WIMA caps at Tayda?

[mremic01]

Has anyone actually had a cap or a resistor work and then "fail"?

Never. At least nor for anything other than tant/electros. It's either DOA or it's my fault for soldering too long. That hasn't happened in a long time. Even Tayda's resistors, which are unbelievably chinsy, work just fine. Maybe they don't hold up to whatever voltage they're supposed to be rated for, or won't take as much soldering abuse as Xicons, but once they're in place, they'll work just as well as anything else for pedals. They have been a few boards with poorly spaced solder pads where I actually preferred them because they sat more neatly. For film caps, the grey Arcotronics they sell are just fine. Only thing I don't like about them is that sometime the leads have some oxidation. A few scrapes with a hobby knife and solder takes to them as well as to anything else. Never had one out of spec so far.

I haven't had any issues with their Chang electros either. They're always in spec and none have ever gotten leaky on me. I've probably got 20+ builds just for myself with them and they're all running fine. I usually use Nichicons if I'm planning on selling the build.

The one thing Tayda has going for it is shipping. To order anything from Mouser, I have to pay at least $4.99 for their economy option. If I just need a few caps, I can usually get them from Tayda for 1-2$ shipped.

[electrosonic]

Tayda sells scrap and fakes. One thing to use them in your own builds, but IMHO using their parts in stuff for sale would be unscrupulous.

I find this laughable. We are talking about guitar pedals here. If spending too much on parts helps your self-esteem go for it.

I am sure we have all heard stories of pedal makers (Electro-Harmonix for example) in the 70s buying whatever parts they could get a hold of and churn out (now iconic) pedals.

Personally, I measure most parts before I solder it them - and the Tayda stuff I have measured is in spec and I have not seen any failures.

The notable exception is some jfets they used to sell. Most everything else seems ok to me.

Andrew.

[pickdropper]

Tayda sells scrap and fakes. One thing to use them in your own builds, but IMHO using their parts in stuff for sale would be unscrupulous.

I find this laughable. We are talking about guitar pedals here. If spending too much on parts helps your self-esteem go for it.

I am sure we have all heard stories of pedal makers (Electro-Harmonix for example) in the 70s buying whatever parts they could get a hold of and churn out (now iconic) pedals.

Personally, I measure most parts before I solder it them - and the Tayda stuff I have measured is in spec and I have not seen any failures.

The notable exception is some jfets they used to sell. Most everything else seems ok to me.

Andrew.

Many of us have had issues with parts other than just the JFets.  Even after I stopped using Tayda for most parts, I did buy LEDs from them because they were cheap and seemed safe.  I ran into a bunch of problems with the leads not being full encapsulated (or worse, barely encapsulated).  We also ran into issues with their zener diodes when prototyping FFX stuff.  We've stopped using any Tayda parts even for prototyping (we never used them for any production parts) because their unpredictability makes them unsuitable for evaluating production designs.

Elecrolytic caps do vary in quality.  The estimated lifespan can vary significantly from cap to cap.  Sure, it won't matter in the next few years, but if your customer plans on keeping the pedals for a decade or two, they are more likely to run into issues down the line.

Electromechanical parts: Things like switches and sockets are clearly inferior to the name brand parts available from the major distributors.  I will admit that I have no data about how long they actually last in the field, but generally speaking the more robust mechanical parts should last longer.

But that's sort of beside the point that most people are making here.  The point people are trying to make is simply this: places like Mouser often aren't massively more expensive for many things.  Good Panasonic electro caps are often less than 10 cents a piece at Mouser if you buy 25-100 pieces.  For common values, that's not a big deal if you build a decent amount (even as a hobbyist).

I have Tayda parts kicking around and occasionally use them on a build I know is not going to leave my possession.  But (apart from a few safe exceptions like pots and enclosures) they have no place on a professional build, IMHO.  I don't think folks need to feel bad if they like using Tayda parts, but I do think that they should be aware of what they are actually buying and what other options are out there.

As far as 70's pedals, they may be iconic, but a lot of them weren't built all that well.  Current builders can generally get more consistent performance from unit to unit.  The circuits may or may not be cooler, but the build consistency can be.

[culturejam]

As far as 70's pedals, they may be iconic, but a lot of them weren't built all that well. 

Mike Matthews made some iconic pedals out of a much larger set. Two from the same run might sound quite different. And it's because "he bought whatever he could get his hands on". That's mostly not his fault because the marketplace for parts was nothing like today. But still, finding an epic Muff from the 1970s is not as simple as just buying one. You probably gotta buy several to get one that's "iconic".

[brianq41369]

I just stocked up on some from tayda & I don't hear any sonic difference between the two suppliers although mouser is a very good supplier with impeccable customer service.


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[pickdropper]

I just stocked up on some from tayda & I don't hear any sonic difference between the two suppliers although mouser is a very good supplier with impeccable customer service.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

FWIW, I think the primary concern with using Tayda parts is more about the reliability of the build than anything.  Although certainly the sound *could* be affected if the parts are out of spec.

I will say that some of their enclosures are actually pretty decent.  I ordered some 1590As to play around with.  The white and black were all awful, but the red, light blue and green were actually decent.  I suspect they source those from two different vendors as the black and white were shrink wrapped and the other colors came in labeled bags.

[mremic01]

I will say that some of their enclosures are actually pretty decent.  I ordered some 1590As to play around with.  The white and black were all awful, but the red, light blue and green were actually decent.  I suspect they source those from two different vendors as the black and white were shrink wrapped and the other colors came in labeled bags.

Those cheap powder coats have always come to me with way to many scratches and scuffs on them. Same for the ones from BLMS.


I will say that some of their enclosures are actually pretty decent.  I ordered some 1590As to play around with.  The white and black were all awful, but the red, light blue and green were actually decent.  I suspect they source those from two different vendors as the black and white were shrink wrapped and the other colors came in labeled bags.

[pickdropper]

I will say that some of their enclosures are actually pretty decent.  I ordered some 1590As to play around with.  The white and black were all awful, but the red, light blue and green were actually decent.  I suspect they source those from two different vendors as the black and white were shrink wrapped and the other colors came in labeled bags.

Yeah, the black and white ones had scratches and/or very uneven powder coating (wavy and built up in places).  Strangely, the other colors had no scratches and the powder coat was much more even.  The red enclosure in the build I posted today was a Tayda box.  That one was clean, but is already chipping in places, so we'll see how it holds up.  I'm OK with using them for proof of concepts but not for commercial builds.

Those cheap powder coats have always come to me with way to many scratches and scuffs on them. Same for the ones from BLMS.


I will say that some of their enclosures are actually pretty decent.  I ordered some 1590As to play around with.  The white and black were all awful, but the red, light blue and green were actually decent.  I suspect they source those from two different vendors as the black and white were shrink wrapped and the other colors came in labeled bags.

[LaceSensor]

I ordered some WIMA caps with my last Tayda stuff (some pots, and knobs, which I personally think are fine)

They look like any other WIMA cap I have purchased in the past. YMMV

[LaceSensor]

Went on Tayda recently to get some bits and bobs (alpha 9mm pots etc) and noticed they now also have Rean/Neutrik jacks, and Panasonic electrolytics.

Booyah.

[JackSkellington]

Hi! I'm considering in these days to improve the quality of the parts I use to build my pedals. I used always the cheapest caps of Tayda: the greens and the grey film boxes, and the cheap electrolytic. But now they have Wima and Panasonic (even Nichicon, but I don't know them).

After I read this thread... Can we trust? Of course nothing to tell about the Tayda's cheap caps but could be good for me to have some better parts.

PS Why the Wima 47nF costs almost twice the WIMA 100nF?

[ahiddentableau]

I almost hate to say this, but I've had better luck lately buying enclosures from Tayda than from Small Bear.  The powdercoated 125s and Bs I got from SBE were probably the worst I've ever seen.  Massive flakes coming off of the coats during routine drilling, and obvious paint defects on the surface.  I sometimes get Tayda enclosures with minor defects (bubbling in the paint or a small scratch), they can flake a bit during drilling, and generally aren't the quality of say a Hammond.  They also tend to scratch easily because the finish is soft.  But unless you're going to spend 2-3X the money, it's not like you're going to do better from the other usual suspects.

Generally speaking, I think Tayda's bad reputation is mostly undeserved, and we put the other sellers on a pedestal.  It's a bit silly.

[blearyeyes]

The black and white enclosures are available on Aliexpress for cheap. Probably where most get them for resale.

[pickdropper]

I almost hate to say this, but I've had better luck lately buying enclosures from Tayda than from Small Bear.  The powdercoated 125s and Bs I got from SBE were probably the worst I've ever seen.  Massive flakes coming off of the coats during routine drilling, and obvious paint defects on the surface.  I sometimes get Tayda enclosures with minor defects (bubbling in the paint or a small scratch), they can flake a bit during drilling, and generally aren't the quality of say a Hammond.  They also tend to scratch easily because the finish is soft.  But unless you're going to spend 2-3X the money, it's not like you're going to do better from the other usual suspects.

Generally speaking, I think Tayda's bad reputation is mostly undeserved, and we put the other sellers on a pedestal.  It's a bit silly.

Since my last post, I've slightly changed my opinion of Tayda after getting some enclosures with a really strange finish to them.  It was almost like a rubber top coat.  That said, I laser engrave enclosures and that finish may not be an issue if one is using a label or paint.

I have had some poor enclosures from Small Bear as well as Mammoth.  I haven't bought enclosures from either of them in a while. 

As far as electrical components, I think Tayda's poor reputation is well deserved.  There are many vendors out there that sell vetted, quality parts from known distribution.  Mouser, Digikey, Arrow, Newark, etc. all sell known quality parts.  I would consider places like Small Bear and PPP to be a tier below that (although they do carry some of the same parts).  But for pedal building, sometimes you have to go to pedal specific vendors.

[JackSkellington]

It's weird, I don't hear too much talk about the bad quality of the electrical components, rather a kind of prejudice by someone, fully understandable, who want to buy good brand products. Though, I remain still perplexed about the low HFE of the NPN transistor.
There are much of us that buy from Tayda, I guess. And much of us buy somewhere else.

I buy enclosures (just naturals at the moment) from the Europe to avoid to pay too much delivery taxes ordering from Tayda.

I'd glad some opinion about WIMA and Panasonic caps from Tayda, please.
Thanks!