Cusack/STOMP Pots Vs Alpha

Ginsly

Ginsly

Well-known member
Since Tayda is essentially off the table (for me at least), I’m looking at other options for pots. It’s a shame, as Tayda was always the clear choice by a mile. Checked it out and shipping was a hundred bucks. Nope.

SBP has their own pots made by Cusack, and I assume they’re good quality. Anybody using these primarily? Wondering what ya think… This is absolutely inconsequential, but I find the all-caps STOMP on the back a bit… off putting. Just, like… don’t shout at me, man. You’re not supposed to stomp pots anyways. :)

Realistically I’m wondering if they’ll work mixed in with Alphas on a board. I assume so. Tayda-branded pots seem to have had some size/positioning issues in this regard…

Not sure what kind LMS carries - anybody know? Amplified Parts has Alpha but they’re kinda pricey. They seem like cool folks, and I’d love if I could manage it.
 
Been happy with STOMPboxPots. Pretty sure they're the exact same as Alphas, likely just contract manufactured. IIRC, Mammoth had their own branded pots too No issues with them being .5mm smaller like the tayda branded ones and seem a little less sticky than the tayda Taiwan alphas as well.
Also, I believe the volume discount applies even if you mix values.
 
From my experience they are a little different from Alpha's. The Alphas tend to be a bit smoother and the SPB are little tighter. Aside from that they are identical in quality. And SBP are pretty much the best price around, so I stick with them.
 
Mine is a mix of SBP and LMS depending on what I'm ordering and what's in stock. Never had an issue with quality and the tolerances are pretty tight, very small variance.
 
anevilspar7an said:
Mine is a mix of SBP and LMS depending on what I'm ordering and what's in stock. Never had an issue with quality and the tolerances are pretty tight, very small variance.
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What kind does LMS carry? They don't mention it and the site pic has bare metal on the back... 🤷‍♂️
 
At the risk of muddying the waters here I was also wondering - where does one find switched pots? It's not something people seem to use often, but I've encountered some instances where I'd like to "remove" the pot from the circuit altogether without adding a SPDT switch in series... Most of the time the "switched" part seems to be connected to power and cuts the connection to save battery life (Analogman pedals, etc), but I can't see why one couldn't set it up to cut the actual pot's connection to the circuit instead...
 
Ginsly said:
At the risk of muddying the waters here I was also wondering - where does one find switched pots? It's not something people seem to use often, but I've encountered some instances where I'd like to "remove" the pot from the circuit altogether without adding a SPDT switch in series... Most of the time the "switched" part seems to be connected to power and cuts the connection to save battery life (Analogman pedals, etc), but I can't see why one couldn't set it up to cut the actual pot's connection to the circuit instead...
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Amplified parts has a few 24mm. Sae some elsewhere, maybe synthbearcube. But probably better off figuring out what alpha would work best for you then seek it out.
 
anevilspar7an said:
It's their own branded pot so similar to the SBP pots. I don't know the manufacturer but it should be as simple as shooting them a customer support email to ask.
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Yep, they contracted with a big manufacturer - I'm sure they must be good. Just heard from em. Somewhat limited selection of values, though.
 
I will say doing the math. Tayda while the shipping costs suck. Still beats every us supplier with the shipping costs added for a lot of things (probably not for small orders). Order 10 powder coats from Tayda at 5.99 and you pay. 40$ in shipping so you’re at 100 or 10$/enclosure. Which is less than just the enclosure from SBP. I recently made a big pot, knobs, resistor, ribbon cable etc order no enclosures. And compared and i still even paying the inflated shipping was way cheaper.

Its worth comparing.

I have def been ordering more from sbp for inbetween orders . And for whatever reason tayda is way back logged on enclosures. My june 23rd order still hasnt shipped.
 
The SBP pots are great... You cant beat their customer service and quickness to ship. I definitely prefer to order my pots through them if I'm getting trannies, IC chips and diodes.. which I will not buy from Tayda.... When I place orders over $200 with tayda I will generally get the tayda pots I'm running low on but If I know I'm going to be placing a sbp order I hold off and order from them.
 
Ginsly said:
Since Tayda is essentially off the table (for me at least), I’m looking at other options for pots. It’s a shame, as Tayda was always the clear choice by a mile. Checked it out and shipping was a hundred bucks. Nope.

SBP has their own pots made by Cusack, and I assume they’re good quality. Anybody using these primarily? Wondering what ya think… This is absolutely inconsequential, but I find the all-caps STOMP on the back a bit… off putting. Just, like… don’t shout at me, man. You’re not supposed to stomp pots anyways. :)

Realistically I’m wondering if they’ll work mixed in with Alphas on a board. I assume so. Tayda-branded pots seem to have had some size/positioning issues in this regard…

Not sure what kind LMS carries - anybody know? Amplified Parts has Alpha but they’re kinda pricey. They seem like cool folks, and I’d love if I could manage it.
Click to expand...
I use any of the pots from SBP, LMS, SmallBear or Mouser without issue. Tayda uses cheap Chinese knock-off "Alpha" pots (as well as most of their hardware), which seem to have issues of their own, so I no longer use Tayda for pots. (Or ICs for that matter.) And Tayda shipping has simply gotten more & more expensive and has always taken 4 to 6 weeks to arrive. (Meh.)

Jon Cusack IS StompBoxParts. He always has good parts n' stuff. The different printing on the back of his pots is him merely settling on a 'branding'. (IMO)

LoveMySwitches has always carried quality components at a good price. Never any qualms there.
 
Oh, I love Stomp Box Parts. I was just goofin on the STOMP stamp, and it sounds like people dig their pots. Good to hear! And honestly, if they’re a little stiffer that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Pots with too little resistance are not fun.
 
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