Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum

Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: Tom_Hull on December 20, 2011, 08:50:28 pm

Title: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: Tom_Hull on December 20, 2011, 08:50:28 pm

hi everyone
bumblebees
i was wondering about some capacitors in a lowery organ..
it was a working organ that mice made a royal mess of the wiring .

now are these any good ,, for anything or just too old,, 1957 or 58 lowery organ i beleive        


its for my own use.

there are 3 that fit a guitar..i believe ...there are 30 bumblebee capacitors

thanks tom

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: jim on December 20, 2011, 09:42:09 pm

If you have a bunch with the same stripe code on them they will all measure differently.  These are unreliable in a high voltage circuit because they drift and have drifted because of heat.  They work great in guitars however.  You can find one that has drifted to THE perfect unusual value--perhaps .018 or .033 in the bunch that you need for YOUR perfect Les Paul Tone.  If you go to the trouble to build an amp however--use new stuff. Jim

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: Tom_Hull on December 20, 2011, 10:13:31 pm

thanks Jim,
 for your reply .

.So that means when i get some batteries.. check them ...

the good ones may be no good at all then .. ok then

if they are of any value,,, my son inlaw plays guitar..
now then,,, i have never open a guitar up..

can i put them in any guitar?? , if not which type of guitar .. any one please ????and thanks

my grandchildren are 7 and nine
they play organ and drums ..daughter needs a bass amp..got that started ..
so now its to get somethong for my son inlaw

yes  ... ill use new for amps .like my stereo and stuff ..

thanks,, hope all goes well for you,,

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: stingray_65 on December 20, 2011, 10:36:37 pm

Tom,

Those bumblebee's fetch a high price on ebay if they are the right ones.

in guitars they are just fine.

As Jim stated they will have likely drifted, Many people believe that this is why vintage guitars have a certain tone to them that clones don't.

For example, say the vintage guitar has what looks to be a .047uf cap (labeled that way in one way or another), but the REALITY is it would measure VERY differently,thus changing the dynamics of the tone circuit considerably.

Having recycled a lot of tube organs for parts myself, I would NEVER use vintage caps in an amp,ANYWHERE.

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: jim on December 20, 2011, 10:38:15 pm

Tom--give them all to your son-in-law.  All guitars have "tone caps" and there is plenty of info on the net.
The bumblebee caps seem to have mystical qualities and command premium prices in the guitar world.
I find them useful in guitars because they have drifted to unstandard values.  Sounds like you have a musical family.  This is a beautiful thing. If you run into issues with your amp building you will always find
help here.  Good luck with your projects and have a safe and healthy holiday and new year.  Jim

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: HotBluePlates on December 20, 2011, 11:04:31 pm

A different perspective on the same things everyone has said:

Your 1959 Les Paul Standard used a 0.022uF bumblebee cap for the tone control, so naturally, these are worth $$$$$$ (to collectors, guitarists with too much money).

Radio restoration guys know they is a 90% chance these caps are leaky in any radio they're trying to fix, and rip them out on general principle without checking. To these folks, they are worthless.

For you and me, they are probably no better than any other coupling cap, and could easily be replaced with a polyester film cap, while retaining most all of the sonic character of the original cap. So you and I would know from the radio crowd they've probably failed, will remove and replace them with a polyester cap, and sell the pertinent ones on ebay for lots of money.

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: Tom_Hull on December 21, 2011, 08:38:30 am

stingray_65  

As Jim stated they will have likely drifted, Many people believe that this is why vintage guitars have a certain tone to them that clones don't.

Having recycled a lot of tube organs for parts myself, I would NEVER use vintage caps in an amp,ANYWHERE.
hi ,,,,,

confirmed nice ..

nice to hereabout the organs  ,,,,,knowledge   ,,and,there are those lesiles speakers ,,sterofoam swirly sounding speakers and the metal bent pan type that has less swirling  ,,adifferent posting i would guess..and         and
thanks

thanks

: jim  

Tom--give them all to your son-in-law.  All guitars have "tone caps" and there is plenty of info on the net.
The bumblebee caps seem to have mystical qualities and command premium prices in the guitar world.
I find them useful in guitars because they have drifted to unstandard values

hi

 yes sounds right to me  ..he play his guitar often ..strong man ,,he can play all night and his arm never gets tried .hes not tall or fat but weights 260lb ..you got to be on his good side ..he live love these caps ,,army dude ,,going to somalia soon



.I checked out the net abit but this computor is having problems ...must be those dumb rip off caps .or viral.
well then all those other type.... old caps i collected and checkout good .,,,.may have some value in a guitar nice ]]]

thanks


HotBluePlates  

A different perspective on the same things everyone has said:

Your 1959 Les Paul Standard used a 0.022uF bumblebee cap for the tone control, so naturally, these are worth $$$$$$ (to collectors, guitarists with too much money).

Radio restoration guys know they is a 90% chance these caps are leaky in any radio they're trying to fix, and rip them out on general principle without checking. To these folks, they are worthless.

For you and me, they are probably no better than any other coupling cap, and could easily be replaced with a polyester film cap, while retaining most all of the sonic character of the original cap. So you and I would know from the radio crowd they've probably failed, will remove and replace them with a polyester cap, and sell the pertinent ones on ebay for lots of money.

 hi

i love the way you explain your self ..i feel included

thanks thanks very much

all the best to everyone

tom .

lets hope i wrote this correctly    

..I must explain that i am self taught ..i was in a coma for a few days  20 years back and i could not remember anything but my name .. my memory has came back . but i cannot rememeber what i do  not remember lol..
PLEASE EXCUSE MY SPELLING AND CONFUSING POSTS,,,
i did one thing neet ,,,the line ,even with memory problems
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT ,,,,WHOOF ,whoof ,,who let the dogs out ..was from my family's song ..and did not get much from that ,,buggers $50 bucks .because i had no money  for a returned  dog ,,buggers ..lol i got to laugh

one hit wonder, no wonder ,,lol excuse me ....almando bugger should have phoned me ...
and i am still thinking of agood line for a song  ..   lol

Title: Re: bumblebee capacitors ,,are they any good ?
Post by: Tom_Hull on December 21, 2011, 04:46:42 pm

hi .. now with a picture of these hopfully nice capacitors

 i broke one open and it looked perfect.. without a microscope  but I threw it out days ago

and then there are these tropicap .015   600 v and  the    .. .01 erie