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Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
The PIC16C84 microcontroller also survived a decade and more past sensible retirement because of the google feedback loop.
Common sense also strengthens the feedback because why swhy spend the time and take the risk of finding the perfect part when you can just use something that is proved to work well enough.
Registered Member #2463
Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
Location:
Posts: 1546
One reason the 6L6 was so popular in Europe was the vast quantities of them shipped to Russia when they became part of the Allied Forces in WW2. Those stockpiles lasted for years afterwards. Prior to Pearl American electronics found many ways to move about the globe as "non-strategic" goods.
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
I've not seen many 6L6s over here. We preferred the Mullard/Philips EL34 and the KT66 from M-O Valve. Whether we actually preferred it, or they were just cheaper because they were made domestically, I don't know.
More important than the tubes shipped to Russia was the tube manufacturing know-how. The Russians used it to build their own beam tetrodes, including the one that's now sold as the "6L6GC", which is their 6P3SE.
This also explains why the Russians use the same tube numbering system as the Americans, with a few Cyrillic letters thrown in.
The Mullard trademark, like most of the classic valve/tube brand names, is now owned by the New Sensor corporation, who use them to brand Russian tubes.
Back in semiconductor land, does the TL494 count as a classic yet?
Registered Member #2261
Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581
These were/are everywhere. AC128 BC107 BC108 1N4148
Some manufacturers only use components that are manufactured by more than one company to keep supplies secure. That helps keep a popular component at the top of the charts once it gets there. Lots of Application Circuits from the manufacturer and other design sources that publish help get the snowball rolling in the first place. If a well specified component becomes popular and subsequently its price drops below that of its competitors it's got a hard to beat advantage. I often find several versions of a component from a supplier that appear to be identical from a technical standpoint and then I just go with the flow purchasing the cheapest (most popular) version.
Registered Member #1225
Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253
So, the more popular a part gets, the cheaper it gets, which makes it more popular still, and that positive feedback is what makes it take off and become a classic.
Registered Member #103
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:16PM
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 845
Steve McConner wrote ...
I've not seen many 6L6s over here. We preferred the Mullard/Philips EL34 and the KT66 from M-O Valve. Whether we actually preferred it, or they were just cheaper because they were made domestically, I don't know.
More important than the tubes shipped to Russia was the tube manufacturing know-how. The Russians used it to build their own beam tetrodes, including the one that's now sold as the "6L6GC", which is their 6P3SE.
This also explains why the Russians use the same tube numbering system as the Americans, with a few Cyrillic letters thrown in.
The Mullard trademark, like most of the classic valve/tube brand names, is now owned by the New Sensor corporation, who use them to brand Russian tubes.
Back in semiconductor land, does the TL494 count as a classic yet?
I've got 10 Russian 6L6s here, actually '6n3c', NOS for my next attempt at a valve amp. Not entirely sure what the equivalent US part number would be, but everything seems to match a 6L6 datasheet I have. 10 should be enough for 1 amp?
TL494 is definitely getting there, probably leading the 3524 which is almost the same!
I always used to think that BFY51 was a noob classic, but that's probably just because it's all I ever used.
Registered Member #96
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062
Avalanche wrote ...
I've got 10 Russian 6L6s here, actually '6n3c', NOS for my next attempt at a valve amp. Not entirely sure what the equivalent US part number would be, but everything seems to match a 6L6 datasheet I have. 10 should be enough for 1 amp?
TL494 is definitely getting there, probably leading the 3524 which is almost the same!
I always used to think that BFY51 was a noob classic, but that's probably just because it's all I ever used.
2N2222?
yeah, 2n2222 and BFY51 were used since the early 1980's (I used the latter on one of my very first projects..)
talking about prehistoric circuits, has anyone ever heard of the transistor shift register oscillator? i built one a while back (1995!) and adorned a cowboy hat with it, you could enter patterns by shorting base to emitter on one of the stages and waiting until all the LEDs went out..
if i recall that one used the BC548 (another classic) at the time it was one of the cheapest available..
regards, -A
"Bother" said Pooh, as he saw the plot for "Avatar 2" ...
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
Avalanche: That's the 6P3S, which is a lower-powered tube more like the old 6L6G. They're often passed off as 6L6GCs: I have a pair of them relabelled as "6L6GC Made In Russia". But the 6P3SE is a considerably heftier tube. Fender use it in all their reissue amps.
However, I've tried both the 6P3S and 6P3SE in a 50 watt guitar amp, and they both make about 50 watts. Both are available on Ebay by the crateload.
There's always confusion over Russian tube numbers. The "n" is a Cyrillic "Pi" which is sometimes written as P, and the C sometimes ends up as S. You can use this confusion to get crates of them cheap on Ebay.
IntraWinding is showing his age by including a germanium transistor in the list of classics. The AC128 was allegedly used in Jimi Hendrix's fuzzbox, so it surely deserves some sort of kudos. (Never mind us 30-somethings discussing tubes, that's different )
My favourite transistors are the 2N3904, 2N3906, ZTX651, ZTX751, 2N5551, 2N5401, MPSA42, MPSA92, MJE340, MJE350, MJ15032, MJ15033, MJL3281, MJL1302, MJ15024 and MJ15025. I mostly play with audio circuits, a radio ham would have a completely different set of favourites.
Another "iconic" FET is the 2N7000. Possibly the wimpiest MOSFET in the world, yet somehow it refuses to go out of production. It could be that designers remember it just because it has a nice round part number: there's absolutely nothing else remarkable about it.
Most "classic" transistors and diodes are available in surface mount with a slight change to the part number. For instance, the 2N3904 becomes the MMBT3904, the 1N4148 becomes the LL4148, the 2N7000 becomes the 2N7002. The marketing guys at Fairchild know what the people want
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Stories behind the popularity of certain parts?
