Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
Well I know that, I was just wondering on account of the fact that I already put a small resistance in series with my tone caps
Caps
- Thread starter Sam SG
- Start date
freefrog
Well-known member
If the question is "How well would it emulate old caps?", I'd reply: well enough to have inspired the Greasebucket circuit to Fender, apparently. ;-)
Regarding what uOpt said: my archives contain experimental data showing rather clearly that pickups produce more or less THD according to the tone cap used. Differences appear even when the tone pot is not totally lowered and can be measured consistently when a pickup is electrically stimulated with the proper signal...
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
Huh. Is the measured THD dependent upon the value of the cap, the material it's made of or something else?
freefrog
Well-known member
Different levels of THD can be measured with caps of the same value and materials they're made of are only a part of the picture.
But for a musician wanting to really explore such questions, wouldn't it be better to experiment personally?
Minimal gear required:
-an ultra low impedance air coil, able to excite electrically magnetic pickups;
-wires, pots, sturdy connectors;
-a good and properly calibrated soundcard;
-some reliable software(s) allowing frequency and THD analysis;
-a few dozen of capacitors.
To avoid experimental artefacts, each cap would have to be tested several times in the same conditions, of course.
That and the kind of audio tests evoked by a fellow member above should allow any tester to make his/her own conclusions - potentially more instructive than a 1000th confrontation of opinions about tone caps...
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GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
I did build a test jig to test tone caps at one point. Granted, it was just a couple wires coming out of the wiring harness of the guitar and feeding into a breadboard so I could swap caps in. I was checking different material capacitors with the same value, and then different value capacitors with the same material. I wasn't able to hear any discernible difference between caps of the same measured value, but didn't run it through frequency analysis software.
Was just curious if there was something I missed, or if the measured differences were small enough that they aren't audible (or maybe were audible, but not with my particular setup?).
Was just curious if there was something I missed, or if the measured differences were small enough that they aren't audible (or maybe were audible, but not with my particular setup?).
freefrog
Well-known member
IME, it effectively depends on the cap / rig / settings involved. And incidentally, lab tests are rather used here to "double check" sonically perceptible differences.
