Ryan
Mar 24, 20201 min
I've been asked quite a bit lately how I select parts and source parts for my recent pedal projects. I figured this is a good time to get into a hobby with some folks having downtime because of the COVID-19 lockdown. I intend this to be pretty straight foward guide how I select my parts.
For starts, I use mostly Aion Electronics and PedalPCB for my circuit boards.
https://aionelectronics.com/ and https://www.pedalpcb.com/
Secondly, Tayda Electronics has been really stepping it up with their parts. I almost use them exclusively now for most pedal builds. https://www.taydaelectronics.com/ For anything exotic (genuine J201, King of Tone diodes, etc.) I use https://www.pedalhackerelectronics.com/
I like how most of Tayda's components are the right lead spacing for PedalPCB's kits. The lead spacing width can very quite a bit so it's nice to have a paired down selection that is harder to make mistakes. When I was first building pedals and using Mouser as my component source, I had made many mistakes before I figured out which parameters I should be looking for in a component to determine compatibility with the PCB. Below is a general guideline I use for selecting resistors and capacitors.
I recently uploaded a video to YouTube explaining a little more detail about component selection and my thougts. Be sure to have a notebook handy and rewatch!
Hope everyone stays safe!
-Ryan "The Tone Geek"