What flavor of capacitor?

[southboundsuarez]

Ok, one of those questions to stir the pot.... What cap composition do you like best and why?
Ya know a .022 600v cap comes in many different flavors as well as different packages too. So which style of cap works best, when you have so many to choose from.... For instance I have old school foil paper and wax caps, but they are way too large physically to fit in my BJr build.  Then I have some premium metalized polyester film caps such as Mallory 150's and a whole plethora of premium axial rolled foil types.... Then we have similar composition in different packages such as the infamous "Orange Drop" that are avail in both polyester foil and polypropylene makeup.... If .022uF is .022uF and a cap is of similar tolerance and they share similar ESR  ect.... Ect.... How do you choose which cap to use and for what application?
Then we have all these mojo premium brand caps such as Stolen, SoZo, Mojo, Fender, ect... Ect... Blue, Yellow, Mustard, Orange, Vitamin Q , Paper, Foil, Wax, Black Beauties, Yellow Jackets, BumbleBees, Christmas Trees, CrossTop, Black Cats, ThunnderBombs....
Which ones do I use today?!?!?!
What's your favorite Flavor today?  Mines Peppermint Schnapps and Hot Chocolate.
Seasons Greetings.
Health &Prosperity to everyone!
Southbound Suarez
So. Cal.

[sluckey]

I prefer the Xicons that Hoffman sells. My layout style is based on their small size. When combined with metal film resistors I can design a small compact board. I try to keep a full set of Xicons in bench stock. I once used a lot of Mallory 150s but I phased them out when they changed to that ugly white color.

Here's my last build that shows the Xicons...  http://sluckeyamps.com/phoenix/phoenix.htm

And this Supro shows the last of my 150s being used up...  http://sluckeyamps.com/supro/supro.htm

[Willabe]

What cap you use can depend on what sound you want from the amp.

The polyprops are clean sounding, more transparent. Some say too clean in some amps. Other caps can/will add some color to the amps sound.   

Read this, it may help you;

https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=19534.0

[southboundsuarez]

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings Willabe!
Thanks for that gift! Kept me up all night reading with alit of great info! Probably has to be one of the best threads written upon the subject from a practical point of consideration for the amateur amp craft enthusiast.
You really pretty much put the last word on any attempt by me to stir the pot on such a subjective and often argumentative topic.
Seriously, I have a fairly decent inventory of a variety of caps. I have mostly used the Mallory 150's, NOS and recycled old Fender Blue Astrons and to a lessor extent the old Mustards ala Marshall.... Mostly using what I usually have at my disposal and often what appears most period correct. Funny how someone in the thread mentioned their preference based on the color of the board and overall look.
Yup, I often choose cap for correct look in vintage amps. Tweeds get yellow Astrons, Blackface the Blues, Marshalls get Mustards, of course based on availability, barring that I always have had a decent stash of the Mallory 150.
Of course the majority of amp stuff I do is restorations and repairs. Design, building and experimenting for tone is another facet to this thing we do. I have mostly only built the regular old basics, 5e3, 5F6, 18watt, Plexi  and whatever kludge of whatever tube poweramp comes my way.
However, I am recently new to building with turret boards and using Hoffman's resources. I am very grateful to utilize much of what I have discovered here.
I also must show gratitude for the recent inventory of parts that recently found a good home in my shop. I have a small inventory of many different premium caps to sample, including a limited few of the MusicCap & AuriCaps .
In my very limited and unsubstantiated experience, it has seemed to me that I have found if there has been any perception that I have seemed notable, is that often the actual physical mechanical size of a cap seems to often make a more pleasant perceived tonal difference to my objective and superstitious biased experience. .
I do have a tray full of the Xicons too, I will have to put more faith in giving these little Lego packaged caps a try.
Lots of great advice from many seasoned folks with a ton of real world practical experience. I am so grateful to interact with others here.

[thetragichero]

grape, although don't bite down on the aluminum ones as they can get salty

[brewdude]

I have a vague recollection of a suggestion  from one of the established amp gurus (may have been Ken Fisher) that was something along the lines of:


If you want to get a more vintage style tone/response from smaller modern components, try spacing them further apart.


I don’t know if there is a perceived difference, or if it would be meaningful.

[acheld]

I can not tell the difference between the different caps when I've tested one against the other.  Some folks can.   I'm just not one of them -- my ears may just be too old.

One thing I have been experimenting with is substituting film caps in place of electrolytics -- so far so good, though the film caps are generally more expensive.   I started doing this after building some cheap signal generator kits, and could not read the labels on the board -- when I'd turn them on, I had a good chance of popping the small electrolytic caps, one actually jumped up into my glasses.   The film caps don't seem to care much about polarity.

No idea if this is safe practice, though I have seen some builds with the filter caps being all film caps . . .

[southboundsuarez]

The Grape taste too artificial but not so much as the banana!
FILM CAPS?
Yes, I have been noticing that there are more and more caps becoming avai.  in much larger values than previously practical than before and I wondered if if and how they could be used in place on circuits that we traditionally would see polarized electrolytics. I imagine they are very useful in crossover networks and such things. Would they be useful in a fully regulated power supply circuit? (Is that a dumb question?) Maybe some sorts super sophisticated high speed switching power supplies). Obviously a distinctive advantage is they don't explode regardless of orientation! Ha! That's a good practical thing fer sure !
But capacitor technology certainly is another area in this day and age we rather may take for granted. But I certainly notice that many of these Asian manufactured caps have been growing exceedingly better and better, especially with real world performance and at least matching if not performing beyond their specifications. It seems at the beginning of 2k they were often lagging and failing prematurely but quality has risen extraordinarily.  I don't know what or how they can pack so much capacitance into such a miniscule space! I think the brand I have been very impressed with is those Epcos?   They are 1/4 the size of a Spraque and avail up to 600v with 105° rating, lower ESR, and much much longer shelf life...  Earlier the Xicons were mentioned, look at how much capacitance is stuffed into one of those little tiny boxes! I dunno, if it is my imagination but when it comes to the signal properties of tone caps it still seems that bigger mechanical/physical sized caps make a bigger sound. But I also assume that it is likely psychological on my part, being your average red blooded all American baby boomer boy. Everything else being equal Size matters!
Anyways, mostly just making idle chit-chat.... Anyone is welcome to chime in or pass if they want....  I really don't have much technical merit but do enjoy the discussion none the less....

[jammied]

Domino mica's and the old yellow astrons before they get to leaky   but lots of great sounding amps have been built with the xicons and the blue NTE metal film resistors