L.a. in the old days.

[soapF]

Nostalgia trip.
I miss the old days in l.a. there were a handful of places one could buy capacitors and resistors. Seems a waste to online order 2 x resistors of a single value.

Have u been to Torrance electronics?

 

[soapF]

Have u been to Torrance electronics?

Never mind just read your comment lol

 

[sahib]

Back almost 40 years ago when I lived in Istanbul (before moving to UK) we had one major, what you would call an electronics components shopping mall, Selanik Pasaji in the European part of the city. Floor after floor, and shop after shop all sold electronic components. Immediately before I moved to UK it had extended to another two, one again opposite Selanik Pasaji which is called Karakoy Pasaji, and the other one in the Asian side of the city. Karakoy Pasaji has now taken over Selanik Pasaji. You walk into a shop, and go, I need 2 x10k 1%, 1 x 24k 1%, and 2 x 100nF 63V ...... and the guy puts them on the counter before you even finish your sentence. In most cases he goes, I am very busy, go down to the basement, turn right and there are the capacitors, pick what you need and come back up here. You would also get forgotten gems. Last summer I picked up two Vishay 10uF 600V capacitors for a D-LA2A project for a couple of quids which clearly have been sitting in a drawer for years gathering dust

The individual shops obviously do not have the range that, say, Mouser has. But someone is heavily more on something and another one on another thing. There is one shop for example that I always drop in when I am back, that specialises on nothing but on magnetic cores. Thousands and thousands of cores stacked all over. You walk in, pick up things, check them, ask the guy if he has this, if he has that and he'll have an answer in someway.

Often you'll see somebody dropping in, holding a board with a say busted film capacitor and asking for a help. People will gather around and start discussing what value it could be, and after half an hour deliberation the shop would sell him a cap that costs ten pence. You will not get that here.

 

[pucho812]

Never mind just read your comment lol

I wish it was closer. Round trip about 3 hours.

 

[pinebox]

TAW in Burbank has good caps and some resistors.

 

[pucho812]

TAW in Burbank has good caps and some resistors.

They are the wima folks

 

[pinebox]

They are the wima folks

Yeah I buy a lot of electrolytics there as well.

 

[pucho812]

So today I hit another snag that years ago would have been a simple trip down the road. I need a single red led and a single 1uF film cap.
I could easily have gotten that on a Sunday without issue.
Now I gotta figure out a minimum quantity order because shipping from mouser is the same regardless of if I buy 1 cap or a cap plus other bobs and bits.
There is too much going on that something so simple really causes issues.

 

[john12ax7]

I probably have some of them depending on the size.

 

[pucho812]

so todays trip to Torrance electronics took 2 hours round trip.
But hey I got what I needed and have this mutron phasor II sounding so sweet for a customer.

Nothing like a mod to play with the rate times and and replacing an LED that was out.

 

[Brian Roth]

so todays trip to Torrance electronics took 2 hours round trip.
But hey I got what I needed and have this mutton phasor II sounding so sweet for a customer.

Nothing like a mod to play with the rate times and and replacing an LED that was out.

At least you have SOME local possibilities for parts. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Mr. Grumpy here in Salina often had what I needed in a pinch, but he's now assumed room temperature.

When I order anything, I always buy extra. Need one 1.5 uF film cap....order the quantity next "bump up" at Mouser, DigiKey, etc. In most cases, I just add those to the client's bill and give them the extras for "The Future".

Between the two studios here, both have reasonably good inventories after my 10 years in town. The owners are good friends (each works in unique niches), so sometimes it's "I think Aaron has that at 1117" or "Kassem has such and such over at Blue Heaven". I had a travel kit which I would carry when I came here to work at their places which is now of the local stash...lol.

One thing I DID set up uniquely for both rooms was a thorough inventory of every possible fuse value for all the gear in the studio, with a handful of Fender, Peavey, Marshall, etc. fuses as well.

Bri

 

[pucho812]

At least you have SOME local possibilities for parts. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Mr. Grumpy here in Salina often had what I needed in a pinch, but he's now assumed room temperature.

When I order anything, I always buy extra. Need one 1.5 uF film cap....order the quantity next "bump up" at Mouser, DigiKey, etc. In most cases, I just add those to the client's bill and give them the extras for "The Future".

Between the two studios here, both have reasonably good inventories after my 10 years in town. The owners are good friends (each works in unique niches), so sometimes it's "I think Aaron has that at 1117" or "Kassem has such and such over at Blue Heaven". I had a travel kit which I would carry when I came here to work at their places which is now of the local stash...lol.

One thing I DID set up uniquely for both rooms was a thorough inventory of every possible fuse value for all the gear in the studio, with a handful of Fender, Peavey, Marshall, etc. fuses as well.

Bri

I know what you mean. The last studio I was chief for, we had huge parts stock from decades as a studio. made things easy.