Whats a good beginner solderless breadboard?

[HeadCase]

Title says it all. Can I just grab one from radioshack, or is the one from smallbear better or . What do you guys think? What else do I need to have with a breadboard to make some pedals?
Thanks  

[Seljer]

They're all pretty much the same so grab whatever you find. Get a bigger one if you can, lets you get more creative . Most of them have a limited lifespan and after a couple of years of heavy use some sections become a bit loose and don't make good contact (which is hell to debug) so you just have to replace them.

Alligator clips are a handy thing to have to wire in various external components (pots, jacks, switches, power supplies). It's also nice to screw it on some kind of base and add some angled aluminium, where you can permanently mount a bypass switch and jacks and some common value pots to some terminal blocks for quick hookups to the circuit. Maybe even jacks for banana plugs.

If you've just started, powering it with a 9V battery might be better so get a connector, because if you hook up a larger external supply you can easily short out something (and the breadboard traces can and will melt the plastic around them)

[GibsonGM]

I have gotten mine from many places...IMO, you'd probably do well to get a couple from Small bear, just because they're associated with DIY, and building that relationship early is going to be good for you.   You can get them cheap on Ebay, like $5 each, but some are so cheap they stink...Small Bear or RS will be fine.    Try to get at least 3, I'd say.  So you can have several things going at once   The more the better.

I think they are basically 'cheap' or 'a little better'...but there are not tons of quality grades, it seems...

You'll need jumper wire (22 ga. Radio Shack "hookup wire" or equiv. is fine).  I also use telephone wire, sometimes.   A bit thin, but hey...
A few jacks to "interface" your guitar and amp to the prototypes you breadboard.   Alligator clips to make dedicated jumpers, too.

Then, all the parts...millions, billions of transistors, opamps, diodes, pots, etc!   Smallbear, Tayda, Mouser, Newark Electronics are good sources, of which there are thousands....

[HeadCase]

Alright, thanks guys. right now, I've been alligator clipping parts together to try stuff, which limits what I can do so I think a breadboard would be good for me. As far as parts, I saw that smallbear has some "parts kits" with a range of values of one kind of part (caps, resistors, etc.) http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Categories?category=Parts+Kits&searchpath=680541&start=16&total=25 But they seem a little big for me right now. Is there anywhere that sells similar kinds of things? Or can you recommend me some basic common values and I can just go get a few handfuls of stuff to mess with?

[GibsonGM]

Radio Shack used to have a "standard" roll of resistors you could buy, for like (now) $20.   You should get one of those, for sure!   The amt. of parts in these kits isn't excessive - you'll use them, lol!!   

Once every few years, I get a "cap kit", like this one:   http://www.ebay.com/itm/280pcs-30values-Polyester-Film-Capacitor-Assorted-Kit-Assortment-Set-/281019303325?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416e0e459d
Having these will make your life MUCH easier!   Not expensive at all...buying these 2 at a time in radio shack will get you 4 or fewer caps for this price...

You'll also want to get, say, 5 to 10 ea. of 1, 10, 22 and 100 uF electrolytic caps, maybe from Small Bear....

I know it seems like a  lot of $$$ to dish out at once, maybe $100 total, but if you're into building your own, you'll be glad you did.

Option 2 is get the min. things you need for a project, from Small Bear etc, and build up as you go. Supplement at the local Radio Shack if you can.   Saves money up front, but costs more in the long run, plus limits you on what you can do if you get 'an inspiration'.

Give yourself time;  I suggest the breadboards, and a resistor and cap kit. Buy transistors for projects as you go and get 5 extra every time, same with opamps, etc.    You'll never be sorry you got the resistors & caps, trust me.   

[Seljer]

As far as parts, I saw that smallbear has some "parts kits" with a range of values of one kind of part (caps, resistors, etc.) http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Categories?category=Parts+Kits&searchpath=680541&start=16&total=25 But they seem a little big for me right now. Is there anywhere that sells similar kinds of things? Or can you recommend me some basic common values and I can just go get a few handfuls of stuff to mess with?

Those are very small kits  . Don't worry about having too many parts, it's not like they have a best before date or anything

[pappasmurfsharem]

Definitely get the smallbear one. Bought a $5 cheaply and using 22awg wire for jumpers was impossible it would bend almost every time without going in. The WISH boards that smallbear sells are like butter

As far as kits.

I'd say hit up tayda, you can smaller quantities cheaper then go big with the smallbear kits after you get your feet wet.

[GibsonGM]

Try telephone wire for the boards that are bothering you, pappa....

I'd think Smallbear would carry nice ones as he caters to us...haven't gotten any from him, that's all.

I've had luck with Ebay for kits....ppl have complained that Tayda stinks (wrong parts etc), but maybe they can get a kit type thing right! 

[HeadCase]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll shop around and get some stuff.

[HeadCase]

How does a set like this look? http://www.ebay.com/itm/121306589232?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Are these useful values? Thanks

[vigilante397]

How does a set like this look? http://www.ebay.com/itm/121306589232?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Are these useful values? Thanks

I bought a set like this a while back and it has come in handy a bit, but I would recommend going for the film capacitor kit referenced earlier. Ceramic capacitors are known to become microphonic in some cases and can be noisy.

[HeadCase]

Okay, that's good to know. How does this one look? http://www.ebay.com/itm/261530195973?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 I realize it's probably not top shelf quality, which is okay. Although I think I will end up getting the smallbear one.

[deadastronaut]

build this for a true bypass breadboard setup..

this will allow you to thouroughly test your effect as though it was boxed.. and compare levels etc between on and bypassed /off

3pdt toggle ( not footswitch)

2 mono jacks

1 dc socket..(to attach a psufor real life testing...rather than half dead batteries)

1, 4.7k resistor

1 led...colour of your choice..

i would suggest getting a big board, not a tiny one..and a good quality one too...cheap ones are nasty.



https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/bread1.jpg

[Seljer]

Okay, that's good to know. How does this one look? http://www.ebay.com/itm/261530195973?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 I realize it's probably not top shelf quality, which is okay. Although I think I will end up getting the smallbear one.

Yeah, thats a good range of values. The green film caps sound just fine
Ceramic capacitors are mainly used for the very small values (under 1000picofarad) for higher frequency or digital stuff. They're handy to have on hand but the majority of caps you use in a typical stompbox will be film capacitors.

You'll also need some electrolytic capacitors because you use up quite a few of those as well. There are similar assortments on ebay for $10 which have way more than enough, but typically they're used in non-tone critical sections of circuits so you could just get a 10 to 20 each of 1uF,  10uF and 100uF at a reasonable voltage rating and have enough to play with for a long time.

[HeadCase]

build this for a true bypass breadboard setup..

this will allow you to thouroughly test your effect as though it was boxed.. and compare levels etc between on and bypassed /off

3pdt toggle ( not footswitch)

2 mono jacks

1 dc socket..(to attach a psufor real life testing...rather than half dead batteries)

1, 4.7k resistor

1 led...colour of your choice..

i would suggest getting a big board, not a tiny one..and a good quality one too...cheap ones are nasty.



https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/bread1.jpg

This looks very cool! Great idea.

[HeadCase]

Okay, that's good to know. How does this one look? http://www.ebay.com/itm/261530195973?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 I realize it's probably not top shelf quality, which is okay. Although I think I will end up getting the smallbear one.

Yeah, thats a good range of values. The green film caps sound just fine
Ceramic capacitors are mainly used for the very small values (under 1000picofarad) for higher frequency or digital stuff. They're handy to have on hand but the majority of caps you use in a typical stompbox will be film capacitors.

You'll also need some electrolytic capacitors because you use up quite a few of those as well. There are similar assortments on ebay for $10 which have way more than enough, but typically they're used in non-tone critical sections of circuits so you could just get a 10 to 20 each of 1uF,  10uF and 100uF at a reasonable voltage rating and have enough to play with for a long time.

Perfect, thank you. Good to know as well.

[HeadCase]

build this for a true bypass breadboard setup..

this will allow you to thouroughly test your effect as though it was boxed.. and compare levels etc between on and bypassed /off

3pdt toggle ( not footswitch)

2 mono jacks

1 dc socket..(to attach a psufor real life testing...rather than half dead batteries)

1, 4.7k resistor

1 led...colour of your choice..

i would suggest getting a big board, not a tiny one..and a good quality one too...cheap ones are nasty.



https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7464107/bread1.jpg

If I wanted to have the option to use a battery or power supply (like a normal pedal), How would I wire that? Could I do the switch and power like this layout: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_secf_lo.pdf  ?

[WhiskeyMadeMeDoIt]

The dc jack has an extra tab on it. You attach a 9v battery clip positive to that and attach the ground to the ground tab.  Now when you have the dc jack plugged in it disconnects the battery.  If you have a battery in place it will automatically be switched on when the dc jack is unplugged.

[HeadCase]

Perfect, that's what I thought but I figured I'd double check. Thank you!