PLAN B analog blog

Oh God, that subject!  Yeah, I hear you, totally. Mike's knobs are
awesome.  But if I had to go through what he goes through to find them
each time he has to buy them, I'd shoot myself.  Then Milton would
NEVER get done.

The Serge Knobs (Davies 1900H) are the same as MIke's.  The won't work
corectly on my pots.

The Knobs/pots I use are 6mm knurled.  I didn't do this so much
because they are what D and A. Sys uses, I did this because they are
very easy to find and who needs that headache.  Mike's knobs are 1/4
inch non knurled.  The pots are harder to get and therefor more
expensive, the knobs somtimes impossible to find.  Matter of fact,
Livewire has had to change their knobs a couple of times because you
have to hunt and peck for them on the internet.  None of the big guys
sell these.  I go to one place for pots - they always have them, I go
to another place for the knobs, they've always had them but once, and
they were due to arrive in a week that one time.  One less hassle in
the one-legged-man-in-an-ass-kicking-contest that is the life of a
small synth manufacturer. 

There are other factors.  I'm never one to cut corners in design. This
i promise you. These backlite knobs run over a $1.50 each.  The Davies
1900H run usually over $2 each.  The Rean soft touch I use are less
than 60 cents each.  The get Alpha pots for less than 50 cents each at
quantity.  The 1/4 inch pots, for no other reason than they aren't as
in demand as the 6mm run over $1.50 each.  Exactly same pot
mechanically outside of the different shaft diameter.

Let me ask you...would you guys pay $25 more for a Model 14 with
Mike's knobs and pots?  Cause that's what I"d have to charge  plus,
there's the headache of tracking them down.  Nobody sell these knobs!


There;s not much we can do about that accept do a custo order which
will literally cost thousands of dollars.  Outside of Synths and such,
knobs are not what they used to be as far as demand.  We in the
computer age now.