![[-]](https://theultimatetone.com/images/collapse.png "[-]")
06-07-2023, 01:03 PM
Hi Champ81
"larger components can be noisier" is not what I said.
Materials used in the most common forms of power resistors lead to them having high thermal drift and other noise. It is not the fact they are 1W versus 1/4W; rather, the priorities are different, so the construction is different.
You can get metal-film 1W resistors and have uniformly low-noise/drift with the <1W metal-films used elsewhere. Similarly, you can get low-watt resistors with just as much drift/noise as metal-oxide or other types of power resistors. Most people simply are unaware of all the parameters there are for most components they buy - and it does not help that most vendors do not make this information known.
Note that not all of the parameters are relevant to every application.
For example, a resistor has a resistance value. Maybe you are aware it has a tolerance, the variation of resistance from nominal. Maybe you are aware it has a power rating. Maybe you know there are different materials used for the resistive element. It also has a voltage rating, and a temperature stability rating, and possibly a mean-time-between-failures rating, and whether it is inductive or not. If you are buying resistors at a discount store, or even at premium prices in blister-packs, very little of this information will be listed.
This is why I prefer to use full-line electronic suppliers like Mouser and Digikey. They stock a wide variety of brands and types of each component, usually with links to manufacturer's data sheets. Some of those data sheet links are not very good - usually the fault of the manufacturer - and some of the searches can be dead-ends, but they try to stock components that have a high level of proof of their integrity, including the specifics about the part and about the supplier and the supply chain.
You can take a chance on most parts for a guitar amp and there are unlikely to be catastrophe.
"larger components can be noisier" is not what I said.
Materials used in the most common forms of power resistors lead to them having high thermal drift and other noise. It is not the fact they are 1W versus 1/4W; rather, the priorities are different, so the construction is different.
You can get metal-film 1W resistors and have uniformly low-noise/drift with the <1W metal-films used elsewhere. Similarly, you can get low-watt resistors with just as much drift/noise as metal-oxide or other types of power resistors. Most people simply are unaware of all the parameters there are for most components they buy - and it does not help that most vendors do not make this information known.
Note that not all of the parameters are relevant to every application.
For example, a resistor has a resistance value. Maybe you are aware it has a tolerance, the variation of resistance from nominal. Maybe you are aware it has a power rating. Maybe you know there are different materials used for the resistive element. It also has a voltage rating, and a temperature stability rating, and possibly a mean-time-between-failures rating, and whether it is inductive or not. If you are buying resistors at a discount store, or even at premium prices in blister-packs, very little of this information will be listed.
This is why I prefer to use full-line electronic suppliers like Mouser and Digikey. They stock a wide variety of brands and types of each component, usually with links to manufacturer's data sheets. Some of those data sheet links are not very good - usually the fault of the manufacturer - and some of the searches can be dead-ends, but they try to stock components that have a high level of proof of their integrity, including the specifics about the part and about the supplier and the supply chain.
You can take a chance on most parts for a guitar amp and there are unlikely to be catastrophe.
