Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

[Chistopher]

Most people around here prefer 1 of 3 cap values, depending on the guitar: .022μF, .047μF, or .1μF (even this .1μF is slightly uncommon)

This is all well and good in most cases, but I find myself preferring .018μF over .022μF as well as .033μF over .047μF. To me they feel more usable with a less aggressive resonant peak with the tone at 0. Do any of you guys use different values than the norm?

[beaubrummels]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

Nope.

[Darg1911]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I have some .018uf and some .027 "Pacers" (axial film and foil orange drops). If I'm using the Pacers on a dual HB guitar I'll use the .018 in the neck and .027 in the bridge. Personally, I don't think there is enough difference from .022uf, in either direction, to make much difference. Not to my tired ears anyway.

[Chistopher]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I had a buddy try a resistor instead of a cap on his tone control. He never did get back to me on that...

[dystrust]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I suppose it's a little unusual that I only use .015uf or .022uf even on single coils. I find larger values like .033, .047 and larger too be too dark with the tone on 0.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I love experimentation, but given the fact that caps typically have a 20% tolerance, I doubt that you hear the difference that you're eluding to. YMMV.

[Chistopher]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I love experimentation, but given the fact that caps typically have a 20% tolerance, I doubt that you hear the difference that you're eluding to. YMMV.

I tend to buy caps in bulk and then sort through them for the ones that get closest to the actual reading on the cap. Granted, you can't hear the difference between .018 and .022 except between 0 and 3 on the tone pot, but that's where it makes the biggest difference in my opinion. I've got a big 'ol graph from the Guitar Nutz forum, sorry I can't give credit where it's due, I forgot who I got it from.



If you notice, the difference between .01 and .047 is negligible until about 5. This is also a good graph to show how caps start to shift the resonant peak between 1 and 0, but that's for another thread.

Back to my cap value thing, I think the only difference in my values is that they make the best woman tone when compared to the traditional values. Everything from. 1 to .01 make about the same amount of difference when you want to shave off ice pick highs, which is what they usually do, but I'm the lower range of the tone pots travel, they make a huge difference.

[beaubrummels]

Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I had a buddy try a resistor instead of a cap on his tone control. He never did get back to me on that...

Probably because it will just make another volume control that doesn't work as expected.

[Chistopher]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

Probably because it will just make another volume control that doesn't work as expected.

This is the same guy that tried to make a pickup where each string had a coil from a Cool Rail running parallel to the string right under it, if that gives you an idea of the type of person I'm talking about.

[Clint 55]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

Yes. 22nf is my favorite because it's nice and creamy and still lets highs thru at the bottom of the sweep but doesn't get honky. 18 and 15 seem to be good for that also. 15 it's starting to get honky on zero. 6nf and below only cut the highs and are kind of cool. I had them on a sss strat once. But my main guitar I have a 22nf, another guitar I have a 10nf, on my jazz guitar I have a 67nf, on my bass I have a 100nf.

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

There was a post coupla years ago about using a .001uf cap with PAF type pickups, sounded interesting but so far I haven't used it.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?307881-What-should-I-expect&p=3920384&viewfull=1#post3920384

Another advantage claimed for the super low value cap is that it won't adversely affect your both-pickups-on tone. Have been meaning to try this out, since I don't often need the darker rolled-way-back tones, especially on a bridge humbucker.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

The main reason I haven't found a need for quirky cap values is because there's a knob and you can turn it to where you need. I've played around with caps that were different odd values or out of tolerance and the audible sonic differences weren't sufficient to make me hardwire one in. I tend to use the tone to subtly compensate for problems with the amp or the room, more than severe voice shaping of the guitar. Woman tone is cool but I've only needed it about once or twice a year.

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

I have .005 caps on a few of my guitars and I really kind of dig them, but then too I’m not a guy who uses his volume and tone controls at all. Actually, for the way I use them, volume and tone controls could be done with switches instead of pots. What I like about the .005 is that I can turn the tone knob all the way down to zero and it gives just a little bit of a honky tone without making things dark and muddy (I really hate the way a tone control affects the sound normally). It’s that honky, almost phase-reversed tone that I like sometimes… and I can’t quite seem to find it on my guitars which use a .022 cap.

I find.047 caps to be just CRAZY dark and I just don’t like them. That being said, I just used some wired in series on a couple of guitars they had real dark neck humbuckers and WOW what a difference! Really cleaned them up nicely! [emoji1303]

[jeremy]

Re: Anyone Else A Fan Of Odd Valued Caps?

i use anything between .01 and .047 but usually .015 or .022. with some pups things sound ok with the .047 when the tone is down, sometimes its just overly dark even with a fair amount of dirt on it.