Best place to buy diodes and transistors.

[hammerheadmusicman]

As some of you know, I've been away on a gig for neatly four months now, and I'm going home soon! Due to this I have a massive backlog of stuff to build. I need to place a large order if stuff, but i don't want gone tiriubke shooting everything!

I bought 5,000 resistors, and all the 9mm pots recently from tayda, Alpha is Alpha!

But, I need to buy the rest of the stuff.

I am thinking box caps from tayda, and diodes transistors etc.. Somewhere else perhaps, I have only bought pots and knobs from smallbear., but the seem to be pretty good with device etc..

Any opinions on the best place to get this stuff at a reasonable price.

Oh yeah, I am in UK too, but I don't mind ordering from anywHere, as I'm not back for a few weeks, price is king!

[raulduke]

Farnell, Rapid and CPC are all UK based companies, have a sh*t load of stock, and are very competitive on pricing.

You will find most transistors, IC's, diodes, caps etc. on their sites.

The only stuff you will struggle to find are rarer/no longer manufactured parts (2N5457's, Ge diodes etc.)

Doctor Tweek (again UK based) will cover you for that kind of thing.

I use all of these guys and they are all great (and UK based).

[hammerheadmusicman]

Yes, I've used cpc, farnell, and rapid. I just didn't know of there was another option.

I will still get - pots, resistors, and box caps from tayda.

But the other bits from cpc or farnell probably.

Has any one had any bad experiences with voltage regulators from tayda?

[stevie1556]

Rapid, I always use Rapid.

Don't forget a new website in a week or so time called Pedal Shack. Heard their prices and quality is top notch.......

Sent from my thumbs using Tapatalk!

[croquet hoop]

Mouser is great for caps, transitors, diodes and ICs. Obviously not as cheap as Tayda, but you know what you get, and you can get most of the stuff you need from them (with free shipping if your order is big enough). They also have quality jacks (neutrik/switchcraft), toggle switches (their stomps are overpriced though) and enclosures (bare aluminum & painted, from Hammond).

[raulduke]

Thats interesting; I looked at 3PDT at Mouser and they have Alpha and Carling 3PDT's available.

http://uk.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=3PDT

The Alphas are just over £5.00, but my experience with Alpha is that they are very good quality switches. I've never encountered Alpha 3PDT foot-switches either.

[croquet hoop]

I agree. I have them in two pedals (bought, not built), and although there's obviously the big "clunk" of most 3PDT switches, the feeling is consistent and I don't have the impression that they will crap on me (unlike those from Tayda, which work, but not two of them feel the same, which I do not like). There are pros and cons, but if you want a reliable 3PDT switch, the Alpha is certainly a great choice.

[raulduke]

I agree. I have them in two pedals (bought, not built), and although there's obviously the big "clunk" of most 3PDT switches, the feeling is consistent and I don't have the impression that they will crap on me (unlike those from Tayda, which work, but not two of them feel the same, which I do not like). There are pros and cons, but if you want a reliable 3PDT switch, the Alpha is certainly a great choice.

Yep; I think I'm going to buy some to try out. The 'clunk' is pretty much unavoidable with the mechanical switches I fear.

My experience with Tayda is that they basically buy whatever is cheapest. And cheap does not usually equal quality!

[croquet hoop]

Yep; I think I'm going to buy some to try out. The 'clunk' is pretty much unavoidable with the mechanical switches I fear.

Yes, unfortunately, if you stick to commercially available 3PDT stomps. I'm currently working on a soft clicking 3PDT, but it's a shame there are so few (mechanical true bypass) alternatives to the ubiquitous big stomp. (then, there are alternatives such as the Voodoo Labs/Opto-tron bypass, or the Wicked Switch)

[RobA]

I really dislike Tayda's resistors and caps. For resistors, I get Xicon in the factory pack size of 200 from Mouser. The price is US$4 for 200. They are much better than the resistors Tayda has. I get my film caps from Avnet, which probably isn't the best option for you, but they are the Epcos brand and they are really nice for the price.

If you order transistors in the factory pack 1000 size from Mouser or Avnet, the price is great and one order will be enough for your entire life (well, maybe).

I don't know about pricing now, but when I was ordering parts in the UK, I always found Rapid to be the cheapest when they had the part I was looking for.

I found Banzai to be a good source for the weird effect specific stuff. They have some great quality switches too. They cost some money, but they are much better. I'll put cheap switches in an effect, but for my guitars I stick with better quality switches. I don't know what their stock is like anymore, but every JFET I got from Banzai was good.

Tayda is really good for pots, LED's, trimmers, cheap LDR's, and some transistors and IC's. Their JFET's are mixed, I have had some fakes in 2n5457 types but all of the 2SK117 and 2SK30 JFET's from them have been good. I've had really good results with Ge diodes from Tayda, others seem not to have had such good luck.

I really don't know about absorbing shipping costs from the US, it might be OK if you place bigger orders but these are the places I've found with the best prices for certain things:

Allied: Vactrols (much less than other's prices), Solder (again, much less and a wider variety).

Mouser: Resistors, transistors, all JRC parts 4558, JRC13700, they'e got all the Hammond box sizes in not too over the top prices, transistors, they are generally good if you order larger numbers of things.

Avnet: Transistors, any TI part (their prices are way less than others'), Epcos caps, C0G ceramic caps, micro-controllers   

[catfud]

+1 for doctor tweek,  and it sounds like you already use rapid and farnell.

[raulduke]

I really dislike Tayda's resistors and caps. For resistors, I get Xicon in the factory pack size of 200 from Mouser. The price is US$4 for 200. They are much better than the resistors Tayda has. I get my film caps from Avnet, which probably isn't the best option for you, but they are the Epcos brand and they are really nice for the price.

If you order transistors in the factory pack 1000 size from Mouser or Avnet, the price is great and one order will be enough for your entire life (well, maybe).

I don't know about pricing now, but when I was ordering parts in the UK, I always found Rapid to be the cheapest when they had the part I was looking for.

I found Banzai to be a good source for the weird effect specific stuff. They have some great quality switches too. They cost some money, but they are much better. I'll put cheap switches in an effect, but for my guitars I stick with better quality switches. I don't know what their stock is like anymore, but every JFET I got from Banzai was good.

Tayda is really good for pots, LED's, trimmers, cheap LDR's, and some transistors and IC's. Their JFET's are mixed, I have had some fakes in 2n5457 types but all of the 2SK117 and 2SK30 JFET's from them have been good. I've had really good results with Ge diodes from Tayda, others seem not to have had such good luck.

I really don't know about absorbing shipping costs from the US, it might be OK if you place bigger orders but these are the places I've found with the best prices for certain things:

Allied: Vactrols (much less than other's prices), Solder (again, much less and a wider variety).

Mouser: Resistors, transistors, all JRC parts 4558, JRC13700, they'e got all the Hammond box sizes in not too over the top prices, transistors, they are generally good if you order larger numbers of things.

Avnet: Transistors, any TI part (their prices are way less than others'), Epcos caps, C0G ceramic caps, micro-controllers

Some useful info there. Cheers dude.