Tropical Fish Capacitors

harmonix1234

New member
Anyone know much about them?
I recently got given a few old power amps from the 70's that were full of dust and rust. Beyond salvageable.
So, I un-soldered all the caps because I thought they looked cool.
Probably got over 100 old tropical fish caps and a whole bunch of what seem to be Jensen paper in oil caps.

Does anyone know if these go well in guitars?
And is there a tool like a multimeter that I can use to work out what microfard it is?
 
Re: Tropical Fish Capacitors

Yup. A multimeter that can measure Farads will do it.

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Re: Tropical Fish Capacitors

No first hand exp. but i found this:
Mullard C280
Widely known as the “tropical fish” cap. Polyester film type cap. They sound excellent in a Strat, offering a very fat tone that doesn’t turn into mud with overdrive or distortion. Compared to the Sprague Orange Drop caps, these have more midrange and less high-end sizzle. If you have a thin-sounding Strat, they are worth a try.
 
Re: Tropical Fish Capacitors

Curious ~ how would Ya get high end sizzle when using much of the tone pot for Any comparison ?
 
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Re: Tropical Fish Capacitors

I have a .018µf tropical fish on the tone control of my HSS. Got it because I wanted something that wasn't dark when rolled all the way off; works great with single coils.
 
Re: Tropical Fish Capacitors

Yes it should + be less dramatic because of the .018uf value , Not because it's a mullard Cap
 
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