[marshray]

Well, if it's not an advertised spec on the datasheet, and constrained in the direction you're using it, then all guarantees are off and it's on you to qualify the parts on a batch-by-batch basis.

I think that counts as "cursed" from a design-for-manufacturing perspective.

"After a production run of 12,000 units the TR-808 was no more." https://secretlifeofsynthesizers.com/the-strange-heart-of-th...

[kazinator]

Behringer sells a clone of the TR-808 called RD-8. They must have solved that problem somehow. They went as far as cloning some vintage Roland silicon that cannot be sourced, so the transistor issue seems minor by comparison.