different capacitors

[wanmei1]

Re: different capacitors

I think it's all power of suggestion and wishful thinking.

For example, when I had that switch on my Strat that let me switch between two different .02 tone caps in real time, I'd play for friends and then make the switch to another cap and when they heard the "click" of the switch some would insist they heard a diff.

So I started just making a "click" noise with my pick but not really switching the switch. You guessed it: some (my brother Bruce for one) thought he heard a diff in tone when all I'd done is make a "click" noise with my pick and not changed anything! LOL!


Lew

Reminds me of the time when we were entertaining some internationally recognised wine experts.
We poured cheap domestic champagne into an empty bottle of Moet et Chandon.
"Ahh", said one wine critc," the unmistakeable yeast flavors of French Champagne."

 

[blueman335]

Re: different capacitors

Lewguitar says there is no difference in sound quality in a Strat and certainly you can't argue with his test method, however it may be possible to discern a difference in a humbucker loaded git.

Wouldn't you think any difference in caps would show up more in a Strat than an LP? I don't know that in a dark guitar with humbuckers that the human ear could hear something that subtle. With all the treble & definition in a Strat, I'd think that's where you'd get the maximum difference, and if it's not noticeable there, then you probably have bigger things to worry about with your tone.

 

[uOpt]

Re: different capacitors

Wouldn't you think any difference in caps would show up more in a Strat than an LP? I don't know that in a dark guitar with humbuckers that the human ear could hear something that subtle. With all the treble & definition in a Strat, I'd think that's where you'd get the maximum difference, and if it's not noticeable there, then you probably have bigger things to worry about with your tone.

I have caps on A/B switches.

To my ears, different caps are much easier to hear on PAF class pickups. In fact I don't think I can hear them on the Strat samples I posted at all. I can hear them on Les Paul + humbucker recordings.

It makes some sense: the musicap makes the sound bassier, softer, and that could be as simple as a bass or low mid push. Since the Strat pickups have much less EQ in those areas it makes it more difficult to hear. If they had half the volume at -say- 200 Hz then pushing 200 Hz by 1 or 2 dB will be much less audible than with a pickup that has full volume at 200 Hz.

Overall this is kind of a useless microoptimization, but doesn't hurt to do if you invest a couple dollars and re-solder stuff anyway.

%%

There is one pretty bad thing about cermic caps, though, and that might be responsible for their bad reputation:

Mechanical damage to ceramic caps dramatically changes the capacitance. I had one cap with the legs pulled apart too far (good image there :blackeye: ) and the capacitance shot up by a factor of IIRC two (yes, up, not down). Of course that will have an audible impact.

Very few people measure the capacitance of the ceramics (or any capacitor) they put in.