Hey Everyone!
New guy here. I've been obsessed with guitar pedals for a while and decided to get into the building side of things. So, I successfully built a digital reverb kit and it furthermore sparked my interest in the hobby. I thought I would continue to build kits to dip my toes in for practice. The only caveat is that I will not be collecting components and materials to use in future builds (since kits only come with the parts needed for the build) and doesn't teach me much about the circuit or WHY things are placed where they are. I have little to no electrical engineering expertise and would like to learn more on that as well.
What would be the best method for acquiring a collection of components and parts? Are there a core list of essential parts that are used across most pedal builds? I know the obvious (jacks, switches, wires, cases, etc.), but not so much about transistors, caps, pots, etc.. Where is the best place to order parts in the US? Sadly, my Radio Shack is closed and there aren't any electronics shops near me, and ordering everything I see just doesn't seem feasible at the moment.
Any help for a newbie would be greatly appreciated! I'm very excited about this hobby and just want to build, build, build :)
Tayda
Welcome to the forum :)
Tayda is definitely an excellent place for cheap, general use stuff, and I get most of my passives (resistors & caps) and op-amps there. If you need parts where quality matters more (BBD's, PT2399, etc) or harder to find parts, I would recommend Small Bear Electronics. The owner is an active member of this forum and he carries high-quality stuff and has been providing excellent service for years now.
Firstly, welcome :)
Secondly, tayda
Thirdly, little assortment boxes of caps, resistors etc are available for peanuts on eBay. Always useful
Welcome.
It can depend on where in the world you are on how hard some things are to get or be worthwhile.
Second Tayda too.
As Bunny says resistor and cap assortment kits are available on eBay.
In fact that's what I did. Looked at loads of small distortions worked out a rough range of resistance common to stompers, same with caps.
1k-1M a few lower values will come in handy too depending on the type of thing you have your eye on. Usually 1/4 watt
Ceramic caps 1nf-100nf is a good starting point.
Wasn't there a thread on this very thing?
Might be worth a forum search mate.
Good luck welcome to a new breed of build list. I've forgotten more than I remember.
Quote from: vigilante397 on January 16, 2020, 03:17:06 PM
Welcome to the forum :)
Tayda is definitely an excellent place for cheap, general use stuff, and I get most of my passives (resistors & caps) and op-amps there. If you need parts where quality matters more (BBD's, PT2399, etc) or harder to find parts, I would recommend Small Bear Electronics. The owner is an active member of this forum and he carries high-quality stuff and has been providing excellent service for years now.
Just placed an order on Tayda for some general use stuff like you mentioned - so great recommendation there! I'll keep the other in mind as well. Thank you so much!
Quote from: stallik on January 16, 2020, 03:19:49 PM
Firstly, welcome :)
Secondly, tayda
Thirdly, little assortment boxes of caps, resistors etc are available for peanuts on eBay. Always useful
Thanks! I'll keep my eye on eBay.
Quote from: Kipper4 on January 16, 2020, 03:56:58 PM
Welcome.
It can depend on where in the world you are on how hard some things are to get or be worthwhile.
Second Tayda too.
As Bunny says resistor and cap assortment kits are available on eBay.
In fact that's what I did. Looked at loads of small distortions worked out a rough range of resistance common to stompers, same with caps.
1k-1M a few lower values will come in handy too depending on the type of thing you have your eye on. Usually 1/4 watt
Ceramic caps 1nf-100nf is a good starting point.
Wasn't there a thread on this very thing?
Might be worth a forum search mate.
Good luck welcome to a new breed of build list. I've forgotten more than I remember.
Thanks!!
We should have told you before but tayda often run discount codes. There's a topic on this forum dedicated to it.
Buy what you need for each pedal as you go, but don't buy 2 resistors, buy 20. The more you build, the bigger your parts library will get, to the point where there will come a day that you decide to build something and you'll realize you already have all the parts you need.
That's how I got started . Every time I ordered parts to build something, I bought multiples of the cheap stuff.
Pots, Jack's, switches though. That's where they get you. And enclosures, unless you're a cheapskate like me.
Try the company Dave Cantelon started in Toronto:
https://justradios.com/
He has high-quality polyester, polypropylene, polystyrene, silver mica and ceramic capacitors (I am looking at a tub of his film caps right now) and he is known throughout the antique radio restoration crowd. (I am a member of the London Vintage Radio Club in London ON Canada, as is Dave.) He carries things that may not be available elsewhere and is well-regarded among tube amplifier restorers and audiophile restorers. He has X1, X2 and Y2 safety capacitors for use across 117 VAC power lines and electrolytic capacitors up to 500 volts. He also has resistors and he has resistor and capacitor kits that could get you well on the way to an inventory.
Quote from: amptramp on January 16, 2020, 08:25:46 PM
Try the company Dave Cantelon started in Toronto:
https://justradios.com/
He has high-quality polyester, polypropylene, polystyrene, silver mica and ceramic capacitors (I am looking at a tub of his film caps right now) and he is known throughout the antique radio restoration crowd. (I am a member of the London Vintage Radio Club in London ON Canada, as is Dave.) He carries things that may not be available elsewhere and is well-regarded among tube amplifier restorers and audiophile restorers. He has X1, X2 and Y2 safety capacitors for use across 117 VAC power lines and electrolytic capacitors up to 500 volts. He also has resistors and he has resistor and capacitor kits that could get you well on the way to an inventory.
Good dealings with Justradios as well for my high voltage tube needs, still require a minimum order?
Mouser, Digikey for loads of passives, jacks, enclosures, Small Bear for pedal unique bits and knobs.
Not at all impressed by Tayda, stopped ordering from them.
dave
Don't forget Aron's store
https://www.diystompboxes.com/zencart/
Quote from: davent on January 17, 2020, 02:12:10 PM
Not at all impressed by Tayda, stopped ordering from them.
dave
What kinds of problems have you had? I've been doing OK with them so far, curious what you ran into that didn't go so well. Maybe I've just gotten lucky? My only knock is the slowish shipping, but that's really only because these days I'm spoiled with some of the fast free shipping sellers on various platforms.
Quote from: tubegeek on January 18, 2020, 05:15:44 PM
Quote from: davent on January 17, 2020, 02:12:10 PM
Not at all impressed by Tayda, stopped ordering from them.
dave
What kinds of problems have you had? I've been doing OK with them so far, curious what you ran into that didn't go so well. Maybe I've just gotten lucky? My only knock is the slowish shipping, but that's really only because these days I'm spoiled with some of the fast free shipping sellers on various platforms.
Hello,
It's been quite a few years since i ordered from them so maybe things are different now but when i did...
Jacks, plugs & any of the Davies style knobs weren't worthy of putting into use.
Multi week shipping to get to me in Canada, Digikey can get it here in 16 hours with free shipping.
Flimsy leads on all the passives, not very useful for breadboarding, veroboard was far inferior to what i was buying elsewhere.
Like trying to do grocery shopping at the dollar store.
dave
I do my grocery shopping at the dollar store! Maybe that explains it. Yes the leads are a bit flimsy but they work.
Living near Texas and Colorado, Tayda and Mouser are my first choices for parts. Colorado seems to be one of Tayda's US bases of operations because my packages always originate from there. I receive my orders within a week from Tayda and Mouser.
It might not be the cheapest way to get started, but I like the passive parts assortments that Small Bear offers. I think it's great the way the parts come pre-organized. The parts are of decent quality and I'm willing to pay a little extra for the convenience. Small Bear service is also top notch.
Here are a few examples:
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/resistor-kit-1-metal-film-1-1-4-watt-47-ohms-1k/ (http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/resistor-kit-1-metal-film-1-1-4-watt-47-ohms-1k/)
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/assortments-6/ (http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/assortments-6/)
For electronics parts, there is
Digi-Key https://www.digikey.com/
Mouser Electronics https://www.mouser.com/
BG Micro bgmicro.com
All Electronics https://www.allelectronics.com/
Electronic Goldmine https://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/
Circuit Specialist https://www.circuitspecialists.com/electronic-parts-and-general-supplies
Jameco Electronics https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1
Hardware
W. W. Grainger https://www.grainger.com/
McMaster-Carr https://www.mcmaster.com/
You can build a lot of pedals using passive components from Tayda and using hardware and chips from Smallbear. Especially since both of them offer a fair number of pedal PCBs.
I really recommend Smallbear for pots, switches, jacks, and knobs. Those are the parts of a pedal that break first so better to get the good ones from Smallbear. Their knobs are also great. Lovemyswitches has good knobs too.
Tayda have definitely upped the quality on their passive components in the past year or so, and added a ton of new stuff including a bunch of smd. Their old resistor leads bugged me but the current ones aren't shabby at all, and the film caps seem solid. Tayda knobs are terrible, but if you don't care about aesthetics they are cheap.
Ebay is alright, but it can really throw you for a loop sometimes. At least with Tayda you can sort the good and bad stuff they sell based on user experiences posted here. But with ebay you're really rolling the dice.
We have it pretty good where I am (just west of Toronto). We have a strip mall with several electronics parts stores on Matheson Road:
Sayal carries a fair bit of stuff and although their prices are not that great, their selection is good and if I need something to complete my build, I can be there and back in half an hour. I use their patterned prototyping boards a lot because it works better than vero but avoids the nuisance factor of etching your own. Sayal expanded into space that was used by Future/Active but nobody misses those crooks.
AA Electronics is good for speakers, batteries and certain IC's that have gone extinct elsewhere. They carry a lot of sound equipment for PA systems and musicians and switches and connectors of various types.
RTL Electronics is more for completed assemblies and test equipment.
Across the street (Dixie Road) is Arrow, a place for more completed assemblies and stuff. Not that useful for DIY but if your computer mouse goes bad, they are competition for AA Electronics.
A bit northwest of these is Component Electronics which largely supplies the digital and telecom market, but I did find one switch that I couldn't find anywhere else.
But the prize of them all is A-1 Electronics in Toronto just north of Sherway mall. This started as my candy store and has evolved to become my crack house. Surplus stuff of every description and whereas Sayal carries Hammond enclosures and transformers at list price, A-1 has a discount. There are racks of components, old tubes, instruments, motors and everything that would show up in my dreams and my wife's nightmares.
Quote from: amptramp on January 21, 2020, 09:32:01 AM
Across the street (Dixie Road) is Arrow, a place for more completed assemblies and stuff. Not that useful for DIY but if your computer mouse goes bad, they are competition for AA Electronics.
You don't mean this arrow do you? I would assume not based on your opinion of them.
https://www.arrow.com/
I tried registering so I could order some parts for a project and had trouble doing so. I tried contacting them about the issue with registration and couldn't even get someone to email me. Very unprofessional and questionable business in my opinion.
I started out by de-soldering old VCR circuitboard, fire alarm and a dodgy Marantz hifi designated for spares - had a few guitar pots and switches kicking about too - There's probably tonnes of electronics equipment cast aside in skips and things if you're feeling adventurous. Don't be too proud :icon_lol:
I imagine trimmed leads might be hard to work with though if you're using perfboard and such.
(https://i.postimg.cc/dLnm8VSq/Fuzz-V0-2-web.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/dLnm8VSq)
This is a great free option for playing around with ideas then you can commit functioning designs to better new components when ready - Like others have said: buy twice (or x10!) what you need, when the time comes, plus a variation of values you might want to try. Eventually you'll accumulate a lot.
Digikey is my go-to for passives as long as I'm buying more than £33 for the free shipping - I live in the UK but their service is amazing-quick. The packaging is top class too. They're not so great for stocking 24mm log pots though.
Neutriks NYS229 & NYS230 jacks are really good if you can find them - I prefer these to switchcraft outright and they're about a fifth of the price here.
Anyone in the UK:
I recommend soundtronics.co.uk for Neutrik jacks.
thonk.co.uk is good for 25-turn trimpots, vactrols and other diy-audio related stuff (they're a diy-synth shop).
hifi-collective.co.uk is good for all sorts of audio-specific pots.
RS-Components are also great for general passives but their stock isn't as vast as Digikey's. Great if you're ordering less than £33 of stuff though!
Try to support the little guys who share the passion - A lot of the manufacturing and component supply industry is dominated by huge corporations and unrealistic MOQ's that price individuals and start-ups out of contention - it's something to be aware of else the availability might eventually disappear - like commercially available log pots seem to be doing.
As a consumer you have a lot of power in where you choose to make purchases ;)
Quote from: Bunkey on January 21, 2020, 01:32:50 PM
I started out by de-soldering old VCR circuitboard, fire alarm and a dodgy Marantz hifi designated for spares - had a few guitar pots and switches kicking about too - There's probably tonnes of electronics equipment cast aside in skips and things if you're feeling adventurous. Don't be too proud :icon_lol:
I'll second this for an additional reason. If you are starting out, desoldering parts from old, broken electronics will give you some good practice with a soldering iron and the freedom to make mistakes without mangling something you're trying to build.
Also, get yourself a decent sized breadboard so you can experiment with things you want to build without having to solder.
Quote from: bloxstompboxes on January 21, 2020, 12:19:11 PM
Quote from: amptramp on January 21, 2020, 09:32:01 AM
Across the street (Dixie Road) is Arrow, a place for more completed assemblies and stuff. Not that useful for DIY but if your computer mouse goes bad, they are competition for AA Electronics.
You don't mean this arrow do you? I would assume not based on your opinion of them.
https://www.arrow.com/
I tried registering so I could order some parts for a project and had trouble doing so. I tried contacting them about the issue with registration and couldn't even get someone to email me. Very unprofessional and questionable business in my opinion.
Sorry, I got that wrong - I went by there today and it was Angel Electronics, not Arrow. They don't really have much for DIY.
Placed a Digikey order last night at 7:35.
Package left their facility in Grand Forks ND @ 8:50pm (local?)
1:06am - Memphis TN
6:22am - Mississauga ON Canada
9:32am - FedEx facility Burlington ON
9:39am - on delivery truck
10:41am - at my door Hamilton ON, (western tip of Lake Ontario)
No separate shipping or handling fees, no brokerage fees, no special club fees, no ransom at the door to be paid... Mouser has a similar pricing, pay structure but deliveries take 10-14 days.
dave
Quote from: davent on January 31, 2020, 11:27:43 AM
Placed a Digikey order last night at 7:35.
10:41am - at my door Hamilton ON, (western tip of Lake Ontario)
I get Digikey parcels delivered here in the UK faster than our 1st class Royal Mail. It's awesome placing orders at 3am and seeing it reach East Midlands airport by 10am whilst everyone else sleeps :icon_lol: