Suggestions For Local Electronics Supply Shop: Mequon/Milwaukee WI Area

[keithb7]

Hi folks. I am trying to help out a friend in the Milwaukee area. He is looking to get started on simple tube amp maintenance.
He does not know of a local shop in the area to quickly run out and grab a resistor or cap he may need. Do any of you live in the
area and can recommend, or know of a local retail store there? Online, we know of many options. Looking for local convenience. We have been
trying to find a place through Google searches, but so far the ones we have contacted stock nothing. Thanks in advance.

Keith

[nevetslab]

While I don't live in or know that area, what has happened in the LA/Hollywood area over the years, is all the small electronics stores have gone out of business. Electronic City in Burbank was the last place you could go to and have any sensible selection of components. Forget Radio Shack or Frys, Sad to say, there's just not enough economic demand to support what we need in our equipment maintenance needs to support all that inventory. So, as painful as it is, Mouser, Digi-Key, Newark, Allied and other smaller vendors have become the 2015 reality of acquiring parts, then it's down to the smaller sites, like Antique Electonic Supply and others having on-line stores, so you're always adding shipping cost and maybe state tax to the bill. Forgot to add parts to the order? Another shipping charge! Sigh

I miss the old days of being able to drive over to get what I need the same day. Even the TRW Radio Amateur Technical Swap Meet in Redondo Beach has been closed down, now that Northrup-Grumman has taking on another contract, and closed the parking lot off to those of use who for decades went the last Saturday of the month to see what' there. Ebay sales took most of the good vendors away, but now that's gone too. Sigh............

[Leo_Gnardo]

+1 . . . Has Electronic City shut down? Hows about all those odds n ends surplus shops, I used to get parts cast off from the Skunk Works and other spots, cool stuff. AFAIK ApexJr is still open and has an online presence, sorry I don't have a link right now.

Your friend should at least get a state tax # then he can save state tax & maybe get a discount at some vendors. Also avoid making small purchases to save shipping charges. Mouser just did me a solid, I ordered about 275$, paid ground, they overnighted my order, gotta do like that. What I asked for Friday was on my front stair 8:30 this morning.

[Daver]

I'm in Milwaukee and I build amps. There really is nothing around here anymore. I get all my stuff online. I use Mouser for as much as I can and then use one of the many guitar oriented suppliers for everything else. There used to be walk up service at Marsh and Industrial, but no more.

[nevetslab]

Steve Slater (Apex Jr) is still around...he had been fairly regular at the TRW swap meet. I don't know how much of his father Bill's store he acqujired. That was one of several Saturday morning shopping spree's one would make...there, C & H Sales, General Dynamics Swap meet (like TRW only out in Pomona). I haven't done any business with Steve on-line.

[Enzo]

Electronics stores are a thing of the past. You want a store you can run into and buy three resistors, a fuse and a couple caps. No store makes a living on $2 sales tickets.

You can invest in a collection of basic parts. order them from Mouser or wherever. if you are lucky enough to live in a city where Mouser, Newark, Digikey, Allied, whoever has a warehouse, they usually have a will-call desk that sells orders across the counter.

For occasional items, a radio Shack may have a few, but none of their caps will be rated over 50v. You might look at the various amp repair shops in the area and find one willing to sell you small parts over the counter. I was always supportive of hobbyists trying to learn, when they came looking for parts.

[g1]

You won't likely find anything local outside of large cities.
But that is not really a problem. I'm not sure in the US of shipping costs and delivery times, but in Canada I can get an order from Digikey and recieve it within 24hrs for $8 CDN. Pretty hard to beat that when you consider shop time & gas to just go across town for a pickup. I'm sure the major US suppliers can provide the same service at a cost that may be even lower.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Steve Slater (Apex Jr) is still around... <snip> I haven't done any business with Steve on-line.

I tried apexjr.com as directed by the google but got an Error 403 Forbidden message. I sent Steve a PM at The Amp Garage where he's a member. When I get a working url I'll let you & the rest of the world know right here. Last I looked they had lots of all kindsa stuff. Good rep as a source for teflon wire besides all the other odds n ends. I luv surplus shops .

[big_teee]

That link still works here.
Apex Jr.Home Page
T

[Leo_Gnardo]

I tried apexjr.com as directed by the google but got an Error 403 Forbidden message.

Steve just got back to me. A temporary glitch - apexjr.com now up n runnin', feast your eyes & buy some stuff.

[gbono]

Steve (Apex Jr) is now in Torrance CA - I grew up in So Cal and milaero salvage was just some of the gear available back in the day. I remember a shop on Imperial Blvd (El Segundo CA) that salvaged musical instrument gear - remember the failed Fender solid state amps (Taurus, Scorpio, etc)? Lots of great stuff from Acoustic Control, Gibson......sigh

Declining (or no) MANUFACTURING in the US is one of the reasons there are no surplus stores around anymore. As long as corporations hide their profits in banks in Singapore, Ireland, etc. there will never be a "comeback" for production in the US again - though you really can't put the S%$# back in the donkey can you? flame off.

[Enzo]

Interesting outlook.

A lot of surplus came from companies that went out of business. When I was a kid there was tons of military surplus, because world war 2 had ended 10-15 years earlier, and the services were divesting themselves of all manner of stuff.

[66tele]

Yes, sadly the mom & pop electronics shop and walk-in surplus stores have mostly disappeared. Many years ago I purchased a small stock of resistors, caps, tubes, wire, etc. so I had the basics at my bench for typical repairs. Then I would keep a running wish list of additional parts I wanted to have in stock, along with parts I was running low on. Then, if a new project came in that needed a non-stock item.....say a power transformer, then I would add my wish-list of spare parts to the transformer order .....it added next-to-nothing on the transformer shipping. I also like to take advantage of bulk orders from surplus shops like Apex Jr. .......I'll buy $500 worth of tubes in one order and I'm set for months. There is no way around it.....you have to make an investment in parts if you want to turn repairs around quickly. Besides, driving across town for $2 worth of parts is time consuming.

[gbono]

I have used magic parts since they are only about 4 miles away from me Ruby Tubes

[Leo_Gnardo]

I have used magic parts since they are only about 4 miles away from me Ruby Tubes

You gotta be a business, Ruby does not sell retail.

That out of the way, they're an excellent outfit & I've been a 30-year+ customer. They've had an excellent tube testing & matching reputation for a long time. Rumor has it Mr. Dumble does some of his transformer shopping there, further proving it's not the parts, it's what you do with them. Ka-ching! $$$$$ for him.

Good source for Tone Tubby speakers too. I get better prices than I can straight from TT. If you want TT's that are out of stock or not ordinarily carried by Ruby, no worries, TT's not far away either, just ask for what you need & Ruby will ship 'em quick for you, minimum waiting.

Also Stan km6sz has reported Ruby's custom made GZ34 rectifier is the best currently available.

Give Sharon & Kelly a big hello from me next time you stop in gbono!