What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

[mojoman]

I currently have a pair of Sprague .015 Vitamin Q's in my Gibson SG and I really love the way they sound.

The stock ceramic disc caps that come stock in some Fender & Gibson's can be harsh and bitey IMO. And the red and green mylar chiclet caps can really muddy up your Tone.

I have spent a lot of time collecting and testing all kinds of Capacitors. Just wondering what some of you have in your guitars???

 

[scottish]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

i use sprague orange drops. i tested a bunch using a varitone set up with the same value/different brand or style caps. I did notice an upgrade in tone with pretty much anything over the stock crappy caps that come in almost every guitar but i didnt notice anything worthwhile that justified paying anything above the price of the orange drops.

ive heard with a bunch of the higher end and higher voltage rated caps that you can burn them in using something other than a guitar and then they have a noticeable difference in tone...but i didnt go that far.

 

[Invader09]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

In my Les Paul, no tone caps... disconnected them. In my SG I have paper-in-oil(my favorite) forgot which brand, but they were pretty expensive. They sound real smooth.

 

[mojoman]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

The Orange drops are polypropylene caps, and do sound better than the stock caps for sure. I still prefer a good set of PIO caps. The Bumble Bees were (are) PIO as well as the black beauties and the vitamin Q's.
Even with the PIO caps I have found some guitars will sound better with a certain value cap than others. I like the .015's in guitars with Humbuckers, you have a lot more useful room on the tone dial before they get to dark.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

i use sprague orange drops. i tested a bunch using a varitone set up with the same value/different brand or style caps. I did notice an upgrade in tone with pretty much anything over the stock crappy caps that come in almost every guitar but i didnt notice anything worthwhile that justified paying anything above the price of the orange drops.

My feelings and experience as well. I read these ToneQuest reports about Orange Drops sounding sterile and Oil caps being so much more toneful and I don't hear what the heck they're hearing at all. They sound the same to me. Orange Drops sound just fine in my guitars. I'm always ready to experiment with something new though and I am curious about the Jensen Oil caps RS Guitarworks sells. And I do have Hovlands in a couple of my guitars and they sound fine too. But I can't really say the Hovlands soud better - just that they sound real good. As do the Orange Drops. I do replace ceramic disc caps in all of my guitars. I don't know that they sound bad - but they look cheap.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

I honestly can't tell the difference between one type or the other. I do find that some caps make the tone control smoother, but that's it. I'm perfectly content using Radio Shack "greenies". I have an Orange Drop in one of my guitars, the rest that have tone controls use the "greenies".

 

[mojoman]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

I guess I have a good ear then. Not only can I hear a big difference between the stock caps and the OD's, but I can hear subtle differences between different types of PIO caps as well. I tried out 3 set of different PIO caps in my SG before I settled on the .015Q's, the other sets didn't sound bad, the Q's just sounded better in that guitar.

A lot of times people change out their pu's but leave the stock electronics in their guitars. IMO there is also a big difference in how the CTS pots function and sound vs the cheaper Alpha pots. You can by high dollar pu's, but if you want to hear how they really sound I think you need to upgrade your pots and caps as well.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

love orange drop caps, especially .022 and .015. can't stand ceramic and "chiclet" caps, they all sound too muffled and unclear when i turn the tone knob down. imo, with the tone knob turned to zero, orange drops sound like a cocked wah when you've got some overdrive goin'. very useable

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

I guess I have a good ear then. Not only can I hear a big difference between the stock caps and the OD's, but I can hear subtle differences between different types of PIO caps as well. I tried out 3 set of different PIO caps in my SG before I settled on the .015Q's, the other sets didn't sound bad, the Q's just sounded better in that guitar.

A lot of times people change out their pu's but leave the stock electronics in their guitars. IMO there is also a big difference in how the CTS pots function and sound vs the cheaper Alpha pots. You can by high dollar pu's, but if you want to hear how they really sound I think you need to upgrade your pots and caps as well.

To really tell, you HAVE to use a switch that allows you to switch back and forth between different caps of the same value but different compositions (two 02. or two .015 or whatever...) in real time. I don't think anyone can unsolder a cap and resolder another one and remember what the #1 cap sounded like compared to the #2. It has to be instantaneously compared and the only way to do that is with a switch on your guitar.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

A lot of times people change out their pu's but leave the stock electronics in their guitars. IMO there is also a big difference in how the CTS pots function and sound vs the cheaper Alpha pots. You can by high dollar pu's, but if you want to hear how they really sound I think you need to upgrade your pots and caps as well.

i don't find it absolutely neccessary to change out pots, unless they are no-name asian made stuff. then i at least get the named asian stuff(alpha) i use a bunch of alpha pots not because they are alpha, but because CTS doesn't make a similar pot anymore(audio taper 3/8" dual row push pull).

cap changes are a must though.

 

[DankStar]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

never really thought about it. probably chicklets

 

[mojoman]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

i don't find it absolutely neccessary to change out pots, unless they are no-name asian made stuff. then i at least get the named asian stuff(alpha) i use a bunch of alpha pots not because they are alpha, but because CTS doesn't make a similar pot anymore(audio taper 3/8" dual row push pull).

cap changes are a must though.

I agree for the most part, my SG still has the stock Gibson pots and they are really pretty decent. And I do use the Alpha 3/8" push pulls in my 21 Tone Jimmy Page rigs because like you said CTS does not make them. But those "Dime Size" import pots are junk IMO and really should be replaced.

 

[tone4days]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

hey lew - didnt you do the exact experiment you mention? where you put two caps in and switch between them instantaneously?

or am i misremembering? was it someone else? ... some other forum? ..

 

[Diocletian]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

hey lew - didnt you do the exact experiment you mention? where you put two caps in and switch between them instantaneously?

or am i misremembering? was it someone else? ... some other forum? ..

Yeah I remember someone, somewhere doing something like that. Which makes me think it musta been in here.

 

[MasterKtulu]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

I use Russian K40Y-9 Paper-In-Oil 400V Capacitors exclusively. They sound great and aren't too expensive, about 4-5$ each.

H/H Strat: .022
S/S/S Strat: .047
H/H Les Paul: .022 (Bridge) & .015 (Neck)
Passive J/P Bass: .047

 

[mojoman]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

hey lew - didnt you do the exact experiment you mention? where you put two caps in and switch between them instantaneously?

or am i misremembering? was it someone else? ... some other forum? ..

I have made some tone boxes with a switch that selects between two caps. I even did one with a 5 way rotary switch that let you choose from 5 different caps. Those were Posted over at MLPF under jonesy though.

 

[mojoman]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

I use Russian K40Y-9 Paper-In-Oil 400V Capacitors exclusively. They sound great and aren't too expensive, about 4-5$ each.

H/H Strat: .022
S/S/S Strat: .047
H/H Les Paul: .022 (Bridge) & .015 (Neck)
Passive J/P Bass: .047

Those silver case Russian K-40''s are excellent caps IMO, clear, warm and vocal. Better than the Russian K-42 green case, those have more high mids and a little more bite to them than the k-40's.

 

[ES350]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

50's BB's and 60's Spragues...shop pulls from the 80's/90's when everybody wanted something louder than what was in their guitar. We gutted quite a few old Gibsons and got paid for it...I kept the parts.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

hey lew - didnt you do the exact experiment you mention? where you put two caps in and switch between them instantaneously?

or am i misremembering? was it someone else? ... some other forum? ..

Yeah I remember someone, somewhere doing something like that. Which makes me think it musta been in here.

Yes, it was Lew. Artie did it as well, IIRC.

Not long ago I did it too between an Orange Drop and a Radio Shack "greenie". Couldn't hear a dang difference. Then I tried a Panasonic E series (little red ones) and the OD and again, couldn't hear a difference.

The way I look at it is like this, signal is getting passed to ground in a very low voltage situation, like millivolts. I've never heard the sound out of a tone cap when the other side is to ground so that could explain it. This is just my opinion through experience.

 

[mojoman]

Re: What Type of Caps do You have in your Guitar??

50's BB's and 60's Spragues...shop pulls from the 80's/90's when everybody wanted something louder than what was in their guitar. We gutted quite a few old Gibsons and got paid for it...I kept the parts.

So what type of caps were you putting back into those guitars when you were pulling out those great old caps?

Not sure how a capacitor can actually make a guitar louder?