curious if anyone has used those cheap Chinese pots?

[Ravenswerld]

Anyone have any luck with them?

[SpaceCommandant]

I've had four or five faulty pots in my builds over the past few years... all of them were the cheap, non-Alpha pots.

[rocket88]

the thing is it's not worth it. you can get quality alph pots from tayda electronics for $0.50usd each.

[Ravenswerld]

Ya, I know. Was just wondering if it is worth it to use those cheaply Chinese ones. Thnx for replies! You all rock...

[Dex3887]

Couldn't agree with Mr. 88 more, it will drive you mad trying to debug when it's because the cheap pot is faulty, it might be alluring to buy tons of cheap WH148 style pots, but alpha are way more reliable. Peter from VFE has a sale of his Vimex 16mm pcb mount pots on his eBay I got 200 mixed values from him esp the w20k w/center detent. they look and feel way better than the cheap trash I was using before.

Moral of this ramble: Shop around and save up to buy quality products, it will save you a lot of time and grief.

[Travis]

If you're gonna cheap out on your pedals, the hardware is the worst place to do it..

[Frank_NH]

Travis wrote

If you're gonna cheap out on your pedals, the hardware is the worst place to do it..

This is absolutely true, and it goes for any hobby.  I'm also a guitar builder, and the most expensive part of building a guitar is...(wait for it)...your TIME.  Material costs are secondary.  And while you may want to use less expensive parts for experimental builds, certainly anything you plan to keep and use should use the best quality parts you can afford.

In the case of $0.50 Chinese pots versus better quality $1.00 pots, the difference in cost for an average build is about the price of a Starbucks small coffee.  Same goes for other parts.  In fact, part of the attraction of pedal building for me is that the average build is relatively cheap - maybe $20 - $30 in parts, depending on the enclosure, switches, etc.

So, yeah, don't get cheap parts...

[Neil mcNasty]

YES!
I have done that mistake.
Never again!

[ξεναγος νεκροπολης]

i have hundrents of them!!!i'm using those cheap pots for the last 5 years, and never had problems. the only thing that is annoying is that you can't find any cheap pots with log and antilog tapers...anyway....i guess i was lucky...the only problem i got with hardware was 2-3 3pdt footswitches that after a lot of abuse they stoped working, and some dead cheap toggle switches that were like totally fake!!!
for me, (and i build mostly for my self and friends) a $0,05 pot that will simple work is enough...
just my 2cents..
cheers.
Savvas

[Beaker]

I bought a load of 250k and 500k pots in log and linear tapers a few years ago from Partspipe in Hong Kong, for use in cheap guitars. They have all worked great, were really cheap but are only available in very limited values.

I would not do the same with pedal builds however.  As already stated, the minimal saving per pedal does not justify the extra problems, failures, frustration and dissapointment.

Like Savvas, I avoid cheap mini-toggle switches like the plague. After saving a few quid on a load of DPDT on/on/on that all fell apart the first I operated the switch, I will only get them from reliable sources like Tayda.

[Hozy31]

Tayda all the way for me and what i can't get there Bitsbox and Ebay. I did go for the cheap pots once, never again. Ended up with loads of different shaft lengths which was really annoying and they felt cheap.

[rocket88]

it's interesting bringing up other cheap hardware, like switches. i get my stomp switches from someone in hong kong, can't remember their ebay name now, but i get them for $1.83usd each when i get 100 of them. they're the same quality blue ones that cost near double the price, but because i get them in a large amount i save a shit ton. side note, the color of the switch does denote quality level, black being the lowest and the colored ones being higher quality. the saying too good to be true hold true for everything, especially hardware we use.

[M. Spencer]

I've been burnt on cheap Chinese eBay switches before, where they work for a while and then crap out on ya. So far all my cheap stomp switches and pots save one are working fine, but after I go through these it's strictly Tayda or Mammoth from now on.