Ryan H Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 I've never been a believer that capacitors of the same value and different composition can sound different. For this reason, I never changed tone caps in my guitars. Yesterday, I was at my local guitar shop getting a treble bleed added to one of my guitars (I didn't have the cap on hand and the tech did it for free). While he had my guitar open, he noticed that it still had the original (ceramic disc) capacitors. He suggested I try something better, since they're about as bad as it gets. He carefully desoldered them (using a heatsink) and gave them to me in case I wanted him to reverse the mod. Then I see yellow, and I know I won't be needing the old capacitors. He threw a pair of Sozo Vintage Mustard .022uF caps in there (one on each tone control), and a 180pF cap on each volume pot for the treble bleed. It's literally transformed this guitar. Everything is smoother, warmer, more responsive. Even with the tones on 10, any piercing transients that were once there are gone. The tone controls work so much better; cutting out the nastier of the high frequencies without turning everything else to mush (except in the lower range of the control, but that's expected..). With the treble bleeds, the guitar sounds the same on 5 as it does on 10, just quieter (or cleaner, on a driven sound). No more muffling of the tone... I'm officially a believer. Sozo Vintage Mustards in all of my guitars from now on. -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 I wont say I told you so but..... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 I wont say I told you so but..... :) I agree. As for the treble bleeds, I have not put them on any of my Gibsons yet, but I believe I will since they work so well on my Fenders. Especially helpful in a quieter setting where you need to bring volume down but don't want that muffled sound you can get by doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Oh yea, I have Russian PIO caps in most guitars, I like Orange Drop Caps on humbuckers with Alnico V magnets. To me all it is is that some caps filter some unpleaseant treble stray frequencies out, that is not technically right but it is the best way I can describe it. I have a treble bleed in my Squier 51 that has a GFS humbucker (much like a JB). I like it there and works perfect but frankly I did not like it in another guitar of mine because Fuzz pedals and treble bleeds do not seem to be a good match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan H Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 I wont say I told you so but..... :) Yeah yeah I know, it took having my guitar opened up on my tech's bench for me to give in and try it. I agree. As for the treble bleeds, I have not put them on any of my Gibsons yet, but I believe I will since they work so well on my Fenders. Especially helpful in a quieter setting where you need to bring volume down but don't want that muffled sound you can get by doing so. Very helpful for going from a thick, saturated driven sound to a clearer, low-mid gain rhythm sound. That's my main use for it. -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan H Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 Oh yea, I have Russian PIO caps in most guitars, I like Orange Drop Caps on humbuckers with Alnico V magnets. To me all it is is that some caps filter some unpleaseant treble stray frequencies out, that is not technically right but it is the best way I can describe it. I have a treble bleed in my Squier 51 that has a GFS humbucker (much like a JB). I like it there and works perfect but frankly I did not like it in another guitar of mine because Fuzz pedals and treble bleeds do not seem to be a good match. I have an Orange Drop in my Charvel with a Wolfetone Marshallhead (A5) in the bridge and i'm not a fan. Muffles the low-end too much for me. Gonna throw a Sozo Vintage Mustard in that one too. And I agree, certain caps just seem to filter out those nasty treble frequencies. These ones do it just right; the harshness is gone, but the low strings are still tight and there's no lack of midrange bite. -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 The funny thing is that one specific capacitor will not work as well with any pickup, sometimes the change is minimal. I have a Tiger cap from the 50's, I thought it'd sound awesome but it does not, it muffled the sound terribly on the guitars I tried it in. I had MojoTone PIOs in several guitars, when I tried the Russian K40y-9's and that was all I needed to know, I ordered 5 sets of 0.022/0.015's, what is interesting is that I did like the MojoTone PIO in my Stratocaster with single coils. Burstbucker Pros (alnico V) with PIOs I did not care for, I can hear a distortion in the sound that is not quite right, kind of like turntable flutter. I also had Hovlands in a guitar that I sold, sounded great but took them out 'cause now that they don't make them they are pricey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Welcome to the "Converts Club", Ryan. It came as a bit of a shock to me, too. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 but the graphs...and pie charts....and and and....... good on ya' Ryan !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.