Parts for Francesca clone

[pbrommer]

Back with an update folks!

Just got my order in today. Everything came in fine. There was a $25 minimum, so I had to get things for my stompboxes.
The only issue that popped up was that they subbed in 4x 1.6kV 0.02uF PVC caps in for the 600V 0.02uF caps (when I ordered 4x 600V PVC) at no charge extra to me; perhaps they ran out of stock. I guess that's not that big of a deal, and maybe I'll give them a call to see if there was a mixup. Do you think an higher-rated cap warrants a phone call? (probably not)
Anyways.... They seemed like good people.

Caveats:
1. Their catalog is all online in acrobat, so for those without adobe acrobat, tough..
2. Order minimum is $25 (not including shipping)

Now, to reveal the source of all that seems to be good:
*insert drumroll*



Point your browser to http://www.ackradio.com

*edit* part list
0.002uF -- PVC622
0.02uF -- PVC612
0.1uF -- PVC601

Good luck, and happy building. My Twreck won't be built for at least another 2 years (I haven't built a tube amp before, and will tackle others first). BUT, at least I have caps before you all buy out the supply

Patrick

[Mark]

I do have a tip on the light, I was talking to Matt Taylor quite a while ago and he informed me that the light/neon was sold by Mode electronics. It's a 120VAC job, which did'nt really help me as I need 240VAC.

What transformers will you use Omar?

I had thought of doing much the same thing myself, though I have been so busy, I don't have time for almost anything.

Keep me posted though as I'm very interested in building an Express that is very close to the real thing, only once we've done that can we work on things we deem as improvements to the circuit.

[Omar]

Patrick,
Thanks for the info. I've had no luck with getting Mouser to reduce there minimum order and they haven't gotten back to be on the values not listed but they did say those would most likely also have a minimum order.

Did you call them about the 1.6kV caps? For the sake of accuracy I wanted the 600V caps.

Mark,
Thanks for the info on the pilot lamp. As for transformers, I using the Heyboyer's that I used in my last 'wreck. I really want to get going with this project but finding the parts and time has been a bit of a challenge.

Omar

[pbrommer]

Nope. Haven't called. I'll see what's going on. They could be out of stock or a goof. I'll figure it out soon. I will report back tonight. Gotta teach now.

Patrick

[pbrommer]

Hello all-
Just a follow up to the above post. I gave ackradio a call. They are out of the 600V PVC612 0.02uF. Bummer. They have 7 on an order from 1999.... which is old. He says that they will be placing another order, and that it is a product that they keep in stock normally. He will change the internet count. I would give him about 3 -6 months on the caps. You can give them a call -- they're nice people -- to find out about the lead time. Otherwise, it'll be difficult. Good luck.

Patrick

[mojo]

Hope the scavenger hunt for the magic parts is going well. Two thoughts for your perusal. First, if you come across "minimum order" parts and can't get the small amounts you need but the cost isn't exorbitant, consider going ahead and buying the small lot and posting to the board what you have - I suspect several of us are working on similar projects and might be interested in buying your excess with a small "shipping and handling" markup. Second, once you have a "desired parts list" pretty well complete, please post that as many would find it helpful and if we have some of the parts others are missing we can work out an exchange. Just two thoughts, possibly worth what you paid for them.

[rhinson]

hello, just a word on the pvc series caps: if you look at the spec sheets for these on the mallory site, it shows that the >1000v caps are polyproplyene---not polyester. the <1000v caps in the pvc series are polyester. so using the 1600v caps will probably give a little different tonality since they are a different material than the stock amps used---just keep that in mind. the guys at ack electronics don't stock mallory stuff anymore since cde bought out mallory and pulled their dealership for the product line. i ordered some from them and they sent me sprague 715's as a sub since they can't get them anymore. they still have some old stock of the .1mfpvc's. but no .02's or .002's (they have 2 stores and neither store had any)---just to let you know.
rh

[pbrommer]

My guess is that you could probably buy a batch of 6122 PVC's (0.0022uF) and find the ones closest to 0.002uF. Just my idea. Who knows if the original was EXACTLY 0.02uF, or if it had slight variance.. I might just get some 0.0022uF and see what the difference is between the two capacitors. It's all an experiment.

Patrick

[Omar]

I may have found a good source for both the Mallory PVC and TC caps. I never heard back from Mouser so I emailed CDE directly. They told me to check out Allied - http://www.alliedelec.com. They carry both the PVC's and TC needed for the Francesca clone with no minimum order, although I had to subsitute .022uF (PVC6122) caps for the .02uF (PVC612) caps. The bad news was .002uF and .022uF were out of stock. I sent an email asking for for an ETA on them. Prices I thought were very reasonable. PVC were $0.56 to $1.25 per cap and the TC 20uF (TC75) is $5.98 and 40uF (TC78) is $7.59.

Omar

[BlueDragon]

I found this :
http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/File ... US&lang=en
There is a Francesca layout over there !

[HeeBGB]

I found this :
http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/File ... US&lang=en
There is a Francesca layout over there !

Yes this was posted by Billy Batz a few days ago. He is also a member of the Metro Amp forum. Nice looking layout too!

Greg

[BlueDragon]

Yes this was posted by Billy Batz a few days ago. He is also a member of the Metro Amp forum. Nice looking layout too!

Greg

Opps, sorry ! I missed Billy Batz post !