What pots do you stock up on?

[ShOrEbReAk]

G'day all

As Tayda have a coupon going again I am looking to buy more parts. Coupon HOUSE-OF-CARDS

What are your recommended pots to stock up on? I know everyone will have their own likes/dislikes in values but fire away with your recommendations.

Thinking of IC's as well and transistors etc also.

If you have some always forgotten parts ideas throw them in too.

I  would like to compile a list for a sticky for noobs like myself if that is ok with the moderators etc

Troy

[bluebunny]

It's not really about likes or dislikes: it's about what gets used most often.  Just for fun, take a look at a random fifty pedal designs and see what pots they need.  You likely end up with a list from 1K to 1M going 1-2-5 in each decade.  Don't worry about whether the 2 is really 2.2 or 2.5, or the 5 being 4.7 - tolerances are such that they don't matter.  Anyway, grab a few of each - linear and log - and watch out for a few anti-log too (look for projects with LFOs).  You will end up using hundreds of 10K and 100K: buy more than you think you will ever need - it still won't be enough.   

As for semis, grab a huge pile of TL072s, a hundred 1N4148s (a smaller bunch of 1N4001), and big fistfuls of 2N3904 and/or 2N5088.  This will keep you going for a while.  Or at least until the next Tayda coupon comes along.   

[ShOrEbReAk]

cheers Marc

Never thought of that idea of looking at individual pedals hahahhaha.

Would a list compiled by everyone be a thing to look at? I know if it was there for me when i started it would of been a great help on buying parts. I am happy to compile it if everyone wants to give me their ideas or knowledge to use.

troy

[bluebunny]

Not sure it would be so useful.  Depends on what you're gonna build.  But of course, you're gonna build thousands of pedals, so having hundreds of everything is surely the way to go.   

Seriously, once you're a handful of pedals in, you'll start to get an idea of what you need most of.  And always buy more than you need for any individual build: you might get price breaks, you'll save on postage, and you might strike it lucky when you go to do an unplanned build and find you have everything to hand.

[duck_arse]

don't get shafted with pot buying. make sure the pots you order will match your preferred knobbage. the knobs for splined shafts won't go on the round/flatted shafts (and the plain knobs nose-over when put on splined shatfs). and the lugs, some will be solder pins, some solder lugs, some right angled pcb pins ..... shaft length too.

[Ben Lyman]

Ya, what he said. Also check the shaft thread height, some have more threads for going through thicker material. Put it on a pedal and your knobs will not go all the way down

[Kipper4]

Ya, what he said. Also check the shaft thread height, some have more threads for going through thicker material. Put it on a pedal and your knobs will not go all the way down

Hush my mouth. No knob gags Kipper.

If your using a breadboard. I'd include some of the plastic shaft 9mm pots in your order too.

some of my stock
A1k
A2k
B5k
B & A 10k
B25k also C or W tapers for screamer tone controls
A & B 50k
A & B 100k
B200 or 250k
A & B & C 500k
A & B 1Meg

[PRR]

You got 9 likely values:
1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 50K 100K 500K 1Meg

You got 3 common tapers;
Linear, Audio, Reverse-Audio

So that's 27 pots for each hole in your case.

You often find 2, 3, 4 or more "same" pots in one project. To cover that you need to stock 108 pots.

You may have more than one project?

> don't get shafted ... your preferred knobbage

A great line.

That 100+ pots is before you get to shaft length, knurl, bushing length, bushing diameter, and pot overall size (small or teensy). Solder lugs or PCB terminals. Past the basic wire-wrap terminal the number of PCB layouts seems infinite.

If I was keeping several hackers always-busy developing new/newer projects, I'd plan to keep many hundreds of pots in stock.

For one person working in odd moments, I can't see this being a good use of a fairly large pot of cash. Pots have no resale value, your heirs won't make-back this investment. (At least my pound of lead solder will fetch 2 bucks in my estate sale.)

[Ben Lyman]

pots are 50 to 100 times more costly than resistors.
Get 4 each of B100K, B500K, B1M..
and a handful of the 9 values of resistors to lay across the pots when needed: 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 50K 100K 500K 1Meg

The taper will be all wonky but the function will be the same. When you are finished tailoring the circuit, order up the pots to build as needed.

Total cost: $7

Ya, Im a cheapskate!