i really need an o-scope now.

[Brian Marshall]

I have a project that im working on that uses an lfo, and an envelope follower to do a bunch of different things.  this thing is literally huge, and i am having to design it in stages.  anyways, i have decided to take the plunge and get a scope.

i have never owned one before, and may but have pretty much decided that as long as it is dual trace, auto triggered, and works I'll love it, and it will do the job for anything i can think of.

With all the nightmares i hear about buying used, i have been thinking about getting a used one.

circuit specialists has this one in stock.  it is about the absolute most i would want to spend.
http://circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7643

either that or i could try to get a nice used tek 465 series off of ebay.  

would it be worth it to take the chance on a 465 used?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

That Circuit Specialists scope will certainly work well enough for building pedals. On the other hand, the Tek is a superior scope (but, downside, more complex to get used to operating).
IF you can get a 2/h Tek with a guarantee that it works, that is what I'd do. I'm very happy with mine (swapped a broken Memory Moog for it).
Scopes are much more difficult to find in Australia 2/h, at least a working good one. Mine came from USA.

[Brian Marshall]

i havent seen many used ones where they guarantee any more than it will power up.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

One possibility is to try a Ham Radio swapmeet, plenty of dealers there, I believe. Nuts&Volts magazine has a swapmeet list (I *think*).

[Brian Marshall]

i just bought the one at circuit specialists....
 
i dont want to waste another month obsessing over it, and being scared to buy one off of ebay for more than $100 and getting a broken piece of crap, because i was only willing to spend $100

thanks for all the help.... time to take the next step

i have been working on a project that is going to be physically huge, and uses a couple of LFO's which you cant really test on a computer scope, because of the cap'ed input on the sound card.  besieds hauling the bread board arround was getting old.

Brian

[ErikMiller]

i just bought the one at circuit specialists....
 
i dont want to waste another month obsessing over it, and being scared to buy one off of ebay for more than $100 and getting a broken piece of crap, because i was only willing to spend $100

thanks for all the help.... time to take the next step

Congratulations!

I just got my first scope today, a Tektronix 465B (which I was attracted to partly because of advice given to you here). Let us know how you like the 6502.

As I never went to tech school or got an electronics degree, watching people use 'scopes always seemed like voodoo magic to me. When I got that first waveform up on the CRT earlier this evening, it was definitely a Moment.

It's great to be 43 and fulfilling dreams I had 20 years ago (and using the test equipment of that time to do it:-).

In electronics, there's nothing like an oscilloscope on your bench to make you look like you know what you're doing.

Seriously, I have been working on an LFO-based device, and trying to debug it with my DMM just wasn't cutting it.

[ExpAnonColin]

Man, shoulda got it on eBay... good luck though.

-Colin

[sirkut]

I have an old oscilloscope that does what I need it to do but thanks for the tip on a much better scope. I'll definately be keeping my eyes out for a new one.  Another thing Ive found to be useful is a digital trainer with built in function generator, power supply among some other useful things. I recently got an elenco xk-55 for a steal. I love using it, especially to trim down the power to see what it would do with less voltage to a circuit.

[Brian Marshall]

Man, shoulda got it on eBay... good luck though.

-Colin

HA,  I've been checking ebay for the last month or two, every day, and 99.9% of the stuff on there seem like people trying to pawn their junk off on someone else......  my favorite was "powers up, and seems to work, but smells funny"

no thanks.

i'd rather get something new with a warranty.  i think you just got lucky on yours.  those kinds of deals dont come up often.... i'm sick of waiting.

Brian

[ExpAnonColin]

Well, whatever suits you.  Honestly I think there must have been at least 10 calibrated, with warranty scopes that I thought about biddding on within the month before I bought this one.  For sure many of them are broken, but there are also quite a few with a warranty and recent calibration, like mine.

-Colin

[smoguzbenjamin]

Man I need to get myself a scope. Man I need to get myself a job. :roll: lol

[Brian Marshall]

Well, whatever suits you.  Honestly I think there must have been at least 10 calibrated, with warranty scopes that I thought about biddding on within the month before I bought this one.  For sure many of them are broken, but there are also quite a few with a warranty and recent calibration, like mine.

-Colin

the few that i saw were way over $300

[ErikMiller]

Although I got a great deal on my 465B, and I like having that model for personal nostalgia reasons, mine did not come with a calibration manual, which a new scope would, nor does it have a warranty, which a new scope would.

Jay did manage to uncover (literally uncover, after accidentally knocking a pile of miscellaneous crap onto the floor) a 10X probe for me, but it's missing the alligator clip for ground.

So right off the bat I'll be paying some guy 9 bucks to download a PDF of the service manual, plus at least another $15 for a second probe. I don't need a 10X for building my 9V stomp boxes.

Buying a brand new scope would have averted all that trouble.

On the other hand, the older Tektronix scopes are built for serviceability, so I hope that if anything goes wrong with it, I can apply my own skillz to getting it back up and running.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Seriously, I have been working on an LFO-based device, and trying to debug it with my DMM just wasn't cutting it.

...taht's because the LFO isn't slow enough!
seriously though, anyone with a scope has to learn to be suspicious, it is easy to get a misleading pic up on the scope (broken probe ground wire, compensation cap in probe misadjusted, AC input to scope when you think it is DC... I've done it all :oops: