Component Question

f2f4

New member
I'm looking into building my first pedal from this company. I've built a few others before, so I have a very general idea of things, but I noticed in the build documents for the Sherwood OD that the wattage of resistors and types of capacitors weren't specified. What do you all generally recommend? 1/4w resistors? What material capacitors?

Thanks!
 
I understand 1/4 W to 1/2 W resistors are satisfactory for guitar pedals, generally speaking.

In general terms, you will want film capacitors for signal path (if possible), and electrolytic for large power supply capacitors (e.g., 10uF+).

There are some forum discussions and articles on this stuff, since it is a popular question.

Note, some of the mass market pedals from 20 years ago may have had cheaper capacitors, but you don't need to pinch pennies that way. E.g., the various mods start off by upgrading the capacitors.
 
Most of the projects use 1/4W but a few use 1/8W. I try to note which size are needed in the build docs, but you can also tell by looking at the silkscreen on the preview pic of each board.

48

Alternatively, if you can't tell, just ask. =)
 
I understand 1/4 W to 1/2 W resistors are satisfactory for guitar pedals, generally speaking.

In general terms, you will want film capacitors for signal path (if possible), and electrolytic for large power supply capacitors (e.g., 10uF+).

There are some forum discussions and articles on this stuff, since it is a popular question.

Note, some of the mass market pedals from 20 years ago may have had cheaper capacitors, but you don't need to pinch pennies that way. E.g., the various mods start off by upgrading the capacitors.
I wouldn't use 1/2W resistors in pedal builds - mainly because they're too big, and unnecessary power handling for 9-18V pedals. 1/4W seems to be the standard, 1/8W when space is tight.
 
I use RNMF14FTC-series resistors. They are 1/4W, 1%, metal film. DigiKey carries them for $0.10 each ($0.07 ea in quantities of 10). They are very low noise, not too expensive and fit easily on the PedalPCB boards. I use polyester & polypropylene film caps for most values. I use silver mica for 470pF and below. I use tantalum for values from 1uF to 47uF and aluminum electrolytic above 47uF. Tantalum is more expensive than aluminum, but they sound better (IMHO) and are more reliable. Ceramic caps are pretty bad for audio.

- Chuck
 
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