Parts for starting out

[ran_dizolph]

Hey folks,

loooooooooong time troller, first time poster.

I'm finally getting close to being ready to start trying out some building of my own, and just have a couple of questions.
I'm going to get the breadboard tonefiend kit from Mammoth, which looks like it's got everything I need to audition circuits.

In regards to components (caps, resistors, transistors etc.), is that i went into The Source today, and saw they've got a bunch of mixed packs of the formentioned items...are there any particular brands to avoid or seek out? I know online sources can be cheaper, but we're talking a matter of a couple/few bucks from what i can see, so just want to be sure most components are the same quality-wise.

I'm' also thinking of starting out with vero/stripboard as my foundation, so i can really get a feel for how things go together...would anyone recommend NOT doing it that way?

Can't wait to get building...I'm thinking an SHO is going to be my first experiment!

[Gone Fission]

The Tonefiend projects are a good start. If you want to expand from there, you can look at the legacy info from the Beavis board: http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/parts.htm

And general Beavis bench-stocking article: http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Bu ... /index.htm

Get decent pots and switches. Alpha pots are sufficient. The usual Taiwan 3PDT stompers are just fine. Make sure you have a hFE checker in your meter to test the gain of your transistors. Transistor gains vary, but most are cheap enough that you can buy in bulk and use appropriate gains when the right project comes up. Germaniums are trickier, but you can rig up to test leakage as shown at the Geofex site.

Don't worry too much about mojo components (carbon comp resistors, tantalum or paper-in-oil caps) at first. Cap values tend to matter more than composition (nice if your meter tests capacitance relative to stated value) and the beneficial attributes of carbon comp aren't supposed to come into play at typical pedal voltages. Don't worry about expensive germanium transistors until you've really tweaked around with silicon versions of the same circuit -- you can get great sounds without the germs, and some knowledge of the circuits can help you optimize for the expensive germs.