The Great Capacitor Secret

[Terry]

What a wonderful discovery.  

For those of you who have a great electric guitar (which most people on this board seriously doubt that you do) that sounds great acoustically "and" has truely great pick ups.  The mallory caps that Doug sells are great to use on such a guitar.  

The same way that those caps are so crystal clear with your amp and how they let the true tone of your amp shine through without coloring it...so also with your guitar.  In fact on my Gretsch with TV Jones I'm seriously thinking on having two caps with a little switch.  The Mallorys let everything shine through and my old (non stock) caps color the whole thing also beautifully.  But if I had to chose on this guitar it would be the Mallory.  Big big difference.

[G._Hoffman]

I've tried just about every kind of cap know in guitars, and I can honestly say that I can't hear a difference. 

More to the point, I can't imagine any way that you could tell one way or another.  Your ability to hear small differences (and this could never be more than a small change) lasts less than 3 minutes.  Now, I'm pretty quick with a soldering iron, but I still can't get everything done fast enough to actually be able to tell the difference.  And of course, you absolutely must have caps which have exactly matched values, which is kind of tough.  I've heard some convincing arguments that ceramics don't sound as good as film caps, but I've never heard it.


Gabriel

[TheElectricMoron]

Well, I'm nobody but I can't hear it either.  Tone caps aren't even in the signal path.  They go nowhere but to ground.
But we all know how these "subtle differences" are detectable by the bat-eared world.  I mean, if EJ can hear a rubber band ........
JMO of course YMMV

Charlie

[jjasilli]

What exactly are you comparing?  I can hear a difference between cheap ceramic & film caps vs. quality caps like orange drops & mallories.  And another difference between the latter and audio quailty oil caps.  IMHO by comparison the cheap ceramic & film caps soujnd awful.  Orange drops & mallories vs. oil caps all sounds good to me, and is a matter of taste or preference in different builds.

[ajeffcote]

   I must also agree that there is a difference.My favorite so far is the Kimber cap,but I have some Jupiters on order and wiill definitely try them in a guitar or two.I also like the Vitamin Q's I buy from All-parts.I guess next in order of preference would be Mallories.
   Sometimes it's a curse,but I can hear a difference.
                                                                 

[tubesornothing]

Well, I'm nobody but I can't hear it either.  Tone caps aren't even in the signal path.  They go nowhere but to ground.

And why wouldn't a cap going to ground have an effect on tone?

[HotBluePlates]

Well, I'm nobody but I can't hear it either.  Tone caps aren't even in the signal path.  They go nowhere but to ground.

And why wouldn't a cap going to ground have an effect on tone?

What's on the other end of your grounding point? That's right, the "grounded wire" of your pickup. So it's all in the signal path in some manner...

[tubesornothing]

Precisely.  I think the only thing **not** in the signal path is the plastic of the knobs.

[jjasilli]

You use plastic knobs!?!   

[tubesornothing]

damn - got me.  "but they sound sooooo  good - to my ears anyways"

[TheElectricMoron]

Certainly some interesting thots about "signal path" there.   

But I can't hear the paint either, or the kind of tuners.  But I always use metal knobs.  Just hopeless I'm sure. 

Rock On, Dudes!!


Charlie

[Terry]

Maybe everyone is right.  In my bedroom I can hear astounding difference.  When things get cranked they seem to become smaller and smaller.  But I still have to live with my bedroom ears.

[Fresh_Start]

In a guitar tone control, I could hear an improvement going from Fender ceramic to a film tone cap.  However, it didn't seem to matter whether it was an Orange Drop, Mallory 150, or green gumdrop from Rat Shack.

Caps in amps seem to have more of a cumulative affect on tone...

Chip

[Terry]

In my Gretsch 2001 Tennessee Rose with  TV Hilotrons the differemce is so noticable I have a switch that switches between two caps.  One is a Mallory .022 which gives a beautiful clear, non bassy tone whether I skim off highs or not and an old grey .o22 cap that I love but don't know what it is, though I have a bunch of them, which colors the tone and gives more bass, highs skimmed off or not, which I also love. I switch the switch and I hear it immediately.

[TheElectricMoron]

In a guitar tone control, I could hear an improvement going from Fender ceramic to a film tone cap.  However, it didn't seem to matter whether it was an Orange Drop, Mallory 150, or green gumdrop from Rat Shack.

Caps in amps seem to have more of a cumulative affect on tone...

Chip

That might be because the tone caps and connecting caps in amps are actually in the signal path.

Charlie

[TheElectricMoron]

In my Gretsch 2001 Tennessee Rose with  TV Hilotrons the differemce is so noticable I have a switch that switches between two caps.  One is a Mallory .022 which gives a beautiful clear, non bassy tone whether I skim off highs or not and an old grey .o22 cap that I love but don't know what it is, though I have a bunch of them, which colors the tone and gives more bass, highs skimmed off or not, which I also love. I switch the switch and I hear it immediately.

Have you put both of those caps on a meter and seen that they are really the same mf?


Charlie

[jjasilli]

Good question!

[G._Hoffman]

Have you put both of those caps on a meter and seen that they are really the same mf?


Charlie

Indeed.

I frequently put two caps in my guitars - a .022uF, and a .1uF.  Very different sounds, and for guys who like their guitars to do a lot of different things it is very helpful.


Gabriel