I have news for you... AliExpress germanium transistors sometimes work.

Building this Hudson Dual Broadcast clone has been difficult. Rare, hard to find components and a PCB layout I didn't like. Oddly enough, everything turned out well: I found a workable layout where the PCB and its components fit without hitting the potentiometers where I wanted them. I got two beautiful black glass germanium transistors from a reliable source, just in case one didn't work... both didn't. To my surprise, the cheap transistor from AliExpress that I had bought a while ago and had dismissed as a fake turned out to work perfectly. In the end, everything turned out well and I'm delighted with the way it sounds! I have news for you... AliExpress germanium transistors sometimes work.