Misc Questions

[HalfLife]

Not to annoy everyone with Noob questions...

-Where should I hit for the lowest $$ on components? Mouser has crazy minimums (sometimes) or bad prices (sometimes), SmallBear seems out of stock a lot.
-Would you recommend any 3pdt switches on Amazon? $1.60 seems like a good deal.
-What about the 1/4" jacks on Amazon?
-I have some older components in a 'grab bin' from the 90s. Acceptable? Mostly resistors, but I found some Ge components and a trainload of IC chips.
-I want to use my old film/electrolytic caps- but none are low profile. What cases require low profile components?
-Should I breadboard first?

Sorry again, and thank you for the help/advice.

[Betty Wont]

-Tayda, I buy 90% of my parts there. Cheap, fast, large stock, reliable.
-No, Love My Switches
-No, Love My Switches
-All Good
-I wouldn't use old Electros. They dry out over time. You can build 1590b pedals with up to 12mm tall caps.
-You can learn a lot from breadboarding.

[matmosphere]

Tayda is cheap, and generally fine. Mouser or smallbear are probably better places to get Transistors and ICs, as occasionally the Tayda ones aren't the greatest. 90% of the time the tayra ones will be fine, but every once in a while something will just not sound quite right even though everything is correct... and it's because of a bad (out of spec, or relabeled to look like something else) transistor. Don't trust their through hole jfets, but the smd ones I've used have been fine.

They have some good jacks that are cheap but for stomp switches go with Love My Switches. Their jacks are good too.

I have bought cheap amazon jacks, they work, and are better than some, but they were a total pain in the ass to solder wire to. The solder just wouldn't stick. Once it was there it was fine, but getting it working is an uphill battle every single time.

The old parts are probably all good, just check the caps with a multimeter. I might not mess with Electros but the nineties wasn't really that long ago.

The low profile thing is important sometimes. It all comes down to fitting things into one size of enclosure or another. Low profile stuff comes into play with 1590a (especially) and 1590b builds because of clearance for the lid closing, but with 125b's it doesn't mater.  If you can just buy low profile ones easily then do that, but they are a little pricier.

Breadboarding is not a crime


but it depends what you want out of the hobby. If you want a pedal that works and sounds cool then buy a board, get good parts and assemble like you are building a Lego. If you want to understand a little about how pedals work and figure out how to tweak them to your hearts desire then learn how to breadboard. Either way at least buy some sockets so you can swap transistors to see how it does, or occasionally doesn't, change the sound of a pedal.

[HalfLife]

Thank you to all.
$2.54 at Love My Switches seems like a good deal. $.50 for proper soldering is a better deal than Amazon.
Some follow-ups:
-Should I use 'Bread-Buddies' (or 3PDT Bypass boards) for pots/jacks/switches?
-Any suggestions for my first couple builds? I am open to anything...

[harryklippton]

I think most or all of the projects here have board mounted pots so you don't need breadbuddies for those. I like using 3pdt boards