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I haven’t been building pedals for a few years, but I bought a few new boards recently and wanted to build a couple of new ones. I used to use Mammoth Electronics who has been out of business for a few years. I also used to use Small Bear, but they seem to be getting acquired by another company called SynthCube and nothing seems to be available for online sales.
What are some other suggestions besides Mouser? I buy some parts from them but frankly it’s exhausting to try and search through their massive inventory and bulk ordering.
Who do you use?
Russ B. – Barry has some parts here at GuitaPCB. There is also Tayda – but I do NOT trust their active components (BJTs, FETs, or any chips). Tayda branded pots are sub-par IMO too. I only order Alpha pots from Tayda when I order pots from there. StompBoxParts is another good US source. And there’s always the risks encountered with eBay and Amazon. Just check the seller’s rating on any given product when using those two sources. Mouser and Digi-Key are also excellent sources, although they are a bit more expensive and cumbersome to scroll thru their respective menu systems. Good luck!
Oh, and SmallBear will eventually be back on-line once SynthCube has completed their acquisition of SmallBear. Some parts will be discontinued at SmallBear, so read the fine print for each and any part from there when they come back.
Besides what I carry in my SHOP
Mouser, Tubes & More and Digikey.
I have been using <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Guitar Pedal Parts</span> and <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Amplified Parts</span> for a while now, even before I got into pedal building.
Since they seem to focus on stuff that relates more to the guitar/audio market, I don’t have to wade thru a pile of extraneous (to my needs) parts.
I recently found Amplified Parts looking for some non-pedal related components and was surprised with their selection of pedal parts. I have not ordered anything from the yet. I was also surprised I had not stumbled onto them before.
I will be interested with how the SynthCube deal works out and when they get the inventory online. My only complaint with Smallbear was their shipping costs…the quality and selection was great.
Pedalhacker has an interesting selection if you are looking for some NOS parts and it is pretty easy to hit the $100 mark to get the 20% discount and free shipping.
I have had good luck with Tayda for specific things. I try to be careful and look at the manufacturer listed. They surprised me when I ordered some strange value alpha pots as a part of a larger order. They shipped me straight PCB instead of solder lug. I didn’t bother to try to return $5 worth of pots and figured I could make them work. About a week later they realized the error…I guess another customer let them know and they checked their stock and it was mislabeled. I got an email alerting me of the error and they sent me the pots free of charge. I also can’t figure out how they can ship my orders for <$10 and get them to me in 3 days from Thailand.
Stompboxparts, mentioned above, seems to have started with old Mammoth stock and are associated / owned by Cusack Music. I have been happy with the limited amount of stuff I have ordered from them.
Of course I have found I can trust anything that I order from Barry and have always been happy with my purchases.
I generally follow the rule that if Barry or Love My Switches carry it then I buy from them and if they don’t then I search it out at the places mentioned above. I wish I was smart enough to use Mouser or Digikey but the navigation on their site and the sheer amount of options always discourages me. I was just trying to organize my workspace and got to look at the selection of weird pots that I managed to order thinking that I was getting the right thing!
I use GuitarPCB for a lot of my needs and you get what you ask for without any problems. I used Small Bear in the past, but will wait until things settle there (I purchase many Ge transistors there when I found out the owner was retiring so I am good in that respect). I already have resistor and capacitor kits I purchased a couple of years ago. If I need much else, I have recently had good luck with Tayda. Have not had to use Mouser, but I know that is a good source as well.
I have used Amplified Parts as well, but mostly for kits (ModKitsDIY), which are point to point wiring. I have built both multiple pedals and an amplifier.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to exclude Barry. I do buy boards from him and have bought plenty of parts from him in the past like wire, chips, LED’s, etc. but his stock is limited. I meant stuff that he doesn’t carry. I’m pleased with StompBoxParts.com so far. I’ve been able to get almost everything except for a couple pots I had to get from Mouser. Thank you all for your help.
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