Small Bear...Seriously seriously NOT impressed

[smallbearelec]

I regret that I don't have more time to post on any of the forums--part of the price of "success." Diystompboxes.com remains my "home", because "ya dance with the one that brung ya," but it is gratifying to see many other busy venues catering to DIY FX. I think I'm now OK with the OP of this thread, and I just wanted to comment on the economics of selling the Blue 3PDT switch.

I am not at all unhappy with the fact that that part has become a commodity; its low cost and ready availability have made it easy for more people to roll-their-own pedals, and that drives traffic to SBE as well as other DIY sites. I maintain a fairly high price for small quantities, because the profit margin helps to feed 6 hungry people (+1 sometimes growly Bear) and pay the freight for a shop that will soon hit over 2,000 square feet. Every business has this issue: On what part(s) of its product line is it going to make its money?

I would also add that the version of that switch that I have always sold is made by the same Taiwanese factory that designed it 10 years ago. I have been offered numerous, much cheaper, Chinese clones, and I have stayed with the product I have. Some of the clones are competitive in reliability, and some are junk, as you can tell from the occasional on-line horror stories. Meanwhile, we are healthy, profitable, and able to keep plowing bearskins back into more made-to-order parts. Keep checking out the New Additions on the Stock List, and keep making LOUD NOISES!

Regards
SD

[gtr2]

Thanks for stopping by Steve!

Josh

[TNblueshawk]

How many of you went back and read what you posted after Steve posted 

Oh sure...I was the only one huh 

[Mich P]

Support the bear since 2005 here
Go on Steve !
Mich P.

[Om_Audio]

I got my order just fine. Ya, woulda been nice to have bags labelled but you know I have to id them by eye and DMM also so in the end not that important- though the diodes were a challenge as I could't read them and DMM just shows if they are leaky or bad or whatever. The LEDs were all labelled as to their color. I also had to ask multiple questions along the way as a noob and Steve always emailed me very quickly with answers.
Clifford

PS- Making much loud noise with my new creation thanks to you Steve.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=3738.0

[culturejam]

Over the years, I've had both good and so-so experiences with just about all the pedal-specific vendors. All of the businesses that specialize in DIY effects are necessarily fairly small operations (as compared to Newark, Digikey, Mouser, etc). This means that the "shit happens" factor has more of an impact (e.g. - someone gets sick, goes through a divorce, etc). These are human beings, not faceless corporate mega-monster legal entities. So sometimes they drop the ball. This doesn't mean you shouldn't hold them accountable for mistakes, of course. I'm just trying to emphasize the "real-person" factor.

Labeling each individual bag is NOT a trivial thing. Trust me. Without some kind of automated system set up, it is simply not cost-effective to label values on everything. And even with an automated system, there is a lot of added cost in hardware and labels/toner. This is fine for the big boys (or a smaller shop that has the backing of a big supplier), but it's hard to do for a small shop. Just imagine one of Steve's employees spending the extra time to hand label a bag of one resistor. It's ridiculous. The cost of the labor to write the value far exceeds the benefit of selling a resistor.

I think we're in the golden age of DIY effects. There are many parts vendors and lots of options for projects.

[timbo_93631]

I think we're in the golden age of DIY effects. There are many parts vendors and lots of options for projects.

Yep!

[aziltz]

just received my biggest order ever from SB.  Ironically, it contained the smallest selection of components I've ever ordered, just a lot of them.

[echidna]

I'm gathering parts to build a Harbinger One and i need the photocells. The only place that sells the listed NSL-7532 parts is Smallbear. They insist on a shipping rate of $58 to England - for a few items weighing less than a penny.  I got a bag full of boards from Madbean for $3.95 shipping, probably 20 times the weight. I just can't work out why Smallbear charge so much when MBP can do it at cost through USPS.

[artstomp]

...i ordered from Tayda and mouser because i'm from the Philippines...its cheap and the shipping cost is low...my orders arrived to my country in 3-7days only...but sometimes took almost 2 weeks to be delivered on my door from the local post office....and worst....the customs tax i pay is way too high...it almost double the cost of my orders...well..just sharing my experience...

..still happy building pedals!!!

[Stomptown]

I have been building for about two years now and I have nothing but great experiences with SB and Steve. I've probably placed 15 or more orders and I can only think of a couple issues over that time. I'm not too keep on their painted enclosures (quality/lack of selection) or their Taiwan 3PDT's (price) but they remain my favorite of the mom and pop vendors.

In the last couple months I've finally began to stock up on parts and I'm amazed at how much I'm saving. Group buys on this forum are also great. Bulk purchasing makes it a lot easy to justify using multiple suppliers (as most of us do) and deal with the occasional hiccups when things go wrong with an order.

I found myself similarly frustrated with Mammoth recently over some mistakes, but in the end they made it better. After reading Steve's post above I feel a little bad for getting so mad at Black and the Mammoth guys. They too have mouths to feed and are trying to do their best.

FYI Small Bear is also now carrying Alpha 3PDT's for about 5 bucks, which is a great price and alternative to the Taiwan switch. They are cheaper ($350?) at PPP, but if you are already placing a SB order, $5 is not too hard to swallow and better than placing an order elsewhere just for a switch. Plus they are black and black is cool 

[jvg13]

.

[DutchMF]

I'm gathering parts to build a Harbinger One and i need the photocells. The only place that sells the listed NSL-7532 parts is Smallbear. They insist on a shipping rate of $58 to England - for a few items weighing less than a penny.  I got a bag full of boards from Madbean for $3.95 shipping, probably 20 times the weight. I just can't work out why Smallbear charge so much when MBP can do it at cost through USPS.

Have you seen this?

http://www.banzaimusic.com/Univibe-Upgrade-Kit.html

I used it on my build of Jacob Kokura's Univibe clone project, it works very well and Banzai ships for far less. Might be of interest for all european Harbinger builders!

Paul

[raulduke]

I'm gathering parts to build a Harbinger One and i need the photocells. The only place that sells the listed NSL-7532 parts is Smallbear. They insist on a shipping rate of $58 to England - for a few items weighing less than a penny.  I got a bag full of boards from Madbean for $3.95 shipping, probably 20 times the weight. I just can't work out why Smallbear charge so much when MBP can do it at cost through USPS.

Have you seen this?

http://www.banzaimusic.com/Univibe-Upgrade-Kit.html

I used it on my build of Jacob Kokura's Univibe clone project, it works very well and Banzai ships for far less. Might be of interest for all european Harbinger builders!

Paul

Off topic, but thanks for linking to that Dutch.

I've just ordered a Harbinger so that set could come in very handy!

[fendman]

Ditto...Thanks Dutch