold)

2. More of the same, but raunchy.

The distortion can be a bit harsh on these, but the decay is very natural. They were excellent with a blocking diode or series resistor on one or both diodes in at least one circuit I’ve built with them where softer distortion was necessary. They are not generic sounding at all.

8 available

Russian Germanium Detector Diodes

Many of these have very similar characteristics but they do not all sound alike. These are outstanding diodes.

D9K

1. Excellent highs/harmonics. Not super bassy like many Ge diodes in single configurations.

2. Very compressed. Distorts quite hard.

3. Outstanding asymmetric sound. One of the best asymmetric sets.

Sold out. (I most likely will not get more right away since I have several more Russian types on the way. Sorry for the inconvenience. Early buyers all wanted them!)

There is a Ukrainian package that looks slightly different. It sounds pretty much identical but I liked the symmetric a little more.

D9D

1. Dark. Big, soft sound.

2. Very raunchy in pairs. Use when you want a really dirt sound.

Sold out for the moment. I will try to get more if/when I get the blue and green 1N695s (same supplier).

D9J

1. These are very sweet sounding (eq wise).

2. They really shine in pairs – they get this interesting vocal quality and the distortion is very smooth.

Sold out

D9E

1. Very balanced sounding for a Ge, not a ton of bassiness. They break up pretty evenly across the neck.

2. These don’t break up very hard even if you really dig into them. The Fv is above .3v on a some of these (most are around .27), but they have a lot of the same tonal characteristics as the 1N270s from Smallbear. They also have some of the vocal quality of the D9J. These are nice, I like them quite a bit and have used them in multiple builds.

3 available

D9V

1. Very similar to the D9E tonally, but the breakup happens a lot sooner.

2. Unlike the D9E, these will break up when you play hard, and they are much edgier.

19 available

D2V

1. These have extremely good treble response. One of the brightest Ges I’ve ever heard.

2. These maintain the excellent treble response. Breakup is very amp-like even in symmetrical settings. They’d be very good for modern distortion sounds. In milder clipping situations, they actually remind me a lot of helotron pickups run into a blackface — where you get this trebly crunch.

3. Lots of clarity in all settings, but I really liked these in an asymmetric arrangement. I think it takes maximum advantage of their tonal response.

40 available (yeah, that’s a lot.)

D2i

Russian 1970s diodes.These clip crazy low (some are below .2v!). The resulting sound is dark, but also quite rich. They’re huge! They’re about twice the size of other Ge diodes. I’ve been trying to think of the best circuit to use these in, and I think their best use is to create an asymmetric pair with another typical germanium diode (like a 1N34A that clips around .35), or as one of the parallel diodes in a Lavache where you want something with a very different clipping threshold. These incidentally sound quite different from BAT41s (which can also be found in the .2v clipping range) in a head-to-head test. I preferred the bass response (tighter) in BAT41s but thought these have a richer midrange.

6 available.

D312A

A USSR mezza pulse diode. You’ll need to figure out how to breadboard them – their leads are the big flat kind. They look freakin’ awesome. The actual sound of them is pretty close to a 1N34A, but sometimes mojo trumps function. On the pair I tested, I ended up just soldering a lead wire to the diode’s lead.

Silicon

BA100

1. Crunchy, clear, not too bassy.

2. Smoother, milder, excellent, tight sound for rhythm. excellent compression.

Would be great in a tubescreamer or bluebreaker, or as a clipping option in the Aristocrat.

2 available.

1N60P

These were sold to me as Germanium, but they are almost certainly silicon.

1. Bright, but big, BIG bass. Very full sounding. Best choice if you need more bass response from a pedal.

2. Very raunchy. Fuzzy.

I preferred these in singles, but they would be awesome in a Muff-type circuit or a whisker biscuit.

4 available

1S1588

These are one of the rare Si diodes in the Aristocrat.

1. Surprisingly sweet sounding. Lots of clarity with very little breakup, attenuated highs and compresison.

2. More of the same — there’s a good reason AnalogMan picked these for a bluesbreaker for sure.

I really like these. I’ll probably build a KOT just to use them, though I can’t find “the other right diodes” anywhere. 🙂

6 available. I might be able to accommodate requests for four of these if you don’t want to order them from Effects Connection.

KD522B

This is a Russian silicon diode. They sound a lot like 1N4148s (that is, fairly generic), and have a similar clipping threshold, but they are not as consistent in their measurements. I found they had to really be pushed to get any unique character out of them, so I’d stick with using them in a hard clipping situation. I also know a builder who likes them in Percolators, but he said it’s not for any particular sound characteristics.

8 available

BAT85

1. Surprisingly smooth sounding, but dark for a silicon.

2. Great decay from breakup back to clean.

Like other Schotkeys, they do this weird thing where it sounds like the clean signal is hiding behind the clipped signal. Excellent alternative to BAT41/46 when you think the 41s clip a little too hard.

20 available

BAT46

1. Clear, glasst, dynamic, and touch sensitive.

2. Mean and bassy.

There’s a reason these are so popular as clippers!

I do have a couple available after all (2).

BAT41

1. Even breakup. Very nice harmonics. Smooth and lots of character.

2. Still very even breakup and natural sound. A little bit of quacky compression. Squishy, even.

My favorite silicon.

None available (I used too many of them! 🙂 …)

4148s

I don’t really expect anyone to pick these, but I tested them for comparison.

1. Balanced. Nice!

2. Just a little bit of dirt. Smooth just still balanced.

These sound great. Don’t neglect to try common Si diodes just because you see them all the time!

1N4001/7

Again, I don’t really expect anyone to pick these, but I tested them for comparison.

1. Clips some, but not much in the way of harmonic content.

2. Much better in pairs. Compresses a surprisingly large amount. Not much distortion at all.

1N914

Same deal as above.

1. Uniform breakup – no sudden jumps into distortion. Good decay, too.

2. A little darker, good compression, excellent “glass.”

40809

These are a mystery diode I picked up from Luciferstrip on DIY stompboxes. I tested them, but I only have three, so I can’t sell them.

1. Compressed but dark.

2. Good compression in pairs, but they don’t really add color or harmonics.

Lackluster as a distortion generator, but they could be very useful if you want to add compression to a circuit and you can source them.

Testing circuits were:

1. Simple dual op amp, completely clean sound.

2. A breadboarded Clipper Ship (a dual transistor boost/OD), tested in the OD section (mild clipping) and at the end of the boost setting (very extreme usage).

This let me test the diodes under three conditions: no transistor/op amp distortion, mild transistor distortion, and extreme diode clipping. If I also tested the diodes in a particular circuit, I noted that.