parts suppliers....

[CodeMonk]

Smallbear for the majority of my stuff.
Digikey for some enclosures.
Mouser for some of the oddball stuff.
Tayda now and then.

Now the bad, just one...
Futurelec
While they have a lot of stock, shipping time is unacceptable.
When I order from any of the above, I get it in 3 - 4 days, sometimes less.
Futurlec takes like 6 weeks.

[nosamiam]

I'll second that complaint about Futurlec. Not fast at all. Six weeks was about right. And their toggles were super cheap feeling. But they were the only place I could find the BC549s I needed. I've had only good experiences with the usual suspects: Smallbear, Mouser, Digikey. Haven't used Tayda before but I definitely will start.

In the past, I've used Mammoth a LOT and it's been mostly good. They slip up on little stuff every once in a while and lots of times things appear to be available on their site but they end up being backordered when I get my shipment. This is a pain sometimes because perhaps I would have chosen another supplier for my whole order. It seems counter-intuitive that they would prefer that I go somewhere else with my order, but if they were upfront about it they would keep my business in general. As it is now, I only use them when I can't get something somewhere else.

Only other complaint is only half a complaint. Pedalpartsplus. I used them for some custom screened enclosures. It took foreeeeever! And when I emailed to inquire about them, they weren't very nice to me. However, when I got them they were gorgeous! Next time around I used Mammoth and it was quicker. But the quality of the powdercoat wasn't nearly as nice. PPP's were silky smooth and flawless. Mammoth's had considerable "orange peel."

With ordering, it seems like you have to decide what is most important to you for a particular situation and go with who meets those requirements best: selection, timeliness, accuracy, customer service?

[duck_arse]

I've had an order from futurlec as well. happy w/ the stuff, but took ages. but, I'd go back to them for pots, because they have 14mm long shaft types, and a more consistent range of pots generally than tayda.

all the IC's I got from futurlec were proper branded, as well.

[Cozybuilder]

I've used Futurlec for 3 orders, each was held up by them waiting for restock for just 1 or 2 items. The quality was good, no issues with fake parts. I will use them again for stock-up orders that aren't needed immediately.

[karbomusic]

Smallbear and Mouser here. I did do one single large order with Tadya when I wanted "every film cap value ever made" LOL. Since any of my parts could end up under some pro musician's toes in the heat of the moment, I take as few chances with quality as possible. It may take months or longer for something a little substandard to rear it's ugly head. Inevitably it happens anyway but as I said, any reduction in the odds I can achieve, I typically take.

[duck_arse]

and how were those tayda caps, karbo?