Just In New Polyester Film Caps

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Got an email today from the Mammoth Electronics newsletter about a few new products, one of them being to my delight!  Vikiin Polyester Film Box Caps! They are very reasonably priced and look just like Topmay/Wima quality. I'm getting tired of waiting for Futurlec to ship my order out, so I'm kinda feeling going with these. I'm sure I'll get them first too. Thinking this could be a very crucial group buy also if enough people are interested. Mammoth cuts some serious deals on their other products.
What do you guys think? Anyone tried this brand before?

Here's the link:
http://www.mammothelectronics.com/Vikiin-Polyester-Film-Box-Capacitors-p/300b-mmk5.htm

[jkokura]

Interesting. I got the email too, and planned on checking it out.

They look just like the Topmays available from Smallbear, but they're all 5 cents cheaper. Obvious undercutting is the theme at Mammoth I find, which is a somewhat successful business strategy. I appreciate that they have a few new products Smallbear does have, but it's frustrating to watch them slowly try and replace smallbear's products with very similar products that are a bit cheaper. I'd rather see them try and fill gaps rather than steal business. They've done the same to PPP with enclosures, except they don't seem to quite have the broad range of colour options, and they're also missing some important enclosure sizes like the 1790NS series.

Another thing I noticed is that they don't have bulk pricing, so I'll not really buy those caps because I can get a bag of whatever box cap value I want from SB or Mouser.

Jacob

[k.rock!]

Thanks for posting this Magic! I got the email today as well and I was thinking of posting it but thank you for beating me to it!

I love Mammoth. They are fantastic people. I've made my last orders from them and they have excellent customer service. Blake from sales is great. I definitely recommend this store to everybody.

-Kaleb

[gtr2]

I got an email too...I've never heard of that brand and places like mouser or digikey do not carry that brand.  In fact no one but mammoth does if you google it.  I imagine a bigger supplier is making them and marketing them under a different name.  They look exactly like topmay caps...   This happens in my industry all the time with chemicals.

"Personal rant alert..feel free to bypass..."

While having more places to buy parts from is great, I'm not a big supporter of their "walmart" business strategy.  Undercut the little guy's by selling lower quality items at lower prices...  I never buy things like microwaves, tv's, dvd players from walmart because the manufacturer's make a specific line of products for walmart with lower quality parts so they can offer lower prices.  The mom and pop stores are gone and we've become a throw away generation.

The reason I would buy from mammoth is if I need an enclosure fast, because they have all their painted enclosures in stock.  That's probably why they have a narrow selection of color choices.

But I choose not to buy from them.  I have previously, but I don't mind paying a little more to support certain suppliers that carry other items that are hard to acquire elsewhere.

josh

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Another thing I noticed is that they don't have bulk pricing, so I'll not really buy those caps because I can get a bag of whatever box cap value I want from SB or Mouser.

I emailed them and they do have bulk pricing. It's as follows:
50-99pcs. : 15% off
100-499pcs : 30% off
500+ : 40% off
but they do not mix and match any caps which is a bummer.

I love Mammoth. They are fantastic people. I've made my last orders from them and they have excellent customer service. Blake from sales is great. I definitely recommend this store to everybody.

I have ordered from them and it was fast and hassle free. They also do respond very quickly as I alreadly got a response to my question asked last night. I got my package very quickly as well might i add.

I got an email too...I've never heard of that brand and places like mouser or digikey do not carry that brand.  In fact no one but mammoth does if you google it.  I imagine a bigger supplier is making them and marketing them under a different name.  They look exactly like topmay caps...   This happens in my industry all the time with chemicals.

Yes im wondering the same. I'm gonna ask about them and see what info i can uncover. 

Now the moral issue is a whole nother deal. I understand where you guys are coming from with that and I'm kinda neutral on the whole situation as I haven't found my "home" store yet. They are undermining companies that have existed for awhile with products that appear to be cheaper quality and in return cheaper pricing. And it's funny you mention walmart cause they do "sorta" have that feel compared to more DIY parts stores. I don't feel like it's necessarily another PPP because they drill and paint enclosures. They are starting to release kits with Guitarpcb.com which is really cool. The kits are all under $70 bucks which is also awesome.
I should look into Smallbear again. I don't remember seeing pricing discounts. But I do remember seeing every damn part in stock needed to build a pedal!!

[gtr2]

I like mammoth's website.  It is really a user friendly site and you can pick out the parts faster with their interface for caps, pots, etc..

Mammoth has always been quick to fix any mistakes in orders, but I just don't care for their ethics or some of the parts quality.  That's my personal opinion and in no way do I intend to steer others away from there.

Smallbear could certainly use some help in the website area.  It's hardly user friendly and the search box is hit or miss depending on how he listed the component.

PPP is in between.  They could use some help in ordering the painted enclosures.  When ordering more than one or two it can be time consuming going back and forth between areas on the site.

FWIW I do still shop occasionally at walmart.  Sometimes you don't have a choice.  I imagine at some point I'll place an order at Mammoth but it's last on my list of places to support...

josh

[jkokura]

Oh yes, I agree. I have to shop at Walmart too. It becomes a trade off between how far I want to drive. For instance, if I need groceries, diapers, some vitamins, some more socks, some clothes and shoes for my daughter, some more sandpaper for my enclosures, and maybe want to look at a cheap movie or two along with new discs for my video recorder, where else can you go to get all of that? It's usually cheaper there too! You get what you pay for sometimes, because those socks wear out fairly quickly, but I don't have to drive to the hardware, electronics, clothing, grocery and pharmacy stores which may be all spread out over the area I live in, not to mention the additional time spent traveling and in check out. I understand the draw of Walmart, and I understand the concept of making cheap things to undercut the other guy. It's a business strategy, obviously one that's working, but I don't have to like it even though I take advantage of it.

For the record, I agree, Mammoth's service seems to be very good. Their website is much more user friendly, and I appreciate greatly the way they've filled in some gaps in product. For instance, I used to always have to place 2 or 3 orders - one from Smallbear, one from PPP, and maybe one from Mouser or some other place. Now I can get away with some times only placing 1 or 2 orders, which cuts down on my shipping. It's the same idea as walmart, why shop at a half dozen places when you can get arguably the same products from one place.

What I'd like to see Mammoth do is instead of simply undercutting other pedal supply companies and trying to replace them, I'd like to see them fill in more of the gaps of product available. I think the guitarPCB kits and some of their IC selection does a good job of this. Their switch selection certainly seem to be very good also. I look forward to seeing where this takes us as far as what kinds of products we can have access to.

You guys also need to know that maybe 10 years ago, it was ridiculously difficult to find a 3PDT swtich. The only places that had them had them available for 15+ dollars. Now we can get them in a group buy for less than 3 bucks a piece. Product availability for guys like us has come a very, very long way, and we need to recognize that Smallbear had a lot to do with that. Steve over there has really done a great job of making things possible and we should recognize that. I'm sure the Mammoth guys wouldn't even exist or have a base of clients if it weren't for Steve. The bear's website could be improved for sure, but I think he spends his money on more variety of stock rather than a new website. I can live with that.

Jacob

[gtr2]

It's funny you say about parts sourcing 10 years ago...

I got the Craig Anderson's Do-It-Yourself Projects for Guitarists around then.  I only completed one project because I couldn't easily find parts.  I forget which one I put together but I remember using a toggle switch to turn it on and off.  Needless to say I pretty much stayed away from DIY until about a year and a half ago.  I couldn't believe how easy it was to get cool enclosures and switches!

josh

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

Yea i too attempted to read the craig andertons book. I have a notebook with a lot of notes(mostly which i know off the bat now) and I had trouble following the parts sourcing and getting to building one of projects.
10 years ago it was a crazy game building pedals. Actually one of the guys i take to fix my amps claims he started the boutique pedal industry and curses about most of the big pedal guys and other amp techs in this area for that matter. I've done a little research and I believe he may not be "the" first but definitely influential none the less. He makes PTP vox tonebenders, fuzz faces, rangemaster clone and just basically that. His rangemaster has been used by tony iommi and brain may. My friend bought a tonebender for $350 and its a pretty sweet box. He said $200 in just the transistors which would be some sort of NOS germ's of course!!

Here's the short bio I found on him. I've been to his house so many times and didn't know this about him. geez
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/gammatronics