Quality Pots

[rlaury]

Can anybody suggest another source of quality pots other than
Clarostat, Bournes ect. The prices of American pots are through the roof on price. Any suggestions.

RonL

 

[fazeka]

Not sure if ~$7.00 is "through the roof," but suspecting you think it is.

Now $20/pot would be "through the roof."

Not sure also how you could get a quality pot for less than $7.00. I'm not the "pot police" by any means :green: but I get pots that I want for important DIY builds that I'm happy with for $7.00 (give or take a few cents). Granted, they are mil-spec RV4 type...

 

[rlaury]

$7.00 - $8.00 is a fair price. I'm getting $12 $15 prices
and thats at 200 pcs. What brand are you using if I can ask.

RonL

 

[soundguy]

isnt the bourns 90 series like $4 per onsey twosey at digikey?

dave

 

[CJ]

whats the project?

 

[fazeka]

Ron,

I just ordered some from Digikey last week. Granted, their selection is limited as some of it is "non-stocked" (i.e., 70-100 min. order :sad: ) but if they have what you need, it's nice. :green:

RV4N503C-ND, $7.15 each, Linear taper, 50k, 2W, mil-spec, 274 available.

:guinness: :thumb:

 

[fazeka]

Dave,

Are you talking about these?

http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T052/1102.pdf

If so, nice!

Thanks,
Chris

 

[nacho459]

I never understood why people hate the cheep Alpha pots? I mean they're cheep and all, and if I can find some old Allen & Bradley's for cheep I'll use those, but what's so bad with them? I've never had any problems with them, and they seam better than 99% of the pots gear manufacturers use.

 

[soundguy]

right, was thinking of the 91 series.

dave

 

[fazeka]

[quote author="nacho459"]I never understood why people hate the cheep Alpha pots? I mean they're cheep and all, and if I can find some old Allen & Bradley's for cheep I'll use those, but what's so bad with them? I've never had any problems with them, and they seam better than 99% of the pots gear manufacturers use.[/quote]

Alphas are good for prototyping and all, but I don't want them in my gear on a permanent basis. Cheap track in that pot.

Think of all the stuff we crave i.e., RCA, LA-2A, etc. All those pots are mil-spec. Sealed. Unlike the Alpha stuff. Less chance for crap to get inside a sealed pot. You get what you pay for.

Myself? I want to spend as little time as possible building/repairing my equipment. My time is too valuable, I have little time to replace worn pots every couple of years or so. I'd rather spend time making music than repairing the equipment! :grin:

 

[rlaury]

I decided on the Spectrol 697 series. I got them for $7.75
for 25 of them. Not too bad of price after all.
Rotational life =1million. conductive plastic.
These will be used for pan pots.

http://www.mouser.com/catalog/623/480.pdf

Thanks
Group!

RonL

 

[Family Hoof]

Lots of cheap RV4 at this place. In my limited experience the Bourns 51 series are well worth the $9 each. Smaller than the 91, metal shaft, and a much heavier feel - closer to alphas.

 

[NewYorkDave]

"Sealed" pots are great until you have to clean them. Ask anyone who owns an old Tektronix scope :wink:

Nacho, I'm on your side. The Alphas are cheap carbon-track but they sure have a nice feel to them. I've used them in guitar amps with no problems. For "special projects" I'd probably want to go higher-grade but for gen-purpose/prototyping use, the Alphas really ain't bad.

 

[Ptownkid]

[quote author="rlaury"]I decided on the Spectrol 697 series. I got them for $7.75
for 25 of them. Not too bad of price after all.
Rotational life =1million. conductive plastic.
These will be used for pan pots.

http://www.mouser.com/catalog/623/480.pdf

Thanks
Group!

RonL[/quote]

I'm assuming that you mean 657, or I'm blind...

 

[edanderson]

my experience re: some of the pots mentioned:

alphas feel great (if you like the damped feeling) but WILL wear out eventually. i have had to replace a bunch of alpha pots in gear i've bought, and in most cases i've just put in new alphas, knowing that they'll be just fine for at least another 5 years. certainly for inexpensive proto work, having a few of every value of alpha pot that's readily available is a great idea.

at work we use a lot of the clarostat 308/388 series pots (sold by state electronics) which, though they are sealed, can be opened and are modular enough that they can be reassembled into many different configurations. andrew has more money sunk into clarostats that most diy'ers would be comfortable with, but with what is available we can now make just about anything.

the pots i've used from omeg were conductive plastic and not sealed. the construction looks similar to the alphas, and they feel okay. the only turnoff (for me) is that they are AFAIK only available with plastic shafts, which are, though sturdy, more breakable than metal shafts. certainly for the price, if you need a custom part, they'd be the first place i'd go.

ed

 

[Family Hoof]

State Electronics recently quoted me nearly $22 each for a 25 piece run of dual rev log 388 series. Not cool!

Allied Electronics in the states sells the 308 series for $5.75 each.

 

[soundguy]

randomly looking at the aguilar site, I came across this-

http://www.aguilaramp.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=AA&Category_Code=PS

expensive, but if you happen to need 1 piece of a 50K stacked pot, well, there ya go. Not exactly the most common item...

dave