Watts Audio

[Structo]

You are lucky mine said it shipped today as well, a week and a half after I ordered.
So I guess mine fell into a crack or something....

[iknowjohnny]

I stopped buying from him because of very slow shipments and a bad experience. The last time i had ordered parts from him and tubesandmore and the TAM order arrived over a week before kens. And when kens did arrive there were several resistor mistakes and instead of getting me the parts quickly it took over another week even tho it was his mistake. I think he doesn't stock much so a lot of things he has to order before he can even send it to you. I'm sure he's a good guy and all that, but regardless there are far better places to do business with. if i were in his place i would have sent the parts i made a mistake on overnite, but even priority mail would have been acceptable. I mean, how much did he save on 4 or 5 resistors? $.25 maybe? I ended up buying the resistors locally so i didn't have to wait any longer to finish the build. Not good.

[M Fowler]

I cannot get much locally anymore unfortunately. Some NTE parts only and of course Radio Shack.

Called a few Radio and TV repair guys one day and they got pissed that I would bother them and what the hell do I want that value of caps and resistor for?

Local amp guru's all use on line ordering like I do.

So with that said I bought about 6 of those small parts bin drawers screwed them to the walls and ordered cap kits and resistor kits as well as from about everyone I can think of to keep a supply on hand just in-case.

I order a lot of stuff from ken because he would listen to my requests like those chassis with inward mounting he finally told me he would provide them and he did. He provides good products but the orders are getting rather slow and had my share of backorder as well.

I'm going to continue shopping there just because.......

[Structo]

I really want to support the little guy.
The big supply houses make their money on the commercial accounts.
I'm kind of surprised places like Mouser even deal in single order quantities.
But like Mouser and AES, they ship fast. A couple times I forgot to order something and called about a half hour later and my order was already picked and boxed.

I'll tell you what, I can get an order from Doug Hoffman in three days and he is on the opposite coast from me.
He ships flat rate priority and that is my favorite way to get stuff.
If he can fit it in the box, he ships the cheapest he can because he knows shipping kills us little guys.
I just wish Doug had a bigger selection of parts.

If Ken could get the turn around part better he would do much better. Plus return emails.
At this point I can't really see using him again.
Not only slow shipping but poor communication does not set well with me.

[ToneMerc]

I cannot get much locally anymore unfortunately. Some NTE parts only and of course Radio Shack.

Local amp guru's all use on line ordering like I do.

I order a lot of stuff from ken because he would listen to my requests like those chassis with inward mounting he finally told me he would provide them and he did. He provides good products but the orders are getting rather slow and had my share of backorder as well.

I'm going to continue shopping there just because.......

Same here

In my area at one time there was 6 component part shops, now it's down to one and sooner or later they will be gone by the wayside as well. I really value the small shops that supplies the odd stuff.

Last year I went into a local RS to grab a transformer and a small perf board. I wound up leaving with almost $45 of stuff that most likely would have only cost $18 bucks at Mouser. The store manager thanked me because he said it did wonders for his "tech sheet" for the month.

I just placed an order for a chassis and some other odd & ends to start a request for a harp amp. If Ken takes a little longer than usual I'm not going to sweat it, nobody's life is depending on it.

TM

[M Fowler]

Tom, I shop at Hoffman's too he also supplies great products I like and need with great shipping as you stated.

To bad we can't shop under one roof. Were sharing the wealth I guess.

I hear you Tonemerc.

[godi]

I made a $250.00 order at Turret Board, 20 days later Ken email me saying that my order was send that day, I reply that this is not a ''superior service'' as he claim on his web site, Ken was upset and he refund my money via Paypal. He lies to me, that order was not shipped yet.

For REAL superior service, order from Antique Electronic, they are overall cheaper than Ken Watt and they ship the same day, same with Hoffman amp, very fast service as Mouser.

I will never buy again from Ken Watt.

[M Fowler]

Angela ordered today and shipped today, great guys.

Hey if enough of you guys quite shopping there I could get my parts faster

[guitarmike2107]

Growing pains are a bastard. But you normally come out the other end bigger and stronger. That’s life.

It also amazes me what we in the western world have come to expect from internet shopping and delivery expectations.

I can ship stuff at 5pm in Scotland and it will be delivered before 9am in London the next day… that’s a bl..dy miracle I tell you!

[JamesHealey]

Living in the uk it's hard to get parts. I live 20 mins from farnell's only warehouse so getting anything components wise is easy. But chassis are harder although I've got a company willing to make me one offs now..... turret board material i can get srbp boards from rs. Which is also local. Not bad i suppose really but no where sells a good polyester cap in the UK. Mkt1813 are the only real option and they suck... mallory150 fail too much for me had many go wrong! I import transformers as uk ones all suck.

[Structo]

Hi James,

For a chassis, a good and cheap way to make one is to simply fold a sheet of aluminum (gauge is your choice but of course the thicker the stiffer the chassis will be) into a U pattern with open ends, then either weld in the ends or use blocks of hard wood for each end cap.

Using the wood is the real cheap way to do it and you can line the inside of it with heavy duty aluminum foil for complete shielding.

I'll bet there is a sheet metal shop that would be willing to make a couple bends in some sheet metal for next to nothing.

Then drill your own holes. A drill press makes this easier but you could get by with a hand drill if necessary.

[ChrisM]

Using the wood is the real cheap way to do it and you can line the inside of it with heavy duty aluminum foil for complete shielding.

Good enough for HAD and that 50K 183.

[JamesHealey]

Hi James,

For a chassis, a good and cheap way to make one is to simply fold a sheet of aluminum (gauge is your choice but of course the thicker the stiffer the chassis will be) into a U pattern with open ends, then either weld in the ends or use blocks of hard wood for each end cap.

Using the wood is the real cheap way to do it and you can line the inside of it with heavy duty aluminum foil for complete shielding.

I'll bet there is a sheet metal shop that would be willing to make a couple bends in some sheet metal for next to nothing.

Then drill your own holes. A drill press makes this easier but you could get by with a hand drill if necessary.

I use a local light metal fabricator who bends aluminium sheets into a box for me and I punch all my own holes, and drill etc.

[crbowman]

For REAL superior service, order from Antique Electronic, they are overall cheaper than Ken Watt and they ship the same day, same with Hoffman amp, very fast service as Mouser.

I will never buy again from Ken Watt.

Antique Electronic Supply was for many years my go-to parts source.
Ordered a reissue Jensen speaker from them. Speaker was CLEARLY bad. Not subjectively bad, kazoo bad.
Had to pay to ship it back to 'em, and then they inform me that the speaker "tested fine" so I was going to have to pay the restocking fee. No apology, no effort to work with me at all.

I still use 'em when I absolutely have to, but only if it's an item I just can't find anywhere else, and only as a last resort.
Mouser and DigiKey are great and I absolutely love Steve at Angela.

[guitarmike2107]

Living in the uk it's hard to get parts. I live 20 mins from farnell's only warehouse so getting anything components wise is easy. But chassis are harder although I've got a company willing to make me one offs now..... turret board material i can get srbp boards from rs. Which is also local. Not bad i suppose really but no where sells a good polyester cap in the UK. Mkt1813 are the only real option and they suck... mallory150 fail too much for me had many go wrong! I import transformers as uk ones all suck.

Have you tried the sprague PS caps from Audiocap in the UK ( Not sure what they are like price wise though)
http://www.audiocap.net/sprague_barr.htm
I dont like advertising on the boards but I now also now stock SOZO standard mustard caps. see my link.