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djroge1

By djroge1
in Epiphone Electrics

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djroge1

djroge1

Posted
Posted

In the never ending search/experiment for excellent tone have any of you experimented with different capicitors?

 

I'm wondering if any of you also have tried the "bumble bee" caps or Jensen oil and paper caps? If so, how did they change the sound?

 

By the way, here is a link to buy both of those RS Guitarworks

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TWANG

TWANG

Posted
Posted

I've not bothered with the paper in oil caps as I've had too many people tell me there's not much if any real difference.

I've used rat shacks greenies.. which are fine.. and sprague and mallory.. I intend to try Sozos.

 

so far, I only hear a difference due to quality of the cap.. and if you aren't using ceramic chips, even rat shacks greenies

are an upgrade.

I prefer Sprague though. I think, may be in my head, they seem to have a snappy kind of response to them even in guitars.

But it's generally amps where caps make a big difference.

 

Values matter more than brand in my view.

But I like those big orange ones!

 

TWANG

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Whitmore Willy

Whitmore Willy

Posted
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Djr,

 

I agree with TWANG.

I changed the caps in my Standard at the same time I changed the pots.

It did make some difference. A little cleaner, I think. Since I did them at the same time I'm not sure which gets credit.

I went with CTS pots and orange sprague caps.

Before I did it I talked to an electronics friend. He didn't think the oil caps were worth the extra money.

He also warned me that they can leak in time. So, if you do use them keep an eye on them.

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layboomo

layboomo

Posted
Posted
Those are some good thoughts as I didn't think of leaking. Right now I have the orange spragues in - .47 in the bridge and .22 in the neck.

 

I think you forgot some zeros.... .47 and .22? In a Gibson try a .022 in the bridge and a .015 in the neck(when it's rolled off it gives a nice subtle woman tone). Anything is an upgrade from ceramic discs! Orange drops sound great to me too! The bumble bees have alot of expensive mojo associated with them but it's your money.

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djroge1

djroge1

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Posted
I think you forgot some zeros.... .47 and .22?

 

You're right, I did forget the zeros.

 

I have these in my Les Paul. I had .022 in the bridge, but didn't like it so I swapped it out for .047.

I have a DiMarzio Dual Sound in the bridge and an Air Classic in the neck. I've also wired 2 push/pulls to split the coils and another to put them in/out of phase, and the last one for putting both pickups in and out of series with each other.

 

I think $43 is too much for one cap too (bumble bee's), but I could part with $18 for the Jensens if I had some solid testimony about their sound or another brand that is suggested.

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layboomo

layboomo

Posted
Posted

 

You're right' date=' I did forget the zeros.

 

I have these in my Les Paul. I had .022 in the bridge, but didn't like it so I swapped it out for .047.

I have a DiMarzio Dual Sound in the bridge and an Air Classic in the neck. I've also wired 2 push/pulls to split the coils and another to put them in/out of phase, and the last one for putting both pickups in and out of series with each other.

 

I think $43 is too much for one cap too (bumble bee's), but I could part with $18 for the Jensens if I had some solid testimony about their sound or another brand that is suggested.[/quote']

 

Yeah agreed too much $$....OK now that I know you have a coil cutter the .047 makes sense because thats more of a fender value. I don't have any rules.....what sounds good is good! Remember that these guitar makers buy in huge quantities and it's more of a one size fits all than what's actually best for a given pickup. Experiment a little... orange drops are cheap and they sound good in guitars IMHO. I really like that .015 value on a neck pickup with the tone rolled off....it's pretty subtle in that it just shaves off the very high freq's but I really like the tone on a couple of my guitars.

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MacBratt

MacBratt

Posted
Posted

 

I think you forgot some zeros.... .47 and .22? In a Gibson try a .022 in the bridge and a .015 in the neck(when it's rolled off it gives a nice subtle woman tone). Anything is an upgrade from ceramic discs! Orange drops sound great to me too! The bumble bees have alot of expensive mojo associated with them but it's your money.

 

or you could spare yourself a lot of problems by just using 47 nF, 22 nF & 15 nF. Doesn't make you search for old greek characters ;-) (and you won't need the zeroes either ;-) just a thought )

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ssgfowler

ssgfowler

Posted
Posted

 

Anything is an upgrade from ceramic discs! Orange drops sound great to me too! The bumble bees have alot of expensive mojo associated with them but it's your money.

 

+1 to that.

I used Sozo Vintage caps (about $4.00 each, but cheaper than Jensen's) to replace the ceramic ones in an SG (same value, .022uf) and it sounds much better, IMHO. I also tried an Orange Drop to replace the Xicon cap in a new MIM Strat and got similar results.

It's a subtle difference in both cases, but its there.

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carverman

carverman

Posted
Posted

Putting in $43 caps (bumblebees/VitaminQ PIO) or even Jupiter Beeswax

is a waste of your hard earned money in a guitar tone circuit which is

basically a low pass filter to rolloff the highs. It probably wouldn't make

any difference to the audio tone even if these things were in series with

the input (output) jack as there is very little current involved in a guitar

pickup..millivolts and microamps. Gibson used the pio sprague bumblebees

years ago, because they had a lot left in their stock and these are pre war

caps. Sprague came up with some new technology for their capacitor dielectrics

and the polyester orange drops were used in the late 60s on a lot of the

Gibsons.

 

I guess for those that somehow think that those Bumblebees are the holy grail of tone,

nothing will satisfy them until they buy a couple to try out, but as the

guy with the Austrian sounding voice on the "ING bank commercial"

says .."Save your Money!...buy orange!

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djroge1

djroge1

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I've never heard of Sozo caps. I went to their home page and they are using the same style of lettering as Jimmy Page on Zep IV.

 

Sozo - it's another one of those ancient Greek words meaning rescue, liberate, keep from harm, heal, preserve, and save.

 

Perhaps in this case it's saving one $35 by not buying bumble-bee caps.

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coolcarl

coolcarl

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Posted

I'm suprised that not more folks noticed a difference? I yanked out the original green chicklet ceramics day one and put in .015uF 400V Bumble bees which by now now have drifted up to .022 anyway. I think they sound much warmer and they react smoother. I put some Soviet millitary .022uF 400V PIO's ($20 pair)in my son's Studio Lord and they are great too, but a little darker. Don't pay more than $25 a pair. I got 8 Sprague Bumble Bees for $11.00 a lucky find.

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shartom

shartom

Posted
Posted

Tone is totally subjective. What sounds great to one person may sound..pretty good..or it sucks to another.

I've tried a lot of caps over the years and have found the value of the cap is what really changes the sound. It is just part of the whole signal chain.

If I really want to change my tone, I go to a heavier or lighter pick. At around 20 cents apiece, they are a bargain.

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