j201s

[punkrawkgeek]

I have been looking for some j201s for a while now. All the ones I am finding are about 3-4$CAD... Does anyone know if there is a better place to get them?? Thank you!

prg

[Travis]

The J201 is obsolete and very popular for guitar projects so demand has driven up the price.

There are cheap deals from Asia on eBay but many of these parts are counterfeit or out of spec

Many of us have switched to the MMBFJ201 - The SMD version of the J201 which has supplanted the through hole version

I bought the MMBFJ201 and adapter boards from diyguitarpedals.com but unfortunately they are out of stock of both right now. The MMBFJ201 is available from mouser for $0.36 but I’m not sure where else to buy the adapter boards

[tracer03]

GuitarPCB just posted SMD J201s pre-soldered to adapter boards, was thinking about picking some up and giving them a try...(not affiliated with them, just trying to help out)

https://guitarpcb.com/product/j201-factory-soldered-converter-board-5-pack-w-gold-pin-headers/

[Muadzin]

SMD J201's is where its at these days. You might get lucky and find some legit J201's but overal the only through hole J201's you'll find will be fakes. Order anything out of production from China at your own peril.

[punkrawkgeek]

Why'd they go outta production, when so many people still use them....? That's weird. I guess I will check out these adapters and such. See what I can come up with. Thanks! :)

[Sensei Tim]

Yeah I get my j201 (and 2n5457) as smd’s from Mouser.  100 of them for around 20 bucks.

I’m using SMD parts on all of my pcbs from now on so I don’t have to worry about adapter boards.  

There are several adapter board projects on OSH park.  These are the ones that I use:
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/8bf7XW05

[punkrawkgeek]

I may just have to etch some of my own boards and get me some SMD j201s... I don't wanna go ALL SMD yet... Still kind of a newb. :P

[music6000]

Get the J201's from https://www.pedalhackerelectronics.com

The Value Pack is https://www.pedalhackerelectronics.com/JFET-J201-Fairchild-FSC-p/j201-10.htm

Grab em while you can!!!

I live in Australia & they were rare as Hen's Teeth when they were still making them.

[Muadzin]

punkrawkgeek wrote

Why'd they go outta production, when so many people still use them....? That's weird.

Because usage of JFET's for guitar pedals was peanuts to IC and transistor manufacturers. When the real big boys like the computer industry stopped using through hole and went SMD there was just no money to be made making them. And that applies to more and more IC's and transistors. So better get used to SMD soldering and adapters cause its going to get worse.

[Travis]

I agree 100% muazdin. One of these days I’d like to get into PCB design and I’ll circumvent the adapter board altogether :)