where to buy pots and best kind to buy

[BigBubbaman]

first of all hello to everyone. new to the board and would like to say what a pleasure it is to join a place like this. did some search and have a question whats the best pots to use on builds? fixing to build a Dr boogey and not sure if i need to run bigger than 16mm pots. everything ive built before has been preamp/compressor stuff and always been told what exactly to buy lol. any info would be appreciated. also best place to buy from. thanks again

[jkokura]

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=Potentiometers+and+Trimpots

16mm Alpha pots are the standard for most pedals. Some people use 24mm, 12mm or 9mm, but most of us use 16mm. I've built a Boogey with 16mm pots and it's fine. If you have a smaller enclosure you might want to look for smaller pots. Do you have an enclosure size already?

Jacob

[darron]

cermet ones are the best, which is the question that you asked. but at over $10 each do you really want the best?

vishay make nice stuff, so i bet these are good:

http://australia.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=4848604


but as was said, you can just use some 16mm alpha pots which your local shop should sell....

[BigBubbaman]

actually ordering 1590bb box's from mike to build them with

[BigBubbaman]

thanks much guys

[darron]

i built a dr boogie into a BB size with 16mm alphas... so now you know it can work (:


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[jasperoosthoek]

The alpha pots are great and relatively cheap compared to the plastic garbage I buy locally for 3x the price of alphas! I use 24mm for stompboxes with two pots and 16mm for boxes with three pots. I first ordered a bunch of 24mm pots but couldn't some of them as three pots didn't fit in my small enclosures... I use these a lot, very pretty boxes: http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=566

[frequencycentral]

Tayda sell 16mm alpha for $0.40 each. http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront

[CynicalMan]

diystompboxes.com/zencart/index.php?securityToken=&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=potentiometer

[burdt]

Tayda sell 16mm alpha for $0.40 each. http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront

Hah, I was about to suggest futurlec but Tayda is a good 10-15 cents cheaper... how's the shipping and handling like with them? They seem to be the same alpha pots that futurlec sells. Makes sense, both stores are based in Thailand.

What else have you bought from them?

[studiostud]

the only downside of the tayda pots is that they don't seem to carry any with solder lugs.  IMO, solder lugs are worth the extra $0.60. 

[darron]

wow. even at trade rate they are $1.40 in aust! i would definitely buy a batch from tayda.... except that they don't have imperial "D" shafts... also i need some in rev. log... sorry to derail, but any suggestions on that?

[BigBubbaman]

thinking about going with the ones from smallbear they look like a quality pot. i seen the ones on futurlec but not sure about them. anyone used the ones from tayda very much?  building small perf boards for the pots would't be a problem. anyways thanks for helping a noob

[frequencycentral]

Tayda sell 16mm alpha for $0.40 each. http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront

Hah, I was about to suggest futurlec but Tayda is a good 10-15 cents cheaper... how's the shipping and handling like with them? They seem to be the same alpha pots that futurlec sells. Makes sense, both stores are based in Thailand.

What else have you bought from them?

I've bought ne555, ne5532, tl084, pt2399, ic sockets, mosfets, plenty more. Shipping is about 2 weeks to the UK, and it's cheap. They seem to be carrying more stock now than last year, so maybe someone should suggest to them that they stock some other stuff we'd buy, such as rev log. The last batch of alphas I got from them included handy plastic covers on the backs of the pots.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

the only downside of the tayda pots is that they don't seem to carry any with solder lugs.  IMO, solder lugs are worth the extra $0.60. 

30p of stripboard will make you 'lugs' for 8 pots. Alternatively, start to think about using on board pots wherever you can- beats floaty circuitboards!

[Bad Chizzle]

I Like the Tayda pots, the plastic backing IS nice, and the pots are nice n small. I also find the shafts to be ok. Solder lugs would be nice, but for the price I can find a way to work with them one way or another.

[jolly1423]

i built a dr boogie into a BB size with 16mm alphas... so now you know it can work (:


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I love that indicator! Where do you get something like that?

[darron]

i built a dr boogie into a BB size with 16mm alphas... so now you know it can work (:


:

I love that indicator! Where do you get something like that?

they are pretty cool (:
http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=Z0230

[jolly1423]

Thanks! That's not to bad on the price either, I wouldn't have been surprised if they were more.