Replacement for BC182C

Sorry no luck so far. Ive got loads of BC184's but I expect they wont be of much use
in the front end of an amp as the Vceo is only 30V otherwise the same. Better noise figure though. Thought I had some 182,s

Farnell have BC182L,s in stock. The L grade has a lower Hfe limit than the C grade but in my experience if you buy enough ( they are cheap enough) and you have a hfe facility on your multimeter you can usually be able to select two with high enough gain.
Cricklewood Electronics have 182B's which might be better.
 
To assess whether a transistor is suitable as a close enough equivalent, we have to know the particular circuit it's working in, regardless of brands or physical differences. Unfortunately, small manufacturers don't publish their circuits for all and sundry to copy, or use as aids to DIY repairs. This makes it hard to know what Exposure's design and components generally are, let alone those of particular model/version amplifier you have.

BC182 is usually the jellybean or general purpose transistor. i.e. - nothing special because in its role, the choice won't greatly affect gain, noise or bandwidth and is easily subbed with the likes of BC548, 547, 546, also many popular US, Japanese and other types according to the circuit voltages, maximum currents and of course, pinout. FWIW, many designers just use G.P. transistors like MPSA42/92 in the front end of audio amplifiers. Only the input pair would actually have low noise types and BC182 is not really a low noise type. Think of it as something like BC548 with higher voltage ratings.

I would probably choose BC546 because it has ample Vceo as suggested by the spec. of BC182. If you measure the circuit voltages in this area of your Exposure amplifier, you can make the decisions yourself, allowing for voltage supply surges of at least 10% above readings.
 
Do you mean you are unsure whether the MPSA56 it needs replacing? If you have that tester you referred to earlier, surely that will tell you whether its fine or not. There's no grading between OK and bad there - it works by showing gain (hFE) under the test conditions of Vbe & Ic shown - or nothing sensible.
 
OK...with some help (Thanks David)...been in there now.

Right channel working....probs on the left. It seems that the O/P transistor on the -ve rail is 'full on' (excuse my paraphrasing!) all the time. A bit of fishing around on the PCB found that one of the small transistors (BC182C I think...(but might be MPSA56) ...although testing OK, was found to have an unacceptably low hfe value. (being 8, instead of around 200 as I recall!)

So...plan is to replace BC182C's...and MPSA56's for a start.

The 40 year old Res. caps....were tested, and although working, had dropped massively from 10000uf spec.....so new caps !
Tempted to replace relays too....perhaps they could be removed, at the cost of speaker 'thump' on power-up??

...and thanks Goldie99....Langrex/Ebay store much better!! 🙂
They have BC182B and BC182L....will either/both/none of these suffice please?
 
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