List Of Common Values

[inefficiency]

Ok, so a lot of times on this site people mention that they have stocked up on "a few common values" or that a certain seller/website is good to grab "common values" of components.

I thought it would be a good idea to get a list together of all the most common values of components used in pedal building.

Resistors, potentiometers, capacitors and maybe even some commonly used diodes and transistors.

This would come in mega useful for people trying to get themselves stocked up.

I would find it mega useful because I just purchases some storage and was thinking I'm going to need a hell of a lot of storage if I need a compartment for EVERY value out there. I guess I could just have compartments for commonly used stuff and then have a couple of boxes or whatever for rarer stuff.

What do you guys think? I'm not an expert, but I seem to go through a lot of 47uf and 10uf electrolytics. I use a lot of 100nf caps too. Resistors wise, I normally use a 2k2 for the CLR, so those go down fast.

Anyone with a bit more experience wanna give some input?

[Travis]

For resistors I think the really common values are generally:

1K
2K2
4K7
10K
22K
47K
100K
470K
1M

Ceramic caps:
47pf
100pf
470pf

Film caps:
4n7
10n
22n
47n
100n
470n
1u

Electros:
1u
2u2
4u7
10u
22u
47u
100u

Diodes:
1N4001
1N914
1N34A

Transistors:
2N3904
2N3906
2N5088

Op amps:
TL072 (dual)
JRC4558D (dual)
TL071 (single)
LM741 (single)

Pots:
10K
25K
50K
100K
500K
1M

[Frank_NH]

Travis' list is pretty good and mirrors about what I've seen in my own parts bins.

For pots, remember to get a variety of Audio and Linear.  Then there are the "special" pots like C50K or double gang 100K (for your Klon) etc.

If you really wanted to get scientific about this, we could collectively go through each layout here and enter the types/values for all components into a master spreadsheet.  I did this for a subset of circuits I was interested in - my file is at home and I'll report my findings when I can access the data.  It helped a lot when ordering stuff from my favorite vendors.

For someone starting out, I would suggest getting some resistor, capacitor, diode, and IC/transistor assortments.  Then, buy only the specific parts/values you need thereafter.   The one exception to this is resistors.  I'm finding it cheaper in many cases to buy an assortment (in this case 1% metal film resistors) then toss the values I'll never use...

[IvIark]

I'd definitely add 1n caps which I always seem to use a lot of, 220n caps, 1K pots and 5K pots to Travis' list.  Oh and NE5532's as well which tends to be my fave opamp in a lot of circuits.

[inefficiency]

I've stocked up on most linear pot values that I'll need, but I'm struggling to find a good source of cheap log pots.

That is a good list though. Perhaps if anyone adds anything, Travis can edit his post and add them in there so that we have all the values on one post instead of having to search the whole thread.

What about trimmers? I've used a few 10k trimmers, but not much else.

EDIT: In terms of organizing my storage, I'm thinking the best way might just be to put some dividers in the drawers and organize my resistors by "decade". IE one drawer would have 1k, 10k, 100k etc...

[Beaker]

"EDIT: In terms of organizing my storage, I'm thinking the best way might just be to put some dividers in the drawers and organize my resistors by "decade". IE one drawer would have 1k, 10k, 100k etc... "

That's exactly how I've got my drawers sorted.

[Travis]

Yes I can edit my list as we go if you'd like

For trimmers you'll use mostly 10K, but for biasing JFETs you'll use a lot of 50K or even 100K. If you have 1K, 10K, 50K, and 100K trimmers your bases are pretty much covered

I've been thinking of getting one of those tackle box type storage units but I just have too many components. Right now I have everything in bags. Resistors in one big bag, with all the little bags in order of type and value

I could fill up a couple of those boxes with transistors alone!

[Silver Blues]

That's exactly how I do mine. I have one of those wall-mount things with a bunch of little drawers, and have them organized somewhat like that. I have 1Ω, 1K, 1M in one drawer, 10Ω, 10K, 10M in another, 100Ω, 100K in a third, and then the rest of the values arranged by base number (ex. a "22" drawer with 2.2Ω, 22Ω, 220Ω, 2.2K, 22K, 220K, 2.2M, 22M).

[Chris60601]

This is fantastic!!! I was looking for something like this myself. I was going off of what Beavis mentions but was concerned that it might be a little "dated".

I would also like to mention the more obvious but can be easily over looked too.

Sockets:
8, 14, 16 and sip36

Power:
DC Jacks, Battery snaps (these are not in mine as I dont build for batteries)

Jacks
Mono, Stereo

Switches:
3PDT, DPDT

LED:
3 mil Red

[rocket88]

i want to contribute as to what are common values, but as i look at what i have in stock it seems i'm just stocking up on pretty much everything. lol

i'll have to take a look at what i use a lot, because i try to keep a lot more of them in my stash then things that i don't use as much. i know as far as resistors i keep a massive amount of 2.2k around as i use them for all my LED resistors, cause i like them to be bright but not blinding, but with white clear LEDs you don't want to look down at it when its on. lol.

once i move and get my new workshop i'm going to re-organized all my stuff. right now my resistors are all in labeled baggies in a long box, placed in order from lowest to highest value, so i can find what value i need relatively easily. electrolytics are in a similar box, and placed in increasing order in baggies. same with my greenies, box caps, multi-layer and regular ceramics. my diodes are arranged by type and numbers, so 1n4001 in front of 1n4004, etc. my panasonics are in a labeled plastic part container, arranged in order. everything else is in labeled plastic drawer cabinets like the one below



i'm going to move my pots into a similar container but it's all the large drawers cause right now they get stuck in the small drawers cause i may have too many....

[Chris60601]

Rocket - that cab looks nice. My wife is a crafter and I have been making purchases to smallbear getting her a slew of these: http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=989

I recently got her something that is similar to what you posted except it is steel. Rather nice but for 49.00 - the smallbear ones work all to well for her. She needed the larger drawers that are featured on the bottom so that prompted me to get one. I am also most likely going to gather a few of the ones I mentioned for myself.

But like you, most of mine are in bags of 200 and all stashed in my laptop bag under a coffee table in the front-room. I have managed to niche out about 10 feet of space in the garage for myself and slowly moving stuff there for storage but I do my work in the dinning room.

I certainly don't have as much as you, but I can relate to have a temp space and I know the looks of people seeing that "stuff" taking up space in a room is ought not be - LOL

[Frank_NH]

OK - here's my sample parts count (below) for 20 projects from a BOM spreadsheet.  The projects range from overdrives and fuzzes to delays (mainly overdrives though).  I don't include resistors, since you can purchase tons of resistors for little money.  The format is <part type> <Part spec> <total number for all 20 projects>.

Some stats which jump out from this analysis:

* Note the number 2N5088s.  Get lots of those.
* The most popular diodes are 1N914/1N4148 (no surprise there).
* The most popular pots are: B10K, B50K, A100K, B100K, A500K.
* Get lots of good quality electros from 1 uF to 470 uF.
* Most popular film caps: 1, 2.2, 4.7, 10, 22, 47, 100, 220 nF.  Get lots of 100 nF!!
* Not surprisingly, the most popular ceramic disc caps are 47, 100, 220, 470 pF.  These are cheap so get lots.

Finally - TRIMMERS!  I echo the recommendation to get 10K, 50K, and 100K, and you probably want to add 20K too.  Please note - there are two sizes of trimmers:  Bourns 3362 (1/4" square) and the larger 3386 (3/8" square).  Get the smaller ones if you can!  They take up less space on the vero.  Also, if you purchase PCBs (like the 1776 Britannia that I built recently) they are likely to require the smaller ones - the larger ones won't fit! (I just purchased some of the 3362s from Amazon.com because I couldn't find 50Ks from the usual places )

IC LM308N 1
IC JRC4558 4
IC TL071 1
IC PT2399 2
IC CA3130 1
IC OP275 2
IC OPA2604 1
IC TL072 0
IC TL074 1
               
Transistor 2SC1815 2
Transistor 2N5088 12
Transistor 2N2222 3
Transistor 2N3094 4
Transistor 2N5457 5
Transistor 2N5952 5
Transistor 2N1308 1
Transistor BC550C 1
Transistor BS170 6
Transistor BC108 2
Mosfet 2N7000 2
volt reg. 78L05 3
               
Diode 1N914 / 1N4148 24
Diode 1N400X 16
Diode 9.1v Zener 6
Diode       1N34A 3
Diode LED 9
               
Poten. 2KA 0
Poten. 2KB 1
Poten. 5KA 0
Poten. 5KB 3
Poten. 10KA 0
Poten. 10KB 10
Poten. 10KREVA 0
Poten. 20 KW 1
Poten. 25KA 1
Poten. 25KB 1
Poten. 50KA 5
Poten. 50KB 9
Poten. 50KREVA 3
Poten. 100KA 9
Poten. 100KB 7
Poten. 250KA 1
Poten. 250KB 1
Poten. 500KA 6
Poten. 500KB 4
Poten. 1MA 2
Poten. 1MB 1
               
E-Cap. 1 uF  14
E-Cap. 2.2 uF  3
E-Cap. 4.7 uF 10
E-Cap. 10 uF 11
E-Cap. 22 uF 15
E-Cap. 47 uF 19
E-Cap. 100 uF  14
               
Film Cap. 1 nF 10
Film Cap. 2.2 nF  8
Film Cap. 3.3 nF  5
Film Cap. 4.7 nF  8
Film Cap. 6.8 nF  0
Film Cap. 10 nF  7
Film Cap. 22 nF  13
Film Cap. 33 nF  0
Film Cap. 39 nF  0
Film Cap. 47 nF  16
Film Cap. 68 nF  0
Film Cap. 100 nF  34
Film Cap. 150 nF  3
Film Cap. 220 nF  18
Film Cap. 330 nF  0
Film Cap. 470 nF  13
Film Cap. 680 nF  1
Film Cap. 1 uF  8
               
CD Cap. 22 pF  2
CD Cap. 47 pF  4
CD Cap. 51 pF  2
CD Cap. 100 pF  6
CD Cap. 220 pF  4
CD Cap. 270 pF  1
CD Cap. 470 pF  7

[inefficiency]

Awesome info!