# Small Bear/ Synth Cube relaunch



## NewBanana (Apr 3, 2022)

Not sure if this is the right sub forum for this or if it was common knowledge but it looks like Small Bear/Synth Cube will be selling in a week or so.  Attached is a photo from the Synth Cube facebook page.


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## Coda (Apr 3, 2022)

Neat.


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## Barry (Apr 4, 2022)

Cool


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## music6000 (Apr 4, 2022)

NewBanana said:


> Not sure if this is the right sub forum for this or if it was common knowledge but it looks like Small Bear/Synth Cube will be selling in a week or so.  Attached is a photo from the Synth Cube facebook page.


As long as* fig* is not involved, we should be Good.
He can't be trusted in this announcement!


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## Mentaltossflycoon (Apr 4, 2022)

Woooooooooo


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## Feral Feline (Apr 4, 2022)

At last. 

I hope for two things:

1) That Synth Cube maintains (or improves) what Small Bear's Steve Daniels already established.

2) REDUCE THE FREQ'N' SHIPPING COSTS!


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## almondcity (Apr 4, 2022)

It feels like it's been eternity. There's been so many builds I've passed on that only SB had the parts for


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## music6000 (Apr 4, 2022)

Feral Feline said:


> At last.
> 
> I hope for two things:
> 
> ...


2) Your lucky, what about the rest of us outside the U.S of A!


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## fig (Apr 4, 2022)

Hey, I was pretty close!


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## Bricksnbeatles (Apr 4, 2022)

thewintersoldier said:


> Maybe I'm past being nostalgic but this doesn't do much for me at this point 😂. While everyone was panic buying and losing their collective minds already had a decent stock on most things. But in the past 5-6 months building has marched on. Myself, I haven't skipped a beat and it has not impacted me from building whatever I want to. Even pre-pandemic I only shopped there for certain things and I put in a couple orders a year. Stompboxparts is killing it and offering more and more all the time, with cheaper and faster shipping. I've filled in the gaps with other existing sites like cabintech, mouser, Digi key and jameco. Even tayda is offering more. Unless it's some rare hard to find IC that only they have then I'll likely just stick to what I'm doing. As @Feral Feline said, if they don't drop shipping prices and faster shipping times then it's a hard sell for me. It's good that we will have options and competition is good for consumers, I just hope synthcube brings something more to the table.


+1
I never had a lot to buy from small bear— I’d almost always get most of my parts for less elsewhere (or just half the stuff I needed was out of stock), and it always felt a bit silly to me paying $16 shipping on $10 worth of parts from an hour away from me and waiting 2+ weeks to get it. If the shipping costs go down and there’s more brought to the table, then I’ll definitely be a customer, but if it returns to businesses as usual then I think I’ll move on to other sellers. 

I do regret missing out on the Meatbox chips and a few other unobtanium parts that I need though


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## Feral Feline (Apr 4, 2022)

music6000 said:


> 2) Your lucky, what about the rest of us outside the U.S of A!


I am beyond the borders you mention.


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## Gordo (Apr 4, 2022)

I just noticed an email from Lawrence at Love My Switches that he has 9mm pots.  I haven't checked to see if he has the plastic shaft ones as well.


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## Harry Klippton (Apr 4, 2022)

Bricksnbeatles said:


> +1
> I never had a lot to buy from small bear— I’d almost always get most of my parts for less elsewhere (or just half the stuff I needed was out of stock), and it always felt a bit silly to me paying $16 shipping on $10 worth of parts from an hour away from me and waiting 2+ weeks to get it. If the shipping costs go down and there’s more brought to the table, then I’ll definitely be a customer, but if it returns to businesses as usual then I think I’ll move on to other sellers.
> 
> I do regret missing out on the Meatbox chips and a few other unobtanium parts that I need though


How the fuck did you end up with a $16 shipping charge?


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## Big Monk (Apr 4, 2022)

Harry Klippton said:


> How the fuck did you end up with a $16 shipping charge?


 For reals.


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## NewBanana (Apr 4, 2022)

i always been a little crazed when it comes to ordering parts… i use mouser/digi-key/jameco for everything i possibly can.  the price discounts on even just 100 lot of passives is too good to pass up.  and i like to be picky about manufacturers, etc. 

during my first round of building pedals in the early 2000s i loved going through the giant mouser catalog that would show up every few months.  back then small bear was a lot more….small.  but they filled a void.

now that we live in a world of $2.50 3PDT and $5 enclosures (in part due to the competition that came into the market over the last 10 yrs) small bear is a lot less unique. like @thewintersoldier said their a number of newer vendors that continue to impress.  but small bear was always very good at stocking the random IC and kept people from buying ebay knock offs. 

and i do love that a new kid can grab all of the parts for their first build in one spot and get cracking.  in my mind that helped with the explosion of pedal compamies over the last decade or so.


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## Feral Feline (Apr 5, 2022)

I wish my shipping was only $16... Nearly $50 on my last order.


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## Big Monk (Apr 5, 2022)

Feral Feline said:


> I wish my shipping was only $16... Nearly $50 on my last order.



Where are you? On the moon?


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## Feral Feline (Apr 5, 2022)

Yup, on the Bebop Moon, I'm howling like a ... 

Hyena, a laughing hyena...


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## Big Monk (Apr 5, 2022)

Feral Feline said:


> Yup, on the Bebop Moon, I'm howling like a ...
> 
> Hyena, a laughing hyena...



I will say this: I never ordered anything large or heavy from Small Bear so I don't believe I've ever paid more than $5 for shipping. Also, I'm in New York so that helps as well.


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## Harry Klippton (Apr 5, 2022)

Feral Feline said:


> Yup, on the Bebop Moon, I'm howling like a ...
> 
> Hyena, a laughing hyena...


Got em 🤣🤣🤣


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## fig (Apr 5, 2022)

Big Monk said:


> Where are you? On the moon?


I hear they have lower rates. No covid, crazy war, housing crisis, global economy meltdown, climate instability, and best of all no delay on your enclosure prints.


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## Big Monk (Apr 5, 2022)

fig said:


> I hear they have lower rates. No covid, crazy war, housing crisis, global economy meltdown, climate instability, and best of all no delay on your enclosure prints.



Heard the same. 1/6th the shipping rates, right?


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## zgrav (Apr 5, 2022)

SmallBear was a good resource for difficult-to-find parts for me on a few occasions and it will be good to have that inventory back as a resource if/when needed.  Plus Synthcube may even put some the SmallBear parts on sale every now and then.

Electronic Goldmine has been the parts place where I have stalled a few times over great deals on some parts that I could not combine with enough other things I needed to make the shipping costs seem like a reasonable part of the deal.  Still works out every now and then.


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## Bricksnbeatles (Apr 5, 2022)

Big Monk said:


> I will say this: I never ordered anything large or heavy from Small Bear so I don't believe I've ever paid more than $5 for shipping. Also, I'm in New York so that helps as well.


Lol, I’m in NY too and never paid less than $13 for shipping from them except my very last order, which was just 2 dual gang pots and a handful of bi-color LEDs— that time it was $5.56 for shipping, which was a pleasant surprise. Even small orders of just a handful of small components ranged from $13-25 for shipping. 
Not sure how they calculated shipping, but it sure was wonky haha. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like under Synthcube’s direction— I’ll be inclined to buy more often if the shipping isn’t such a killer


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## Feral Feline (Apr 5, 2022)

I have to laugh at $hipping 😸, or else I'd cry...😿


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## Gordo (Apr 5, 2022)

I miss the laser decal paper the most.  It was expensive but thick enough that I never had issues with it.  I've been struggling to find a replacement and have resigned myself to printing and then shooting a couple of coats of clear to get it stable enough to move around a bit without stretching or folding it.


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## Harry Klippton (Apr 5, 2022)

Bricksnbeatles said:


> Lol, I’m in NY too and never paid less than $13 for shipping from them except my very last order, which was just 2 dual gang pots and a handful of bi-color LEDs— that time it was $5.56 for shipping, which was a pleasant surprise. Even small orders of just a handful of small components ranged from $13-25 for shipping.
> Not sure how they calculated shipping, but it sure was wonky haha. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like under Synthcube’s direction— I’ll be inclined to buy more often if the shipping isn’t such a killer


This is definitely fucked up. I'm like an hour and a half from small bear and shipping was usually like $6


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## Big Monk (Apr 5, 2022)

Harry Klippton said:


> This is definitely fucked up. I'm like an hour and a half from small bear and shipping was usually like $6



Same here. I lived near Poughkeepsie most of my life even now in Syracuse I only pay like $5 to ship from them.


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## Harry Klippton (Apr 5, 2022)

I did notice that sometimes the shipping options didn't display right on mobile and it would only show one option that was like $20 but a page refresh or doing it on a computer gave me the cheap shit. You mighta just been doing it wrong Nick


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## fig (Apr 5, 2022)

Bricksnbeatles said:


> Lol, I’m in NY too and never paid less than $13 for shipping from them except my very last order, which was just 2 dual gang pots and a handful of bi-color LEDs— that time it was $5.56 for shipping, which was a pleasant surprise. Even small orders of just a handful of small components ranged from $13-25 for shipping.
> Not sure how they calculated shipping, but it sure was wonky haha. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like under Synthcube’s direction— I’ll be inclined to buy more often if the shipping isn’t such a killer


I could understand it maybe if you lived in New New York.


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## Coda (Apr 5, 2022)

I don’t remember ever paying more than $9 for shipping from Small Bear…


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