TL072 substitute? (They're expensive now outside the USA)
- Thread starter DAJE
- Start date
Robert
Reverse Engineer
I'll be at full capacity for a little while after this. I didn't mention the 384 new PCB bins that were just added.
TL074s are cheaper. Just cut one in half
Two for the price of one. Genius!
jeffwhitfield
Well-known member
Dump! Mah reedin’ skills sux!
cdwillis
Well-known member
Wow! That's a huge jump. I have a few 72s sitting around because they were so cheap. I just checked and the first time I ordered them in April of 2020 they were 34 cents. Gonna to look into those LF353Ps now. Get some ne5532s and lm833s and such to mess with now too. I think those are bjt input instead of jfet so maybe not exactly similar.
finebyfine
Well-known member
My luck with SMD 72s has been better than through hole from Ali. I have a handful of Ali 72s that I would only use if it's already in a dirt path of a pedal.
LCSC has through holes for 75¢ and 97¢ US a pop
TL072IP Texas Instruments | Amplifiers/Comparators - LCSC Electronics
TL072IP Texas Instruments $0.6431 - 3mV 5.25MHz 65pA Dual channel PDIP-8 FET Input Amplifiers ROHS datasheet, price, inventory C110329
Texas Instruments | Texas Instruments TL072CP | FET InputAmplifiers - LCSC.COM
Texas Instruments Texas Instruments TL072CP US$0.9666 LCSC electronic components online Amplifiers FET InputAmplifiers - leaded datasheet+inventory and pricing
Feral Feline
Well-known member
Soon we won't have to build our PPCB pedals, we'll just order them from Robert, tick the boxes for the mods we want, select the colour of enclosure and add/send graphics... Build your pedal completely online.
"Looky here at dis pedal I done builded my own self!"
"Looky here at dis pedal I done builded my own self!"
Alan W
Well-known member
Drag soldering isn’t that hard to learn. Assuming a decent iron, my main purchase was flux and an applicator bottle. I already had a good 8x visor which got me through the first starter boards. I finally broke down and got a binocular inspection microscope, which really made it much easier to work on 0603 sized caps and resistors. I really helps to be able to see so well! (Especially for checking ones work.) I also really like a soldering tip that has a small concavity on its wedged end; this is a finesse thing, but it holds the little bead of molten solder as you wipe across the legs.
From my point of view, any part with more than 3 or 4 legs is safer to sacrifice if you need to remove it. Just clip the legs, then use solder wick to remove the stubs. If you do enough SMD work, you’ll probably eventually get a desoldering tool with specific heads to match parts formats, but that is a luxury. Another tool that really helps with these tiny parts is some heat proof (non metal) tweezers. To me, the hardest part is holding the smaller parts in place without blocking access to soldering them. Bamboo toothpicks come in handy.
From my point of view, any part with more than 3 or 4 legs is safer to sacrifice if you need to remove it. Just clip the legs, then use solder wick to remove the stubs. If you do enough SMD work, you’ll probably eventually get a desoldering tool with specific heads to match parts formats, but that is a luxury. Another tool that really helps with these tiny parts is some heat proof (non metal) tweezers. To me, the hardest part is holding the smaller parts in place without blocking access to soldering them. Bamboo toothpicks come in handy.
DAJE
Well-known member
I received my bag 20 from AliExpress, and tested half of them (5 pairs) in my Kliché Mini. I use that pedal a lot, so I'm pretty familiar with how it's supposed to sound.
I listened critically to sustained notes and note decay with each pair, and I can't hear anything wrong with any of them. I left a pair of the new ones in there and I'll listen to it even louder tomorrow, but I don't think they'll sound any different.
It's entirely possible that different batches differ in quality, so there's no guarantee on these results. But I'm happy with my purchase.
I listened critically to sustained notes and note decay with each pair, and I can't hear anything wrong with any of them. I left a pair of the new ones in there and I'll listen to it even louder tomorrow, but I don't think they'll sound any different.
It's entirely possible that different batches differ in quality, so there's no guarantee on these results. But I'm happy with my purchase.
szukalski
Well-known member
After I read this, I did some AB testing and have to agree. A bunch got thrown in the bin. I also found T071 (which didn't work) and OP07 with the same batch number printed on them.. the fake game is strong!
finebyfine
Well-known member
Same (agree with your entire post), ceramic tweezers are my go to non soldering iron hand tool to hold them in place and bend through hole leads
jimilee
Well-known member
Those are single opamps, they won’t work in a dual application.
szukalski
Well-known member
Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t very clear. I had bought TL071 but they weren’t working, so tried them in a dual op pedal and they functioned so they had been mislabeled / faked. I had three batches of chips, TL071/TL072/OP07 looking identical and with the same batch number, functioning as (dodgy) dual opamps but with the label printed with the “correct” chip.
Buying direct from TI looks interesting. €40 DDP to Germany hurts a little. If any Germans/Europeans want a group buy then let me know!
Passinwind
Well-known member
If any of you folks use low current low noise SMD opamps as I often do for things like onboard preamps, it might be a good idea to stock up now, as in right now. The parts I use the most ar either completely gone or very close to it (~100 OPA145 left in the US at the usual retail vendors as far as I can tell, for example) and are quoted at a minimum of a year out on restock at Mouser and Digikey. I even saw some 2024 dates on parts I might typically use as subs, no bueno. I had to take final orders for April NAMM builds today and I barely have enough stash to meet those obligations and do even one off builds of new things I've been working on. Ugghh!
Might be time for me to revert to tube amp and preamp builds for while, I reckon,
Might be time for me to revert to tube amp and preamp builds for while, I reckon,
Guilherme Collateral
Well-known member
https://www.ti.com/product/TL072/part-details/TL072CP
72 cents a piece, straight from the manufacturer!
72 cents a piece, straight from the manufacturer!
DAJE
Well-known member
I was hoping that people would read the OP and see the giant black words, but I guess there's always someone who only reads the title.
I know they're cheaper in the USA, I live in Australia. Many other forum users are also non-US residents.
mybud
Well-known member
AFAIK @Guilherme Collateral hails from Brazil and I’m in South Africa. I registered on their site and a single 072 direct from TI costs approximately 12ZAR (1,04AUD). I put together a mock-up order (022s, 072s, 074s, 084s) to check their postage and other costs and these amount to 120ZAR (10,40AUD). This is pretty reasonable, since it seems like Tayda’s minimum postage to here is around 20USD. At least, ordering direct from TI should confirm that these are genuine, one less factor to worry about in a build. Dunno what postage to Australia will cost, but maybe worth trying their site to check.
DAJE
Well-known member
Apologies to @Guilherme Collateral for my brusque reply, I've been quite stressed by many things recently.
fig
Village Idiot
It seems a down-under group buy may be in order? We do it here in the states as well, even though we’re all obviously billionaires with no sense of value and there’s a vending machine for whatever you want on every corner. Not really…but how noice would that be? 
There are a lot of dual op amps to be had (though I suspect they too are or will be edging up in cost). Not all will sound alike so I suggest buying a few of several popular types and auditioning each for builds. Although it’s time-consuming, you could even open up old builds and audition replacement dual op amps in those as well. That should free up enough 072s for builds that just don’t do well with the other duals.
There are a lot of dual op amps to be had (though I suspect they too are or will be edging up in cost). Not all will sound alike so I suggest buying a few of several popular types and auditioning each for builds. Although it’s time-consuming, you could even open up old builds and audition replacement dual op amps in those as well. That should free up enough 072s for builds that just don’t do well with the other duals.
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