Where to buy parts in the uk?

[Narcosynthesis]

right, i live in the uk, so i dont want to order from small bear and have to have stuff shipped over here, or have to bother with changing currencys to pay (and the reslting fee's i would have to pay)

so where in the uk can i get basically everything i need for some simple pedals, its mainly an enclosure and 3pdt switch i would be needing, as there is a maplins local to me where i can get some other stuff, but if i could get everything else i would need (resisters, caps, some pad per hole board, led's bezels, pots and everything else) fomr one place it would be cool

any ideas then?

David

[MartyMart]

Hi Narco,
Well "Maplins" is OK'ish if you dont mind dealing with spotty teenagers who dont have a clue what a "100k trim pot" is !!  no seriously, for pots/switches and bags of resistors/perf board etc, not too bad.
RS components have just about everything apart from 3DPDT footswitches, BUT they are NOT cheap !  so for large orders of parts/knobs etc i would recommend Steve at Small bear, he ships quickly, takes Paypal, which is so easy to set up and he even marks down the value of the order on the package so you wont get hit by customs duty !!
What more can i say ?
Marty.

[Torchy]

Suppliers I use :

3PDT Stompers - Aron.
Get some grab bags when you arder as well  :wink:

Mail Order Components
//www.esr.co.uk
http://www.bardwells.co.uk/

Eddystone (Hammond) Die Cast Boxes
http://www.canford.co.uk/ (search for Eddystone)

Hope these help ... btw ESR sell AC128s (unmatched) for £0.76 each  :twisted:

[gez]

www.rapidelectronics.co.uk

There are a few others that haven't been mentioned (will post when I get the chance).

ESR sell diecast enclosures and DPDT switches (specify latching) but they're not in the catalogue (though they advertise the boxes in EPE magazine)

[TheBigMan]

http://www.banzaieffects.com/europe/index.html are pretty good, and in Germany so no customs charges.  In the UK I use RS for bulk stuff and Maplin for assorted bits n pieces.  I tend to buy 3PDTs off eBay when I can, Andi Allan at MonkeyFX and Stuart Castledine at wah-wah.co.uk both also sell them.

[haspelman]

I can recommend www.musikding.com, good prices.

[LinuxMan]

I can recommend www.musikding.com, good prices.

Erm???

Did you say good prices? Are we looking at the same shop here? You can get
it way cheaper at SmallBear. That includes the postage too! I would buy my
enclosures (eddystone) at RS components... BTW  RS components Austria
is a bit cheaper than Germany...

Just my 5c
LM

[gez]

For hard to find chips & trannies at prices you CAN'T afford try Crickleweed

http://www.cricklewoodelectronics.co.uk/Cricklewood/customer/home.php?cat=239

Useful for repairing vintage stuff but other than that a total rip-off (with one or two clueless staff when it comes to 'substitutes')

Haven't used these but they all have bits and pieces I'm interested in:

http://www.electrovalue.co.uk/contents.html

http://www.viewcom.force9.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.bowood-electronics.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=fa49b23be30ddefb052983c0783f0333

[haspelman]

Did you say good prices? Are we looking at the same shop here? You can get it way cheaper at SmallBear. That includes the postage too!

Oh yes! Postage from USA to Germany is about 25-30US$. You can get a lot of parts for this!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Oh yes! Postage from USA to Germany is about 25-30US$. You can get a lot of parts for this!

Well, a small parts order from USA to Germany can be waaay under this,
for $30 postage you can get 40 plugpacks!!! airmailed to Australia!!!!! from the Cave! a few transistors inan envelope is gonna be well uinder that. :wink:

Seriously, US postal charges are very complex (when I was in the USA posting stuff back to Australia I kept a booklet with me so I could tell post office staff what they should be charging me.. sometimes i had to go to another office before anyone agreed, though). The most ruinously expensivbe thing, is to accidentally have something sent via FedEx, whihc also means there is a 100% certainty of customs fees.

[Kilby]

Hi,

having recently moved to London I found Cricklewood Electronics are exc ellent for transistors (the manager is also delightfully rude to akward customers but great if you know what you actually want). They also carry quite a few germanium trannys.

For general supplies farnell.co.uk are hard to beat, not the cheapest (though cheaper than RS), but 24hr free delivery makes up for the price all you need is a credit card.

So www.cricklewoodelectronics.co.uk and www.farnell.co.uk.

Rob...

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

www.rapidelectronics.co.uk
look reasonable (pricewise) for UK mailorder. Anyone use them?

[gez]

www.rapidelectronics.co.uk
look reasonable (pricewise) for UK mailorder. Anyone use them?

Yeah, I linked to them further up this thread!  

Good company, very efficient.  They phone you if they don't have something in stock you've ordered (which is rare) and delivery is usually the next day.

Sadly they no longer sell companders or those little Bourns pots (the ones on line are the last they have).

[gez]

having recently moved to London I found Cricklewood Electronics are exc ellent for transistors (the manager is also delightfully rude to akward customers but great if you know what you actually want). They also carry quite a few germanium trannys

They have a huge selection, granted, but they overcharge. Unfortunately there's not much choice if you want to walk into somewhere and come out with a rare trannie/IC/whaterver, but for run-of-the-mill stuff there are plenty of places to buy stuff much cheaper.

The manager might be ok but a couple of the shop staff are totally clueless. They often handle and sell static sensitive IC's and trannies without taking any precautions. If they recommend 'substitutes' they are often totally inappropriate. I was once sold a large batch of MOSFETs (all different codes) that turned out to be JFETs. I went back to exchange them but every single sub they recommended was a bloody JFET (I recognised the codes to some and the ones I didn't know I asked to see the data sheet) - they don't know the difference!!!

Like I said in a previous post, I'd use them for hard to find stuff or if I were repairing a vintage effect, other than that I'm not impressed.

Apologies for the rant but before I knew any better, i.e found other suppliers, I got ripped-off there on a number of occassions.

[Kilby]

Heheh,


I learnt meany years ago never listen to shop staff when they suggest equivalents, they are ALWAYS wrong.

If they don't have what you want and you don't have a fall back item, then don't listen unless they show you all the data sheets concerned.

There are exceptions to this rule but I havn't had the good fortune to come across them in the UK & Ireland.

As for price they are expensive (most shops are) but I don't have to change trains (I'm so lazy).

Rob...

[LinuxMan]

www.rapidelectronics.co.uk
look reasonable (pricewise) for UK mailorder. Anyone use them?

Whoa, that's some cheapest 16 mm Alpha pots I've seen around. The only
trouble is they have a minimum order for international customers of 200 GB
pounds.  A bit out of my league.

Cheers
LM

[StephenGiles]

For hard to find chips & trannies at prices you CAN'T afford try Crickleweed

The other bad thing about Cricklewood is the cigarette smog constantly hanging in the air. I have not been there for a couple of years, but I always found an atmosphere of "What do you want - here you are - ***k off". But that said, they do have a good over the counter stock. As you cant smell the smoke over the phone, mail order is a better bet, but don't ask any questions as they are not over friendly.
Stephen

[smallbearelec]

Sending funds:

Whether you order from my Cave or from other sources, do get a credit card. If you can't get one of your own, see if you can find a cooperative family member or friend who has one. If the card holder has a PayPal account, he/she can make a payment for you to merchants like I, who don't accept card payments directly. This is very common, and I, at least, don't mind accepting a PayPal payment from a third party. PayPal is very easy to set up and free for non-business users.

Shipping:

The cost varies from really cheap to very steep; it depends on weight/size, how fast you want your package and what level of security you want to pay for. For stuff that can fit in a "mailer", Global Priority Mail envelopes are quite good. The sevice isn't insured, but it carries a tracking number and gets to Europe in a week. For comparisons, check USPS.com and add $2.00 to their quote for my packaging and customs forms.

Regards
SD