Muff's Modules & More

metasonix · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:47 pm Post subject: Vactrol prices

Well, this was unexpected.

Today Zerosum alerted me to something, so I looked into it further.

The VTL5C3/2 Vactrol optocoupler we use in several of our products (including three of them in the D-1000) was always a fairly costly, specialized part. We had to buy them from Allied Electronics, because the usual distributors (Mouser, DigiKey etc.) didn't carry them at all. (Allied is famous for screwing up our orders over the years, but that's a different story.)

The couplers were made by a company called Vactec originally, thus the name Vactrol. EG&G bought Vactec in the 1990s, then Perkin-Elmer bought EG&G and made it Perkin-Elmer Components. Then the whole division apparently went kaboolie in 2010, so it was spun off as "Excelitas".

Very recently, after fairly stable prices for 10 years or so, Excelitas drastically increased the prices of their Vactrols, without any warning.

The 5C3/2 I had been paying about $5 apiece for in quantity is now $20.66. Isn't that charming?

They didn't tell anyone, they didn't warn anyone, they just did it.

Don't bother looking at Excelitas's website, there's not a word about this. All I can figure is they are sick of selling a low-margin device that finds most of its use in price-sensitive applications like guitar amps, effects and audio equipment. So they've suddenly decided to screw their customers as if they were medical-equipment suppliers (an area where huge, greedy margins are commonplace). Most of the stuff Excelitas sells is high-priced, and aimed at either medical or aerospace/military use. Maybe they just don't wanna make them anymore. Sadly, there's nothing else that works as well--ask Marshall.

Other suppliers? The prices of Silonex couplers are still reasonable--but they don't make a dual-element coupler like the 5C3/2. It's needed for the circuit in the D-1000, R54, and the R52, plus the filter in the Wretch. I can't find anyone else making a dual-element CdS coupler today, at least not that I can buy in the US in "small" quantities, meaning a few hundred pieces.

Brace yourself for higher prices. Not just my stuff, but any tube guitar amp with tremolo, most Mesa-Boogie products (some of them are full of Vactrols), various other guitar amps, assorted pedal effects, limiters, you name it. It's ALL going up, soon.

LoFi Junglist · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:57 pm Post subject:

http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56830&start=0&postday s=0&postorder=asc&highlight=vactrol+prices

metasonix · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:58 pm Post subject:

Well, if there was a thread here, I missed it.

We only buy the things once a year or thereabouts. It's been more than 6 months since the last buy. If there had been an "official" announcement I would have known. This was sneaky-ed in.

LoFi Junglist · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:06 pm Post subject:

There's a few threads about Vactrol prices, the one I've linked is just the most prevalent one.

Yah, huge amount of complaints though, and a lot of people desperately scrambling for the last stockpiles from obscure IC retailers.

I feel sorry for alot of the DIY'ers that have a backlog of PCBs and BOMs that are now going to triple in price

waah

metasonix · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:23 pm Post subject:

Okay, now I've seen the thread in the DIY area. I don't look at DIY very often.

And I don't believe for an instant any of this crap about ROHS--we take the exemption for "expansion of capability" equipment, no one has ever said anything.

The total cost of parts in a VTL5C3 is less than $2. You can buy them yourself separately and make your own--a dual-element CdS cell, a yellow LED, and a plastic case. The only things you get with finished Vactrols: they look nice and are pre-tested. That's worth something to me, although probably not THIS much.

Excelitas did this to screw their customers. Period.

HueMonContact · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:20 am Post subject:

That's really lame of Excelitas to raise prices that high... that's just a huge kick in the pants. I'm just getting started on some diy projects. This is really gonna raise the cost of my diy case. And it will put a big dent in my bank account when I start buying more Metasonix gear.

zerosum · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:41 pm Post subject:

Maybe they don't have plans to keep them in production anymore,
so they jacked up the prices to keep what remaining stock they had last longer? seriously, i just don't get it

Mouser does that.

If that's the case, just use them up until they are gone, and when they are gone design something new w00t

That 5C3/2 is magic!

I'll miss it if it goes away, but if it goes away the universe will bring something else hihi

equalpyramid · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:49 pm Post subject:

How soon, Eric?

megaohm · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:33 pm Post subject:

equalpyramid · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject:

FYI, Small Bear still has some vactrols for $9. Probably won't last long. sad banana