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As I've been building more pedals in recent years, I've used all the 1590BB sized boxes out there that I am aware of except the Bud CU-473. In my last order from Mouser I bought one to have a look see and compare it to the other 1590BB sized boxes available to FX builders from the various vendors. I came up with the following ranking and description of each. I worked in a foundry for 1 year back in 79, and have a little insight into the process.
1-Hammond 1590BB - You get what you pay for still applies here. The Hammond boxes are the cleanest boxes out of the package, and require very little prep for painting. They are made in Canada. The only downside to them is their casting mark on the underside in the middle of the shell. This could make it difficult to mount small pots, switches or LEDs if you happened to mount them directly in the middle of the box, but I don't so it really doesn't matter to me, and it is only a minor issue. The Hammond screws that hold the bottom cover on are plated in either nickle or chrome, I'm not sure which. Only people anal enough to build their own FX would care about that, but it is a nice touch. The Hammond 1590BB cost slightly more than the Bud CU-143 in the Mouser catalog.
2-Bud Industries CU-473 - Although Bud Industries is in Ohio, the CU-143 I purchased was made in Taiwan. Casting quality is very close to the Hammond 1590BB. Their are no casting marks inside with the Bud name or indicating they are made in Taiwan. There are some light grinding marks on all four sides of this box, uniform all the way around, but I think they would blend in once the box has been primed and painted. When I worked in a foundry, rough cylinder head casting would be placed in a hand held jig and high spots would be ground off. I suspect these go through a similar process. The only notable difference between the dimensions of these and the rest are that the corners on the cover have a definate corner on them, as opposed to the rounded off corner of the other boxes.
3-NSC Made In China - I bought these on line and I believe they were originally distributed by New Sensor. The outside finish is good and clean, requiring little prep for painting. However the inside casting marks are much more pronounced than the Hammond or Bud boxes. The words NSC Made in China are in a corner. I mistakenly drilled my pot holes there and had to go in with a drill and carefully grind down the markings so my 16mm pots would sit flush. The other casting marks from the molds are very pronounced and may have to be ground down to get parts to mount flush, depending on where you place them. The walls of the box are also slightly thinner than the Hammond and Bud. The cover mounting screws are thicker than all the others and are also chrome or nickle plated. These cost less than Hammond or Bud, but more than the generic Taiwan boxes which I'll cover next.
4-Taiwanese 1590BB sized generic - These are available from Small Bear, Effects Connection, Antique Electronics Supply and probably others. They seem to cost nearly half of what Hammond and Bud cost and are dimensionally equivalent to all the others. The big difference is the finish quality. There are many griding marks and the top is sometimes slightly uneven, which can be noticable even after priming and painting. The sides also have grinding marks and they aren't always uniform. Inside casting marks are present but not enough to interfere with mounting parts, as with the NSC China boxes. These definately require some elbow grease to clean and sand a bit before applying a finish, depending on how particular you are. If you use powder coat, this may not be as important as that tends to level things, depending on how thick it is. The walls on these are slightly thinner than the Hammond and Bud boxes. If you don't mind putting in a little extra work on the finishing process, these are a great deal and help keep you costs down.
In a bit of stomp box trivia, I think the first MXR boxes were Bud boxes, as well as the footswitches for Mesa Boogie amps.
1-Hammond 1590BB - You get what you pay for still applies here. The Hammond boxes are the cleanest boxes out of the package, and require very little prep for painting. They are made in Canada. The only downside to them is their casting mark on the underside in the middle of the shell. This could make it difficult to mount small pots, switches or LEDs if you happened to mount them directly in the middle of the box, but I don't so it really doesn't matter to me, and it is only a minor issue. The Hammond screws that hold the bottom cover on are plated in either nickle or chrome, I'm not sure which. Only people anal enough to build their own FX would care about that, but it is a nice touch. The Hammond 1590BB cost slightly more than the Bud CU-143 in the Mouser catalog.
2-Bud Industries CU-473 - Although Bud Industries is in Ohio, the CU-143 I purchased was made in Taiwan. Casting quality is very close to the Hammond 1590BB. Their are no casting marks inside with the Bud name or indicating they are made in Taiwan. There are some light grinding marks on all four sides of this box, uniform all the way around, but I think they would blend in once the box has been primed and painted. When I worked in a foundry, rough cylinder head casting would be placed in a hand held jig and high spots would be ground off. I suspect these go through a similar process. The only notable difference between the dimensions of these and the rest are that the corners on the cover have a definate corner on them, as opposed to the rounded off corner of the other boxes.
3-NSC Made In China - I bought these on line and I believe they were originally distributed by New Sensor. The outside finish is good and clean, requiring little prep for painting. However the inside casting marks are much more pronounced than the Hammond or Bud boxes. The words NSC Made in China are in a corner. I mistakenly drilled my pot holes there and had to go in with a drill and carefully grind down the markings so my 16mm pots would sit flush. The other casting marks from the molds are very pronounced and may have to be ground down to get parts to mount flush, depending on where you place them. The walls of the box are also slightly thinner than the Hammond and Bud. The cover mounting screws are thicker than all the others and are also chrome or nickle plated. These cost less than Hammond or Bud, but more than the generic Taiwan boxes which I'll cover next.
4-Taiwanese 1590BB sized generic - These are available from Small Bear, Effects Connection, Antique Electronics Supply and probably others. They seem to cost nearly half of what Hammond and Bud cost and are dimensionally equivalent to all the others. The big difference is the finish quality. There are many griding marks and the top is sometimes slightly uneven, which can be noticable even after priming and painting. The sides also have grinding marks and they aren't always uniform. Inside casting marks are present but not enough to interfere with mounting parts, as with the NSC China boxes. These definately require some elbow grease to clean and sand a bit before applying a finish, depending on how particular you are. If you use powder coat, this may not be as important as that tends to level things, depending on how thick it is. The walls on these are slightly thinner than the Hammond and Bud boxes. If you don't mind putting in a little extra work on the finishing process, these are a great deal and help keep you costs down.
In a bit of stomp box trivia, I think the first MXR boxes were Bud boxes, as well as the footswitches for Mesa Boogie amps.