# Pedal parts supplies in Canada



## KoskineN (Apr 19, 2007)

Hey! Is there a store in Canada where I can get pedal parts and stuff, like Small Bear Elec in the USA?
I'm especially looking for decal stock sheets and knobs. I use to order stuff on Small Bear, the shipping has raised to a ridiculous price for Canada.

Thx!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I don't know of any place in Canada that carries what Small Bear does.

Tayda, in Thailand carries some of the same inventory, and is very competitively priced, but I don't think they carry decal stock. Costs can be somewhat offset with their intermittent 15% off Facebook coupons. Unfortunately, the most recent one elapsed on April 4, so you have to wait a month or so for the next one.

Reliable, but they take a few weeks to ship to Canada.


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## mister.zed (Jun 8, 2011)

Next Gen Guitars is Canadian and has some pedal knobs here. I've bought from him several times and was very happy with price and parts. You could ask him if he would bring in decal sheets for you. He has brought in stuff for me before.

Indeed, as Mark states, Tayda has great prices, especially on electronic components, but some of the hardware, such as the 1/4" plugs I bought are poorer in quality and I wouldn't buy hardware again from them.

Another one not in Canada is www.futurlec.com but I've had good experiences with them. They have some very inexpensive knobs.

In the US, have you tried Lawrence (the guy behind Ohnoho pedals) here? I don't know his current shipping prices, but I've ordered from him in the past and been very happy.

But I like Smallbear a lot too. I think Smallbear and other North American distributors such as Digikey.ca in general have hardware of much higher quality. Remember the old joke...

Fast, Good, Cheap: pick any two.


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## Manoel de Souza Oliveira (Jul 15, 2018)

Hey folks i just arrived in Canada,I come from Brazil, your country is amazing

So I am looking for electronic parts supply here. I found on google this web sites
A1 Electronic Parts - Serving the Toronto area for 30 years!

Active Tech: Electronic Components, Parts, Supplies and Equipment


Welcome to Component Electronics Inc

But it is kind of hard to find pedals parts, even a jrc4558D, i could find it, 

So anybody knows a web site in Canada to find pedals parts? I have some circuits boards, so I need to find a store. 

Have a good one folks


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Hi and welcome @Manoel de Souza Oliveira!

I don't know of any online store that would carry obsolete chips like the JRC. Small Bear is unique in that biz model and that's were most Cannuk pedal makers buy those sorts of things most of the time (especailly now that Active Surplus is defunct - they were always a crap shoot anyway as regards finding a specific part).

@mhammer very much undersold how cheap Tayda is (if there was a Canadian store it could not be cheaper) - quality on some parts is not as good as name brand stuff (specifically the resistor leads seem a bit thin to me and the enclosures are not so good for etching due to the huge amount of surface prep required - not as smooth as actual Hammond - but their powdercoats are good if you're not adding art or painting on top). Their box film and Tantalum caps are good; cheap knobs (not as good quality as BMLS but not horrible); boards (copper clad for etching; tagboard and stripboard etc). I don't buy active parts there (some stories of bad chips especially PT2399s). Also order delivery isn't a matter of weeks but usually at least a month - look elsewhere if in a rush; this is a place to stock up on some basics when there's an active coupon discount happening.

I also used BLMS (linked above). Some of the best deals on name-brand connectors around (Lumberg and Neutrik ) and great knobs. Not Hammod enclosures but better than Taydas. They now also stock Alpha pots at competative prices (only Tayda is cheaper, but only by a hair). A few other things are good deals there. No caps, resistors or active components though - you can't get everything you need here.

Aside from that there are local mom n pop stores, like A1 linked above. I have never ordered online from them; just gone there in person a few times. They are not focused on pedal parts by a long shot and they don't have everything listed on their site in stock I wouldn't think (I know they don't carry all those larger Hammond enclosures because I have asked in person - they will special order them for you). They have decent prices however. I go there more for amp parts rather than pedal.

If you're in the Toronto another handy one is Honson Supermetronic (no online presence) which is in the basement of the Home Hardware on College St just W of Spadina on the N side. The connectors are all generic and of questionable quality (especially the 1/4" jacks) but great place to grab resistors and caps as well as wire and sockets and other things.

Around Southern Ontario there is also Sayal - multiple locations including Toronto (Scarborough). They'll have what you need but sometimes you have to buy a bag of 5 or 10 when you only need 2.

Of all these the only one I know to have decal stock is Small Bear. For getting that locally I would recommend (model building) hobby shops (which is where I buy paint for my pedal enclosures) - those are plentiful enough.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Toronto area seems to have lots of place's. .. you guys are lucky. 

In Montréal we are very limited.. 

For the decal sheets. I'm not certain that we might be talking about the same stuff but when I did quite a few guitar and bass refinish. I bought decal sheets to print my instrument logos from a train hobby shop here in Montreal... seems all train enthousiaste print they're own decals...

If it's the same thing your looking for. U would recommend hobby stores. Plus they carry all those extra small screws for guitar work...


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I will put in a plug for dipmicro - Electronic components - dipmicro electronics . They are based in the Ontario side of Niagara Falls., so all shipping and unit prices are in Canadian dollars, very comparable to Tayda, if not better sometimes. Shipping is as fast as 1st class mail. The only drawback is that their inventory is not as broad as either Small Bear or Tayda. But for a lot of passive components, they're a good source.


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## Manoel de Souza Oliveira (Jul 15, 2018)

Thanks Granny, mhammer and french 99, 

I'm living in north bay, it is a 3:30 from toronto, but on July 30 i will go to Toronto and I will check those store that granny recommends me. But I will also check small bear, and see with the shipping costs it worth. Small bear looks likes all parts a good quality like 1% resistors and alpha pots


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

If you want knobs for pedals I have about 100 new ones I never used


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Manoel de Souza Oliveira said:


> Thanks Granny, mhammer and french 99,
> 
> I'm living in north bay, it is a 3:30 from toronto, but on July 30 i will go to Toronto and I will check those store that granny recommends me. But I will also check small bear, and see with the shipping costs it worth. Small bear looks likes all parts a good quality like 1% resistors and alpha pots


I consider Small Bear proprietor Steve Daniels to be a personal friend. Hosting him and his wife, and staying with them in Brooklyn, I think, qualifies as that.
Steve's business had interesting roots. It initially started by him asking members of the DIYstompbox forum how many would be interested in a particular hard-to-find component if he could do a bulk purchase from a source. Bit by bit it expanded, adding more things to the inventory. Initially, it was something he operated in their spare bedroom, on top of his full-time job. At a certain point, there was enough business, that his late father encouraged him to take the leap and make it his full-time job. Bit by bit it expanded in terms of inventory and sales to require a commercial space outside the apartment. He found some space to lease, and has steadily increased the space, and now has 7 or 8 staff. I visited the locale when we stayed with Steve a few years back, and it's really something to see all those knobs, enclosures, and bins of stuff, stacked to the ceiling.

It's an interesting business case-study for the modern era, since the forum provided a source of both market research _and_ clientele. That allowed the business to expand without taking huge chances on inventory that might not turn out to be as popular as thought. These days, a lot of Small Bear's revenue comes from commercial clients - many of the bigger-name boutique makers - but he retains a devotion to hobbyists, and the same level of service to the small names like me as to the big names. SB is not always the cheapest source for things, but unlike many e-bay sellers, everything gets tested. I remember Steve had a Memory Man with the lid removed to test the NOS bucket brigade chips he was selling. That's not to say that other sellers _don't _have any quality control, or that every single passive component gets checked. But when part of your business is things like NOS transistors and chips that one of your contacts has found an undiscovered stash of somewhere, you check it for quality, if only because it saves you the headache of dealing with disappointed customers.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Hi and welcome @Manoel de Souza Oliveira!
> Also order delivery isn't a matter of weeks but usually at least a month - look elsewhere if in a rush; this is a place to stock up on some basics when there's an active coupon discount happening.


Wow, not my experience with shipping from Tayda at all- the order I placed July 5th arrived on the 11th. I always go for the DHL option for shipping from them as it's almost always cheaper than post and in the past when post was cheaper, they emailed and asked if I would mind if they upgraded me to DHL at no extra cost since the price difference was minimal. DHL charges are super reasonable too- $10.50 handling and a $4.75 transaction fee so only slightly more than the Canada Post $9.95 fee.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I went with DHL once, and never again. It increased the cost to me substantially (brokerage fees), and was inconvenient. Not a slag against DHL. I just think convenience and cost depends on where you are. Tayda ships a lot from Germany, conceivably by boat. You're just in the right place. I've ordered from Tayda for a number of years, and while I am happy with their service, have never received anything in less than 3 weeks.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

gtrguy said:


> Wow, not my experience with shipping from Tayda at all- the order I placed July 5th arrived on the 11th. I always go for the DHL option for shipping from them as it's almost always cheaper than post and in the past when post was cheaper, they emailed and asked if I would mind if they upgraded me to DHL at no extra cost since the price difference was minimal. DHL charges are super reasonable too- $10.50 handling and a $4.75 transaction fee so only slightly more than the Canada Post $9.95 fee.


Tayda has a warehouse in the US - if all of your order items are stocked in that warehouse it can be a lot faster. I have not had that luck and have to wait for the package to get here from Asia. There's no way $10 will ship a package from Asia by anything other than boat which takes more than 5 days.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Tayda has a warehouse in the US - if all of your order items are stocked in that warehouse it can be a lot faster. I have not had that luck and have to wait for the package to get here from Asia. There's no way $10 will ship a package from Asia by anything other than boat which takes more than 5 days.


Don't know what to tell you, different experience from me. I had no idea they had a US warehouse... All my orders have shipped from Bangkok, Thailand. $10 wasn't the shipping cost, that was DHL's handling fee. The Tayda shipping charge was less for DHL than the postal option on my last order.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Where it gets shipped from will depend on a bunch of things, including I suspect, the size of the order. My orders have never been shipped from the U.S., generally from either Singapore or Germany, going by the postmark.


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## Manoel de Souza Oliveira (Jul 15, 2018)

Guys thanks a lot for the information, good to know Mhammer about the beginning of small bear and that he treat everybody equal. After you telling that he sells components for boutique companies, i will get my parts from small bear too


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## Budd (Mar 4, 2014)

Manoel de Souza Oliveira said:


> Hey folks i just arrived in Canada,I come from Brazil, your country is amazing
> 
> So I am looking for electronic parts supply here. I found on google this web sites
> A1 Electronic Parts - Serving the Toronto area for 30 years!
> ...


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## Budd (Mar 4, 2014)

I have jrc4558 chips on hand , email me , [email protected] & your address & I’ll send you 1/2 ?


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

For decal stock, I assume you mean clear inkjet or laster printable sheets? If so try your local hobby store, that where I got mine.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Hobby stores, especially those dealing in model trains and RC airplanes and the like, can be useful sources for some kinds of supplies. For instance, I got some really nice rub-on transfer lettering...in YELLOW, of all things, from such a hobby shop. They also carry small pieces of sheet aluminum, sometimes, so you can fashion your own bottom plates for pedals, or sheets of white plastic, to make your own vibrato-arm backplate to cover the springs.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

mhammer said:


> Hobby stores, especially those dealing in model trains and RC airplanes and the like, can be useful sources for some kinds of supplies. For instance, I got some really nice rub-on transfer lettering...in YELLOW, of all things, from such a hobby shop. They also carry small pieces of sheet aluminum, sometimes, so you can fashion your own bottom plates for pedals, or sheets of white plastic, to make your own vibrato-arm backplate to cover the springs.


For alu sheet you're much better off going to Metal Supermarkets or even Home Despot. I use that stuff so much.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Agreed. But I've seen smaller pre-cut sheets suitable for Eurorack builds. Home Depot willcut lumber for you, but not sheet metal.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

HD's sheets are small. Get a pair of tin snips and done. Not like it's steel.

I've made entire enclosures out of that stuff, as well as misc parts and brackets for repair jobs.


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