differences between pihers

[shakti]

Very nice info, Karlis!

Like Strat78, I bought a batch of 10 x 220k off of Ebay recently, and was very disappointed when I received them, as they are much smaller than typical 60s or 70s 1/2W examples. According to the seller they are 1/2W, which I guess is possible if they are indeed very late production, but unless it can be proven, I'd be tempted to send them back.

[VintageCharlie]

My guess is that these are indeed 1/2w - so there's not much you could argue about. The seller probably knows that people are after "NOS" "Piher" brand and lets the buyer mislead himself. Also, be careful with the 1/3w Pihers from 60's. I've been screwed over a couple of times when the seller claimed they are 1/2w. They are of very similar dimensions and they look exactly like one of the desireable types of 1/2w on pictures

For my own 45/100 build i find this type to be most desireable, just because i used to take this amp as reference due to it's great original condition and pics:

http://www.amparchives.com/album/Marsha ... _orig.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Haven't found any of these, except for the used 68k's - which you can see to the right from that long 1.5k in my comparison pic. And even then the ones in this original 45/100 look somewhat different again - shinier. Later 45/100's seem to also have the rounder shaped ones.

Anyway, apart from aesthetics, the only important bit of info would be if they all are really the same construction. IF there is any audible difference between various carbon film resistors at all (which many will deny and of which i have no idea as i haven't tried to compare), then this might be the only thing that matters, apart from looks. I suspect that the 60's and 70's types are all pretty much the same (except the early 60's long ones) and that the only reason for the countless variations between them boils down to unconistencies in the coating formula. No company would bring out a dozen of variations of a carbon film resistor within say 10 years Though, even without taking them apart, it looks to my eye like the thicker part of the body on both ends of the resistor, where the leads are attached, is a bit wider in the late 60's, early 70's types. Might be just an optical illusion. I will report back on this when i get the chance to demolish a few of these. (of course, if anyone has done this, please be so kind and share this info with us! )

Btw. here's a nice post by Alex that shows the inside of cc, piher, iskra and a bumble bee: http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... 0&start=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Those early 60's and later 60's pihers bear the same construction.

[Doug H]

The seller probably knows that people are after "NOS" "Piher" brand and lets the buyer mislead himself. Also, be careful with the 1/3w Pihers from 60's.

I'm pretty sure if it's the same seller I have seen he talks about the size in the description.

[Doug H]

Anyway, apart from aesthetics, the only important bit of info would be if they all are really the same construction. IF there is any audible difference between various carbon film resistors at all (which many will deny and of which i have no idea as i haven't tried to compare)

I did some a/b tests switching out a single plate resistor on V1 with a switch. AFAIC there's a difference. The pihers are sort of stable and cheap and sleazy at the same time, my 2 cents.

[Strat78]

This has been a big help guys. Here are some shots of a batch of Pihers that I just got that seem to be the real deal. On the far left is one of the resistors that I got ripped off on. There are some Allen Bradley CC's and also two resistors (1/2w and 2w)that George used to include with his kits for comparison. The true NOS Pihers are works of art!