Is there a reason people are so high on Xicon electros? I've mined a bunch of caps off some various boards and none are xicons. Is it a stability/dependability thing or do Xicons sound better?
Some of the electro's I've gotten off those boards are only 10v. Are those pretty much worthless for pedals?
What about non-polarized electrolytics? Should I trash these?
thanks
Xicons are popular because they are plentiful and cheap. There's no real advantage over any other type, really. Personally, I use either the high temp or the miniature ones. I like the minis because they help reduce the overall height of builds, which can become an issue when mounting effects in a 1590B. I use the high temps because they are green. No kidding. I like they way they look, and that's it :)
I'm thinking of ordering multiples of WIMA box film caps from futurlec so I won't have to struggle every time I start putting together a pedal.
What are the most important values (read: most commonly used) to keep around for effects pedals?
So far I'm thinking
1n
2n2
3n3
4n7
6n8
22n
33n
57n
100n
150n
220n
but there are a lot of other values available too.
Am I leaving out any important ones?
Also, do any of you guys ever use monolithic caps in your pedals?
10n and 47n jump out at me, but I have been building a lot of Big Muff variants lately, and those are common values for what I have been doing of late.
Quote from: Haberdasher on May 16, 2010, 06:25:01 AM
I'm thinking of ordering multiples of WIMA box film caps from futurlec so I won't have to struggle every time I start putting together a pedal.
What are the most important values (read: most commonly used) to keep around for effects pedals?
So far I'm thinking
1n x2
2n2 x1
4n7 x1
6n8 x1
10n x2
22n x1
47n x1
68n x1
100n x3
220n x1
I edited the list to what values I would order. Pick the smallest # you want to order (say 10 caps) and then use the multiplier I put next to them to get the best spread of values. The multiplier reflects, in my experience, the frequency with which you will use those particular values. So, if you order ten 47n's, then order thirty 100n's and so on.
Thanks!
1) Is there any way you can also provide that same kind of info for electros & ceramics?
2) Can the same be done with resistor values?
Ceramics (pF)
47x1
100x3
220x1
330x1
470x2
Electrolytic (uF)
1x3
4.7x1
10x3
22x2
33x1
47x2
100x3
220x1
Resistors are harder because there are too many values. Here are some of the most used:
100R
220R
470R
1k
1k5
1k8
2k2
2k7
3k3
3k9
4k7
5k1
6k8
8k2
10k
12k
15k
18k
20k
22k
27k
33k
47k
56k
68k
82k
100k
150k
200k
220k
390k
470k
510k
1M
2M2
10M
Order a few batches of 100 each from effects connection or 200 each from Mouser over time and you will save a lot of money down the road. I have all these values (plus others) in quantity and I almost never have to hunt down one.
That's great! I was looking around futurlec & I saw there are about 85 different values of resistors available for purchase. That really narrows it down, so I appreciate it. 8)
Anybody know what kind of caps these are? One of them says MKT on it.
(http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/4228/pict0098.jpg)
Probably something like this: http://www.vishay.com/docs/28132/mkt368.pdf
those look hot :o
Just joined the forum. This is a great site!!! Currently working on a Serendipity... Where are you getting the mini green caps and what brand/part# you are talking about? Thanks for the great site once again. Keep up the good work! ;D
I think he's talking about caps like these. FYI, I've never shopped at this place so I'm not recommending it or anything. I have no idea where madbean gets his.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=020-1732
Quote from: db72 on May 20, 2010, 12:48:05 PM
those look hot :o
I don't remember now what I pulled those out of. I'm thinking about putting one of these in C4 in my Krunkee build because it's so much smaller than the Panasonic ECQ cap I have. I will probably post it in the builds forum later. :)
I'm a noob here. Just ordered my first PCBs and getting my stuff through mouser and am sort of going insane from their options on the caps (as for resistors, I was able to just get all metal film). I noticed you marked ceramic for pF, Electrolytic for uF and film caps for nF. Should I just choose my caps based on this breakdown? What is the actual type of film cap to use? Also, I notice a lot of people recommend the Vishay Dale resistors but is there anything wrong with just buying the cheap $.05 KOA speer ones? If it makes a difference, I'm going to be building the Zombii, the Krankosaurus, and a Ross/Dyna clone from Tonepad.
Sorry for all the questions but until I get the boards and get to start building, all I have is confusing choices to fill my time.
Thanks and love the site Brian!
Quote from: Jamiroking on June 04, 2010, 12:45:58 PM
I'm a noob here. Just ordered my first PCBs and getting my stuff through mouser and am sort of going insane from their options on the caps (as for resistors, I was able to just get all metal film). I noticed you marked ceramic for pF, Electrolytic for uF and film caps for nF. Should I just choose my caps based on this breakdown? What is the actual type of film cap to use? Also, I notice a lot of people recommend the Vishay Dale resistors but is there anything wrong with just buying the cheap $.05 KOA speer ones? If it makes a difference, I'm going to be building the Zombii, the Krankosaurus, and a Ross/Dyna clone from Tonepad.
Sorry for all the questions but until I get the boards and get to start building, all I have is confusing choices to fill my time.
Thanks and love the site Brian!
Hi Jamiroking,
Welcome and good luck with your builds. For the first ones you should use the exact components specified in the project pages for your first builds unless you feel real comfortable buying parts from a place like Mouser. Just keep in mind that you want the caps you buy to be the right physical size to fit on your board. It is easy to order the wrong stuff even when you know what you are looking for. I just bought $40 worth of surface-mount opamps from Mouser by accident.
It does pay to use good caps in the right places. I have a booster design that uses a 2.2uf cap as the input cap. When I use a $3.50 vishay cap the difference over a 2.2uf electrolytic is unbelievable. The cap is in the audio path of the circuit so I can justify the cost. But if I needed a 2.2uf cap in the power section it would be foolish to use the vishay as it's placement has no effect on the tone.
Stick with the metal film resistors. I do not know why anyone would use carbon comp resistors for anything in a pedal. Some say they like the vintage tone but they are just noisy. If you want an old, noisy sounding pedal use them. If you want a sweet tone machine use the best parts you can.
Take a look over in the tech pages for the soldering tips thread I posted to give you some other things to get you started.
Pig
Hi Pigyboy,
Thanks for the help and the soldering tips as well. I've built cables before but this is going to take a different level of soldering. As far as I can tell, the only info I can find on the project pages is the Farad level of the capacitors. The main issue I seem to be having is knowing which type of cap to get which I can't seem to find on the pages. I looked a little closer and noticed that the cap outlines are different sizes and shapes on the wiring diagram. Should I be able to tell the type of cap from this or should I wait until the PCBs arrive?
I'll be starting with the Zombii fuzz first since it seems to be the simplest of the pedals I'm building but I'd like to order all the components in one swoop to save on the shipping.
It was recommended to me to use the polyester film box caps pretty much wherever possible because they are small, have a uniform shape (even for most of the larger values) and they fit on the board easily. Those are usually the ones shown as rectangular caps on the diagram. Just make sure you get the 5mm lead spacing (LS) for these so they will match the holes Brian has drilled. A lot of people use the red ones made by WIMA. 63v is good but you could use higher if that's all they have in stock for a certain value.
For electrolytics (the rounds ones on the diagram), you will want radial caps for most builds (unless the graphic shows them laying down- in which case you would use axial leads), 16v minimum for a 9v pedal. As you go up in voltage these increase in size pretty quick so try to stay kind of small here, maybe around 25v to 35v? Try to find the mini caps because of their short size. For non mini caps I usually leave about 3 mms of lead sticking up so I can partially "fold" the cap over if I need to when I'm finally ready to put the lid on.
Make sure you don't get anything that says SMD, which is surface mount. Those are tiny.
I've only used metal film resistors so far and I have no idea who made them, but I doubt if it makes much difference. I personally buy the cheaper ones.
The metal films are supposed to be quieter. IMO quiet = good.
That's about all I've got for now.
BTW, I'm sort of newbish myself so everyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about something!
Good luck
Thanks haberdasher, that helps a lot.