Introduction and BOM/ parts list question

[mightlife]

Hello there DIYers,
I'm a Londoner living in Barcelona. Mainly interested in making moody, synth-based music (as well as other things) and have always been attracted by modding and bodging stuff - built a streetfighter from a GSXR 750WN and currently helping out to built part of the Festas de Gracia here in BCN. There's a great sense of satisfaction in DIY, not to mention the pride of shunned the factory produced, mass-market product that 'the next person' has.

I am interested in building an Echo Base pedal to assist my synth musings. In fact, it would be cool to have two projects in the same enclosure 'two in one' style, if that was possible.
I've been stalking this forum for a while and reading up on the giant threads related to the pedal, and finally found the Mouser site for Spain (their distribution point is actually about 5km from where I live), however, each of the components on the BOM for the pedal returns pages and pages of results on their site and I'm not sure which component is correct as I haven't ever tried a build this complex. The part number is never as simple as the one on the BOM.

For example, I'm looking for a '20K resistor' which returns 6,916 Matches, or a '4066 quad bilateral switch' and 82 results are returned. Forgive my ignorance, but how am I supposed to know which one(s) are suitable when they seem to differ in so many ways (resistance, Max. operating temperature, supply voltage etc)?
I've also tried uploading the supplied BOM for the pedal with Mouser's BOM tool, but almost all the components are either unrecognised, obsolete or return too many results to be accurate (which returns me to a previous step).


The chances are that I'm missing some kind of newbies electronics guide - if anyone can recommend one online, please do!

I can solder things and am not put off by the build itself (I relish it), rather it's the ordering of (the right) parts that I find difficult.
If anyone can help with advice on how to go about getting the project parts together, I'd appreciate it greatly.

Gracies and may all your parts be forever in stock!

[EBK]

I'll get you started anyway:

For resistors, pick metal film, 1% tolerance, 1/4 watt, and go with the cheapest result.

For caps under 1uF, pick film caps, 5mm lead spacing, 5% tolerance, and all DC ratings at least 1.5 times your working voltage, through hole mount.  Then, sort by price and pick the cheapest, noting the width and height dimensions so you don't accidentally order something rediculous-looking.   

If your value is in pF and a film cap is unavailable, go with a ceramic, NP0 or C0G (I think I got that right, anyway...)

[mightlife]

I'll get you started anyway:

For resistors, pick metal film, 1% tolerance, 1/4 watt, and go with the cheapest result.

For caps under 1uF, pick film caps, 5mm lead spacing, 5% tolerance, and all DC ratings at least 1.5 times your working voltage, through hole mount.  Then, sort by price and pick the cheapest, noting the width and height dimensions so you don't accidentally order something rediculous-looking.   

If your value is in pF and a film cap is unavailable, go with a ceramic, NP0 or C0G (I think I got that right, anyway...)

Thanks very much EBK!

A guy called Jakob (who I believe is also on here) did a series of build videos for the pedal a while back (thanks mate) which give me some idea of what the parts look like, but as far as ridiculous-looking is concerned, I'll admit complete noobishness hehe!

I'll get to filling out my project list, thanks for your help

[EBK]

Good luck!  Come back and ask more questions whenever you get stuck.

By the way, with ICs, the differences are mainly in package style and temperature specs.  You're almost always safe picking the cheapest DIP/PDIP/CDIP available. 

With all components, pay attention to whether they are surface mount or through hole.  Always pick the through hole ones.

[PRR]

My advice: electronics has gone WAY WAY beyond the 1970s, where most pedal designs originated. They now sell parts I don't know what they do. They sell parts I do know what they do, but why do they make them TEENY and legless?

Shop at a Pedal Supply place. In North America, Small Bear Electronics is well regarded. I dunno your side of the pond. Steve doesn't fool with parts that don't make sense for pedal construction. Gotta be similar suppliers in Europe. Also a look at Steve's parts will give a good clue what shape/size is "normal for us".

Guitar Amp suppliers are another choice, but they lean to larger parts (more Watts and much more Volts) than a pedal needs.

[EBK]

Wherever you order from, be prepared to suddenly have more tiny zipseal bags than a back-alley pharmacist. 

[mightlife]

My advice: electronics has gone WAY WAY beyond the 1970s, where most pedal designs originated. They now sell parts I don't know what they do. They sell parts I do know what they do, but why do they make them TEENY and legless?

Shop at a Pedal Supply place. In North America, Small Bear Electronics is well regarded. I dunno your side of the pond. Steve doesn't fool with parts that don't make sense for pedal construction. Gotta be similar suppliers in Europe. Also a look at Steve's parts will give a good clue what shape/size is "normal for us".

Guitar Amp suppliers are another choice, but they lean to larger parts (more Watts and much more Volts) than a pedal needs.

Thanks PRR, that's a good idea. I guess over time I'll get used to the kind of components and their names. I'll check it out.

[smallbearelec]

Thank you for jerking my chain to get a parts list done for this pedal. Here is a link to my Library:

http://diy.smallbearelec.com/Library/Library.html

Click on Parts Lists on you'll find the Echo Base spreadsheet in there. I hope it's helpful. Notes:

From the MusicPCB docs, it looks to me like the PCB is intended to be supported on the pins of board-mounted pots, so I have specified that style. Also, I Think it will fit in a "BB"-size enclosure. If that's not large enough, the 1790 size would be more than large enough.

For  shopping, I don't mind recommending Banzai or Musikding to European customers, as they retail some of my made-to-order items.

Happy Construction!
SD

[ElectricDruid]

Here's a few places I know of in Spain for synths and effects DIY:

http://www.retroamplis.com
https://www.befaco.org
https://puzzlesounds.com

I *think* Puzzlesounds are in Spain. There are less mistakes in the Spanish version of the website than the English, anyway!

BanzaiMusic and DasMusikding in Germany are both good sites in Europe too though:

https://www.banzaimusic.com
https://www.musikding.de

These places have a more limited selection of parts which makes life much simpler, and it's aimed at the sort of stuff we're doing, which helps too.

Tom


HTH,
Tom

[mightlife]

Thank you for jerking my chain to get a parts list done for this pedal. Here is a link to my Library:

http://diy.smallbearelec.com/Library/Library.html

Click on Parts Lists on you'll find the Echo Base spreadsheet in there. I hope it's helpful.
Happy Construction!
SD

Thanks SmallBear and Tom!

It looks like RetroAmplis is the one. And the fact that they are more focussed is indeed helpful!
I have spent hours going through the Mouser site trying to add to a project. The site is great and has lots of features, but wow, is it complex!

I'm going to have another go.

Smallbear - in the Excel sheet you provide, for the 37 resistors it says 'see list', I assume that means the BOM from MusicPCB, right?

Regarding the on board pots - I'm thinking of putting it in a weird enclosure, an old games console or something. I'm also thinking of combining it with another sound mangling PCB effect into a super-sonic mashing twisty box of tricks. But questions about my plans are for the future.

Cheers!

[smallbearelec]

I have spent hours going through the Mouser site trying to add to a project.

Maybe you have already realized: As broad-line, industrial distributors, Mouser, Digikey et al, by definition cater to engineers who need to be able to pick from millions of parts to design with. FX pedals require only a small fraction of that universe, and some of the bits we use are either specialty parts (like the PT2399), or obsolete, like germanium transistors and diodes. I and my European competitors make our livings in the niches that are too small interest the "elephants".

Smallbear - in the Excel sheet you provide, for the 37 resistors it says 'see list', I assume that means the BOM from MusicPCB, right?

There is a list of resistor values and quantities in there on the right, which I took from the MusicPCB doc.

Regarding the on board pots - I'm thinking of putting it in a weird enclosure, an old games console or something.

For reference so that you know what they look like, regular solder term pots are my SKU 1005A.

[mightlife]

I have spent hours going through the Mouser site trying to add to a project.

Maybe you have already realized: As broad-line, industrial distributors, Mouser, Digikey et al, by definition cater to engineers who need to be able to pick from millions of parts to design with. FX pedals require only a small fraction of that universe, and some of the bits we use are either specialty parts (like the PT2399), or obsolete, like germanium transistors and diodes. I and my European competitors make our livings in the niches that are too small interest the "elephants".

Smallbear - in the Excel sheet you provide, for the 37 resistors it says 'see list', I assume that means the BOM from MusicPCB, right?

There is a list of resistor values and quantities in there on the right, which I took from the MusicPCB doc.

Regarding the on board pots - I'm thinking of putting it in a weird enclosure, an old games console or something.

For reference so that you know what they look like, regular solder term pots are my SKU 1005A.

Thanks for the continued support, very good of you.

I've decided to go for a kit (Fuzzdog Gristleizer) for the first time - this will ensure I receive all the correct components and and concern myself with the enclosure, knobs and, of course the build.
It should also help to get me more familiar with the whole DIY electronics thing.

Don't know why I didn't think of that sooner 

[PRR]

> why I didn't think of that

"It is cheating!"

But after decades of building electronics, when PCs came in and I wanted one, I thought about buying parts and decided to go with a "kit". I knew half of what I needed, and knew I did not yet know ALL that I needed.

After mailing my check (no online ordering those days) I woke up one night and wondered "is the power cord included??" (They were not the common item that they later became, when I was building bitsa PCs and throwing boxes of excess power cords in the hall for anybody to take.)

It was, the kit went together no-fuss and booted right up (after a friend liberated a AT&T DOS boot diskette from work for me). Once I had been through the process I basically only went "kits" when they were cheaper than separate parts (which may often be the case).