Symptoms of bad "capacitors" ??????

[SheDoesntDoIt4Me]

If you have a amp and the caps are "going" or are bad, what are the symptoms? Can it still sound good? I saw a ebay ad for a old Gibson amp and they said May need caps soon...breaks up too early and doesnt sound as clean as it should. Does this mean bad caps equals more gain? Any other signs to watch for? Thanks

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Symptoms of bad "capacitors" ??????

As far as filter caps go, they'll bubble at the ends when they are getting bad and the bass frequencies may suffer from ghost notes and start getting loose.

As far as coupling caps go, they'll pass DC when they're going bad and the tone might get scratchy sounding.

 

[SheDoesntDoIt4Me]

Re: Symptoms of bad "capacitors" ??????

Thanks Lew, so youd notice a "bad" sound regardless. If your amp sounds sweet, your probably ok?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Symptoms of bad "capacitors" ??????

Well....if the caps are going bad replacing them might make it sound even sweeter!

On the other hand, why fix something that's not broken?

If your amp sounds sweet to you, it's probably just fine.

Lew

 

[lastwinj]

Re: Symptoms of bad "capacitors" ??????

bad filter caps also make the amp noisy. usually get some 60 cycle hum. leaky coupling caps will make the amp sound farty, in a very bad way.

germ