Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

So I was doing an experiment per textbook

Take a 2n3904 ground the base
Put +12 at the collector resistor
Put -12 at the emitter resistor

Ok that in itself was quite a task but I managed and no matter what kept getting a Ve of -3.7v

It took me a while to figure that if base was at ground then thats probably not correct.

So I reconnected configurations ad nauseum and kept getting the same thing  :grr

Meanwhile kept checking that VB = ground.

Finally I was like well hell why don't you check the transistor so I did a diode check with my multimeter and + on base to emitter was showing a one.   :loco

So I grabbed a new one and it showed about 0.67  xP

Ve with new one in circuit

IMG_20250627_235549806.jpg

Ve with old one in circuit

IMG_20250627_235623821.jpg


And the diagram

IMG_20250627_235641262 (1).jpg


Now the "old" transistor is pretty new from mouser a year or two ago but..to be fair is has been subjected to some abuse like reverse biasing and stuff....

Anyhow I thought I was going crazy  :'(

Tested by the atlas

IMG_20250628_002801098 (1).jpg


IMG_20250628_002838542.jpg

 xP