What is the Rat Shack (Radioshack) good for parts-wise?

[Paul Marossy]

The PCBs that come in the PCB kits work fine, and as expected, if you don't mind spending $15 for the kit. I get a lot of mileage out of one, though. The copper on the blank PCBs in these kits has a different compostion than the boards they sell seperately. Maybe those boards are meant for something else than ferric chloride?

[Hal]

steve's perboard sounds better.  You get a creamier, vintage style tone jk.

I also picked up a trimpot there that wasn't too bad of a deal :-D.  not very even, but i can deal with that....


and that PCB kit is the biggest ripoff ever!!!!

[elberto]

Erik Miller has likely cleaned out the local Radio Shack of whatever things I might actually buy there.  

I sometimes wonder if he's the one that drained the Fry's in palo alto too...

[ErikMiller]

Erik Miller has likely cleaned out the local Radio Shack of whatever things I might actually buy there.  

I sometimes wonder if he's the one that drained the Fry's in palo alto too...

Y'see, though, Elberto, those places are supposed to restock after selling out of their stuff. I mean, if they sold out of it, doesn't that mean that people are buying it?

If you find the bins empty at the South Shore Radio Shack, hit the one at Marina Village and/or the one at Fruitvale (the meth dealer one!) before giving up.

Really, though, you should be checking out Mike Quinn Electronics Surplus, where I am sometimes responsible for restocking the parts bins. So you have a very stompbox-friendly person deciding where the parts should go.

[guitarhacknoise]

o.k. so besides their slogan, which is obviously b.s.! the kids can't even put the right price on stuff, it's always on the wrong rod, so you think , hey that's not tooooo expensive, then YOU match the part # and you realize the stuff is not even on the right "rack"!
been getting home to see the itemized list of parts only to reALIZE THE THE 2.89. TRANSFORMERS YOU BOUGHT WERE ACTUALLY 4.89!
:twisted: I THINK MY POCKETS MAY BE GETTIN' DEEPER!...J/K!

[guitarhacknoise]

:shock:  YEAH, IF I'D OF FIGURED THAT OUT BEFORE HAND!
A SHARPIE, A SCRUBIE, ACID AND CRAPPY COPPER CLAD BOARD!
15-20 BUCKS!
ONE EVERY MINUTE!
AND ME EVERY OTHER!

[jimbob]

Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 9:18 am    Post subject:    

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The only advantage I see to buying parts at Radio Shack is not having to wait for something. A lot of the stuff they have is low quality and way overpriced. The female stereo jacks they sell are annoying because the lugs move and connect together when you tighten them down. I find the service to be lousey in my area, all they seem to want to do is sell me a cell phone.

I agree with that exactly! Play it safe and go Smallbearele or Mouser. Ive learned the hard wat too mant time and tired/fed up. I mean seriously, be patient order out. Let Radioshack have there cell phones ect..Such lousy service! May they burn in chapter 11 hell with Montgomery Wards and soon- Kmart!! hehehe

[Lonestarjohnny]

A Telephone ?  :lol:  :lol:
JD

[elberto]

Really, though, you should be checking out Mike Quinn Electronics Surplus, where I am sometimes responsible for restocking the parts bins. So you have a very stompbox-friendly person deciding where the parts should go.
_________________
Erik Miller

hey erik, does MQE carry any amp-able parts? (trannies, tubes, sockets?)  For better or worse I've been bitten by the amp bug--bitten bad!

[ErikMiller]

Really, though, you should be checking out Mike Quinn Electronics Surplus....Erik Miller

hey erik, does MQE carry any amp-able parts? (trannies, tubes, sockets?)  For better or worse I've been bitten by the amp bug--bitten bad!

Heck yeah they do.

Yesterday I took my FireFly in there to show Jay (and ran into Ian87 buying up for his KROKs), as I sometimes do to give him an idea of what I'm using my Mike Quinn parts for. I got my power transformers, chassis, terminal strips, big electrolytics, input and output jacks, and output tube (12AU7) from there.

I also got my transconductance tube tester from them, my VTVM, my oscilloscope, and other test equipment.

As far as tubes go, they have boxes and boxes of loose random tubes, but you have to be creative and persistent to get anything useful out of them. I love to dig like that, so I've pulled out every commonly-used guitar amp tube I could find. Your speculation about me picking Radio Shack clean of useful parts applies more to the tube boxes at Quinn's. :twisted:

Thing is, their tube inventory usually comes from repair shops/people retiring from fixing old TV's and radios, so their leftovers are pretty much missing the common amp tubes; 6*6's, 12**7's, 5*4's and the like.

But if you're willing to go with less commonly-used tubes, it's a freakin' bonanza.

And Jay is a guitar player and amp builder, and can give you suggestions as to what parts they have might work in your project.

In short: yes.

What are you thinking of building? A FireFly? AX84 project?

[elberto]

What are you thinking of building? A FireFly? AX84 project?

I'm finishing up the p1-extreme at ax84 and I can't stop tweaking it--thinking about using power tubes in parallel for a bit more power (= I need beefier power and output trannies!)

[Doug H]

Who needs cell phones?!
Why everyone on the planet just absolutely has to have one stuck to their ear at all times. Just ask the guy driving in front of you who is going too slow and not staying in his lane because he is too busy talking instead of driving.

Cell phones are handy to have, but I could never understand what the big deal is - why everybody just has to have one. I guess it's a fad and it's "in fashion", but give me a freakin' break!

When your kids get into their teens, cell phones start getting pretty handy. If nothing else, they give you some peace of mind.  With the kids older now and my wife working out of the house again, we can get pretty geographically spread out at times. The cell phones are pretty handy for that.

Other than that, I don't find them terribly useful. I'm not and never have been a "phone chatter", with the cell or the land-line. And there are too many people on the roads that shouldn't be driving anyways, let alone driving *and* handling a phone....

Doug

[elberto]

for a band on tour, a cell/mobile phone is INDISPENSIBLE

[ErikMiller]

I'm finishing up the p1-extreme at ax84 and I can't stop tweaking it--thinking about using power tubes in parallel for a bit more power (= I need beefier power and output trannies!)

Cool. I'm working on a California Dreamer Lite (no reverb) using the chassis and iron from an old Seeburg jukebox.

The handiest thing I've found as a tube tweaker is a copy of the RCA Receiving Tube Manual. Can't recommend it more. I have the RC-30 version, as a reprint from Antique Electronics Supply.

[Doug H]

I'm finishing up the p1-extreme at ax84 and I can't stop tweaking it--thinking about using power tubes in parallel for a bit more power (= I need beefier power and output trannies!)

Cool. I'm working on a California Dreamer Lite (no reverb) using the chassis and iron from an old Seeburg jukebox.

The handiest thing I've found as a tube tweaker is a copy of the RCA Receiving Tube Manual. Can't recommend it more. I have the RC-30 version, as a reprint from Antique Electronics Supply.

Another good one is the "G.E. Essential Characteristics of Tubes" book. It has a wider variety of tube types than the RCA book.

Doug