2SC536F replacement

Discuss x0x construction and related issues

Moderators: altitude, adafruit_support_bill, adafruit, phono, hamburgers

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
skyline7
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:11 am

2SC536F replacement

Post by skyline7 »

Has anyone tried to replace the 2SC536Fs in the x0xb0x with BC182Ls?

I'm in the middle of building a TM3030 from BANNED and it uses the BC182L as a direct replacement for the 2SC536F. Tony claims "that there are no sonic differences between the European and Japanese parts".

http://www.oakleysound.com/tm3030.pdf

Psymiley
 
Posts: 139
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:53 am

Post by Psymiley »

Might be a useful note for those building kits from self-sourced componants.

skyline7
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:11 am

Post by skyline7 »

I'm thinking of buying the PCBs and building a second x0xb0x. I've actually got most of the rare parts sitting around with exception of the 2SC2291 and 2SC536Fs. I might try to build it with the BC182Ls left over from my TM3030 and see what happens.

bcbox
 
Posts: 587
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 1:30 am

Post by bcbox »

BANNED uses BC549's and BC559's in place of the 2SC536F and 2SA733's, except in the VCO he uses BC182L an BC212L's for the saw. I don't think there would be any difference using the BC549's and 559's in the monostables, envelope generators and all that. As for the 182L and 212L I'm not sure about using those in the VCO. You could certainly try it. I built a TB3030 several years back. It was pretty good but it didn't sound especially close to the 303. There were several things that could have been attributed to though, besides part substitutions I believe the power supply of the TB-303 and the generation of the bias voltage and the design of the VCO and VCF in relation to this has a lot to do with the sound. The TB-3030 ignored that aspect. The 2SA733P is very easy to get a hold of in most countries. The 2sc536 is a bit harder but I find it regularly - www.dalbani.co.uk is a great source for most of these parts regardless of where you live. They have a great thing going and always get the parts out to me very fast (I'm in the US). They usally have most of the parts including the AN6562, 2sc536, 2sc1583, 2sk30a, etc..Ebay is also good. For the 536F it's a good thing to email the suppiers and ask them what the suffix is so that you can find the "F". It's not any harder than finding the 2sc1583 or the AN6562. The TM3030 looks pretty well designed. You have to make decisions in certain areas. I noticed for the VCA he decided to have two options. One based on the original BA662 and one based on the CA3080. The BA662 is extremely hard to find. The CA3080 is obsolete but can be found without much trouble if you look hard enough. The BA6110 is also obsolete but is also fairly easy to find. I thought like the x0xb0x and the old tb-3030/3031 it would have a socket for that but there are always tradeoffs. I definitely understand the decision he made with the vcf. The 2sc2291 is very hard find (although I find them on ebay fairly often).
All in all though I wonder why anyone would build a TM3030 while the x0xb0x is still running. All the parts substitutions and design changes are so people will be able to find all the parts without hassle. With the x0x being a kit and the makers being able to source the hard to find parts in large order quantities and selling it at a fair price including the sequencer I don't think you can do any better. I thkn the TM3030 would cost about the same or more to build once you buy all the components yourself, make the front panel and house the unit (and no sequencer! and no open source for future improvement).

booster
 
Posts: 52
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:14 am

Post by booster »

On the subject of replacements for this part, I ordered some 536F from a company here in the UK. What I actually received was a bit of a mixed bag to say the least:-
536E, 536F, 536G, 536H and a load of 2SC1815GR which this company claims to be a replacement for the 536.
Apart from the F's, can anyone confirm whether any of these parts are OK to use?

User avatar
creekree
 
Posts: 100
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:40 pm

Post by creekree »

booster wrote: 536E, 536F, 536G, 536H and a load of 2SC1815GR which this company claims to be a replacement for the 536.
Apart from the F's, can anyone confirm whether any of these parts are OK to use?
as for the 536 derivates you listed, i found these datasheets that state the differences are in the hFE of the parts.
now, i have a bag of 2sc536 2F - but i cant find datasheets for those.
does anyone know what they are?

filq
 
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:08 pm

2SC2320

Post by filq »

i've ordered 24x 2SC536Fs from local store - they gave me 15x 2SC536Fs & 9x 2SC2320s.

maybe someone can check if this replacement also works?

LoopStar
 
Posts: 147
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:52 pm

Post by LoopStar »

In a german internet forum (link to the thread: http://www.sequencer.de/synthesizer/vie ... c3c0f7e81d)
a user said that the later 303's had 2sc945's instead of 2sc536F's built in. Can someone here on the forum confirm this information? I'm asking because the 536F's are getting increasingly harder to find in Germany. So I'm looking for a suitable replacement.

Thanks for helping!

EDIT:
After searching the net for a long time I decided to try 2sc945 trannys. As the y seem to be in some original 303s I decided that they are "official" replacement parts. :D They should arrive this week, accompanied by the last missing parts. Let's find out what sonic differences there are. I'll definitly post some sound files if it works.

LoopStar
 
Posts: 147
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:52 pm

Post by LoopStar »

Here's the result of substituting the 2sc536f. I've used 2sc945p which seemed to be the closest match to the 536f. The b0x works very nicely and sound great, too. Here's a sample: http://www.loopstar.eu/audio/ogg/single_tracks/x0x2.ogg

Can't a/b it with my first x0x though, as I have to wait for the delivery of a new microprocessor. And the second x0x has the resonance boos mod, so it sounds different anyways.

Senso
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:44 am

Re: 2SC536F replacement

Post by Senso »

There is no real need for substitutes. I always have originals on eBay. :wink:
http://www.vintageplanet.nl/pics/parts/ic/2SC536Fx3.jpg
Look in the shop: "Synth Part City":
http://stores.ebay.nl/Synth-Part-City/S ... 34.c0.m322

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Making x0x”