Question for the group

[Baktown]

Greetings all,

Now that I've decided to get serious about building pedals, I've come to the conclusion that I need to stock up on basic components.

Until now, my only source for parts has been Radio Shack, so my questions are:

1.  Who is a good source (online) for commonly used components?

2.  What componenets should I stock up on?  I realize I won't be able to keep 100 of everything, but what are the basic things every pedal builder should have?

I realize this is a very open ended question, but I appreciate all the feedback.

Rock on!

Axl Bundy

[theundeadelvis]

http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html Steve's a great guy and really caters the DIY community.
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/ Where I get all my enclosures and 3PDTs
http://www.mouser.com/
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/
http://www.futurlec.com/ Great for cheap pots, resistors, and caps. Just don't order from them when you're in a hurry.

Last but definitely not least, don't forget http://www.diystompboxes.com/cart/   

It will feel like no matter how many parts you accumulate you will be missing something for every build. The things to always have on hand that are universal to every build are 1/4" jacks (mono and stereo), stomp switches (can never have too many of these), DC jacks, battery connectors, LEDs, and pots. Remember pots can alway be paralled with a resistor to change the value (to a smaller). So, you could stock up on 50k and when you need a 25k you can modify the 50k with a resistor to get this value. When in doubt buy bigger values that you can drop down to lower values when needed. I also highly recommend plenty of the pre-bond white wire from Small Bear.

[Baktown]

Thanks for the leads!

What about transistors?  What are some commonly used types I should stock up on?

Axl

[The Tone God]

The Wiki is your friend.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/index.php?title=StockingYourBench

Andrew

[Baktown]

Very cool!

Thanks!

Axl

[petemoore]

What about transistors?  What are some commonly used types I should stock up on?
 2n5088, when in doubt use these, build a BMP, LPB, etc.
 they won't work for certain circuits though, if you need low gain [like 2n2222 or 2n4401], or PNP for example.
 Then all of them, Mosfets, Jfets, Ge's, Si's, darlingtons, PNP's...if you buy them like this [and you build like me], you'll buy more before you never find uses for every one of them.
 

[Baktown]

What about IC's?  I see quite a range of stuff on schematics.

[soulsonic]

A good all-round opamp is the TL071; the dual is the TL072, and the quad version is the TL074. Alot of tubescreamer type circuits might use a 4558 dual, but lots of different things can be tried here. The "classic" single opamp that alot of older circuits use is the 741. Alot of people seem to be diggin' the LF353. The CD4049 is a logic buffer chip, but it's used in alot of distortion circuits like the venerable "Tube Sound Fuzz" because of it's tube-like overdrive - another version is the CD4069.

I say, get a handful of the various TL07x ones and you can build pretty much whatever.

[Baktown]

Good info!  Thanks!

Are a lot of these op amps interchangeable?  I would guess is depends on the pinout configuration, huh?

Axl

[Seljer]

Good info!  Thanks!

Are a lot of these op amps interchangeable?  I would guess is depends on the pinout configuration, huh?

Axl

yes

you should be able to get away with using <insert X dual opamp here> instead of <insert Y dual opamp here>
eg: you can interchange a 4558 and a 072 or 062 or 082 or 5532 or prettymuch any other dual opamp chips without too much trouble