Effects Connection Gear Review Blog

Parts Sourcing for Effects, Amps, Electronic Projects

LongJohnny — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:50:27 +0000

I am always trying to cater to my customers needs a little better. One of the new ways I am trying to do this, is to get obsolete, or hard to find parts for my customers. I have several new suppliers, and connections for parts and am trying to get all my customers the news about sourcing parts for upcoming projects.

The best way to let me know that you need a special part sourced, or manufactured is to copy and paste the section below into an email, and shoot it to me at info@effectsconnection.com

Parts Source Request:

Type of Part(capacitor, resistor, switch, etc.):

Manufacturers Part Number:

Quantity Needed:

Future Availability required:

How soon do you need this part:

Special Instruction(drawing, schematic, special connection, or additional description):

March 20th-June 1st Announcement

LongJohnny — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:08:37 +0000

Hello All,

I would like to take this time to thank you for your patronage of my store. On Friday, March 20th, I will be going in for my 4th neck surgery. I have had a really bad time with the previous 3 surgeries, and this will hopefully be the last one, and the one that fixes everything.

Due to the surgery, my assistant Whitney and my Dad Chuck Lewman will be taking over the day to day operations of effectsconnection.com. I will not be doing anything for approximately 1 week, which wont affect shipments, but will affect the information emails. I encourage you to call my business number or my cell phone if you have any questions. Email will be answered for common questions, but technical questions will take a little longer.

If you have any concerns with service, please feel free to contact me before the 20th, and I will be happy to help out.

AGAIN, SERVICE WILL NOT BE AFFECTED!!!

Just some info,

This is my 4th neck surgery in 6 years. I have a 3 level fusion, that did not fuse. They will be going in posterior and fusing the neck. They will then turn me over and remove the previous plate that was used, through the front. This is actually 2 operations done at once.

UPDATE: I am doing very well, as it has been almost 8 weeks since I had the surgery. I have come a long way from having 10 out of 10 on the pain scale right after my operation. Before I had the surgery, I was about a 4 or 5 out of 10 pain level all the time. Now I can say that my "normal" level is about a 1 or a 2. I thank all of you that have prayed for me, and sent good mojo. I am getting back into the full swing of the business part of running effectsconnection and waking up happy to face the day.

thanks for your understanding,

John Lewman

Some pics of the surgery site, if you want to see some really nasty stuff

Capacitance Conversion tables

LongJohnny — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:38:14 +0000

Here is a helpful little table for converting between uF(MFD), pF, and all the others…

http://www.effectsconnection.com/images/capacitanceconversiontable.xls

New Semiconductor(IC/Diode/Transistor) policy

LongJohnny — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:38:31 +0000

I just wanted to address some issues that have been going on lately within the IC/Transistor/Diode selling that is being done nowadays. It seems that there are several sellers on Ebay and other sites that sell semiconductors that are inferior or fake. These people are usually from Asian countries, but not limited to them. With this happening, I have instituted a new policy for my buying of these items from my suppliers.

I am requiring that any time I buy a new item from a supplier, I will have an initial batch tested for electrical characteristics. If they do not match the datasheet for the given manufacturer, I will reject them, and put the supplier on a "no-buy" list. I am beginning to establish some good partnerships with North American and European suppliers, and will put forth a concerted effort to get the best products my customers can get.

One thing that I have found troubling, and have learned from my mistakes, is that Burr Brown Opamps are very hard to get, and are almost alway counterfeit. I have found a few suppliers that will sell factory direct, and will be buying them soon. If you see a BB opamp especially the OPA2134’s, OPA627’s, and OPA2604’s and they are priced below $3, they are 99.99% of the time fake. I bought my last batch of OPA2604’s from a local supplier that was going out of business, and was able to pass on the savings.

With the clones out there of certain pedals that use the OPA2134, please test them before putting them in a pedal. They are most likely a generic opamp that has been re-labeled to look like a BB product.

I am saying Buyer Beware, as I have been burned before myself. If you see that some of my prices on rare or discontinued items are a little higher, it is not because I am trying to gouge anyone. It takes a lot of time, samples and testing to get a batch of components to be able to put up for sale. Once I am sure that the products I am buying are legit, I do an audit test on random pieces, to make sure that the whole batch is good. If you receive an item that is bad, I will refund your shipping and purchase price, or send a personally tested item to you at no charge. I do require that you send the bad component back, to use as proof to my suppliers. I will pay for all shipping involved.

Thanks for your time and consideration,

John Lewman and Family

About Myself and Effectsconnection

LongJohnny — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 08:10:39 +0000

I would like to let everyone know a little about me, as I think it helps to put people at ease about what I am doing.

I was born in Bremerton WA in 1970, and moved to Idaho when I was 2. My family moved to Oregon when I was 3, and I lived there most of my life. I grew up in a town called Central Point, which is near Medford in southern Oregon. I went to college when I was 24 and graduated in 2000 with degrees in Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering. I went to work for a semiconductor industry after college immediately after college, and worked in that field until June of last year. I now am taking classes for Pharmacy, and hope to graduate soon.

Musically, my father started me playing guitar when I was 10, and I took lessons until I was 12, and hated it, because I wanted to play like Hendrix, and they had me playing out of those Mel Bay books. I dropped the guitar for 16 year, and got one when I was 28, and have been putzing around with it since then.

Effectsconnection was born out of friendships I made on several different internet forums, including Harmony Central, The Gear Page, and the Weber BBS. I get ideas about what people need from these forums and try to follow what is going on. I also collect vintage and rare pedals, which is getting a little out of hand.

I want to wish you welcome if this is your first time here, and please feel free to ask any questions you have along the way.

True Bypass wiring diagram

LongJohnny — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:52:34 +0000

This is a diagram I picked up from a Harmony Central forum member a while ago, and it shows how to cascade a true bypass loop. Feel free to download it and make your own box. We have the enclosures, 3pdt switches, and jacks for sale here.

LongJohnny Cable Construction Procedure

LongJohnny — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 01:19:59 +0000

I would like to start out by saying that, through this process of learning to make cables, I decided to make a pictorial to show the basic construction of LongJohnny Cables. I use the finest materials available to make these cables, such as G&H or Switchcraft Connectors, Canare Cable, and Silver Solder. Some of the pictures are from different plugs. I am not that great with a digital camera, and had to take the best ones from a few different groups. Click on the thumbnail for larger pictures.

I start out with my precut cable, and strip away the outer insulation, revealing two layers of shielding (Copper braid and black conductive sleeve).

I then unbraid the copper conductive shielding, and make a duck tail, applying silver solder to the wires.

I then set up a plug in my jig, and apply silver solder to the plug, to make the connection to the duck tail braid.

I then connect the duck tail part of the braid to the plug, making sure there is a good physical connection, and that the solder joint is bright and shiny.

Next I strip away the black conductive rubber, and solder the tip connector to the signal wire of the cable. Again, I use a high grade silver solder for this connection.

I now put some shrink wrap over the soldering, for the purpose of insulation and giving the cable a little extra life from the strain relief.

All that is left is to put the body on, and screw in the jacket. Here is a complete cable when finished.

I can make cable to any length, and have Canare GS-4, GS-6, and Quad conductor speaker cable. Please enquire about pricing if you would like to make LongJohnny cables part of your pedal board.

CLICK HERE TO BUY LONGJOHNNY CABLES AT EFFECTSCONNECTION.COM