At last the (or "a") voice of Reason.
I didn't want to get into Faith based discussions, but now that I see I'm not alone, let me state that we do not only not need Germanium, we do not need it to be PNP; even more, we do not even need it to be a Transistor.
For me, *parts* are not important; *what it does* is.
It can be reasonably cloned using that wonderful building block: the Op Amp.
What does it *do*, in essence?:
1) Amplify? ... check
2) have a low and reactive input impedance, such as .005uF in series with 12K ? ... check
3) Have unity gain at 80 Hz? ... check
4) Have a 6dB/octave rising response? ... check.
5) Have a 6dB octave rolloff from 5KHz up, so the gain is not 60x but 30x (because of 6dB loss at that frequency?) ... check.
6) Have the same (constant) gain (around 30X) from that frequency up, because input rising 6dB/oct gets compensated by 6dB/oct rolloff, leaving net change around 0dB? ... check.
7) There are claims of second harmonics and nonlinearities .
Can't calculate them out of the top of my head as in points 1 to 6, but the practical approach would be to build an original clone, germanium transistor and all, hit it with various frequencies at different levels, and duplicate that adding an approppriate non-linear network in the feedback loop, one specialty of Op Amps.
8) Noise/unavailability/lack of repeatability/unbearable crackle/major Pop ? ... we can leave them out of the equation, can't we?.
9) Let's not forget that the Rangemaster does not sound by itself (nobody sends it right to the recording console) but is an equalizer and pre-processor for a classic overdriven tube amp, which does 95% of the work.
10) Where's the Mojo? ... good question.

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