Search Results for: caps

October 27, 2010

Yet Another Tone Cap Shootout

Back in July, I mentioned a tone cap shootout by Steve over at KernelOfWisdom, which included some more boutique caps that I hadn’t included in my tone cap comparison project.

Well, Steve is back with another meticulously prepared and more comprehensive comparison.

In the ring this time are a Russian T-1 Teflon, Russian K4Y-9 PIO, Cornell-Dubilier PIO, Goodall PIO, Luxe Repro Grey Tiger, Gibson Repro Bumblebee, Sprague Vitamin Q, Jensen PIO, Sprague Orange Drop as well as a generic brown polyester film and ceramic disc caps.

He also has a blind comparison page (don’t peek at the answer key til after you listen).

Great work Steve!

Update: Alas, the KernelOfWisdom website seems to be gone, but you can still see the discussion at the mylspaul forum.

Orange Drop capacitors from 1000pf to .047uF

July 16, 2010

Tone Cap Polarity Revisited

Electronics, Guitar Capacitors, Electronics 5

I’ve been asked a number of times whether the polarity makes any difference when connecting the common guitar tone cap, and I always answer No.

Electrolytic caps are polarized, and can fail or explode if you connect them up backwards. But we don’t use electrolytics for guitar tone – the caps we typically use (polyester film, paper-in-oil, etc) have no significant polarity.

Now, film and foil caps (like Orange Drops and Mallorys) do have an outside foil-wrapping which is used for shielding and is connected on one of the leads of the cap. Ceramic and silver mica caps aren’t built with an outside foil wrap.

Apparently, according to this article by Dirk Wacker in the new issue of Premier Guitar, it may actually make some difference to the sound which way you connect the outside foil of a cap.

I haven’t noticed it myself, but it obviously depends on the guitar, pickups, amp, wire, capacitors, and the ears 🙂

Caps aren’t typically marked for which is the outside foil end- and I don’t know of any way to tell which is which. So, in short, try your tone cap both ways and if you hear that one way sounds better than other, then go for it. If you don’t hear a difference, don’t worry about it!

July 13, 2010

Another Tone Cap Shootout

Electronics, Geek, Guitar Capacitors, Electronics 3

There are a variety of expensive “boutique” guitar tone capacitors out there, which I haven’t tried and didn’t include in my tone cap comparison project.

I just came across this audio comparison by “Kernel of Wisdom” which examines a bunch of the more expensive tone caps including a vintage bumblebee, modern bumblebee, Jensen Paper-In-Oil, Vitamin Q, and Luxe Grey Tiger.

Have a look and a listen!

April 30, 2010

Another interesting tone cap article

Electronics, Geek, Guitar Capacitors, Electronics 0

Steven at S. K. Guitar Specialties has an interesting article comparing tone caps of different material types (PIO, Ceramic and polyester), with overlaid frequency plots. Check it here.

February 17, 2010

Crazy Tone Thing 2: The Sequel

Guitar Tone Capacitors Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Video 186

Well, part 2 of the tone video took waaaay longer than I anticipated! I spent a ridiculous amount of time editing, and animating illustrations of the tone circuit.

Here I present a tutorial on how to read cap values, an explanation of how the capacitance and resistance work together as an RC filter in the tone circuit, and some audio examples to help in selecting a useful cap value for a tone circuit. More

February 4, 2010

Crazy Tone Thing

Guitar Tone Capacitors Capacitors, Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Video 328

After much deliberation, experimentation, determination, and the inevitable procrastination and distraction… I’ve finally completed this comparison of tone capacitor material types and capacitance values. In part 1, I’ll evaluate a bunch of different dialectric material types to see how they change the character of the sound. In part 2, I’ll cover how different capacitance values affect the range and usefulness of the tone pot.

First, I built this Tone Thing 🙂 It’s a piece of cardboard on which I mounted 7 different capacitor material types, and 7 Orange Drops of different capacitance values, and one Bourns 500k audio taper pot. This is connected up with alligator clips to my Epiphone Riviera P93, in parallel with the signal at the output jack (the same place as the master tone in a regular guitar circuit).

December 29, 2009

Guitar Electronics Comparisons

Guitar Circuit Wiring, Semi-Hollowbody Electronics Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Jack, Pickups, Video 66

In this video, I finally bring together the results of the last 20 or so videos, and demo the results of my Epiphone Riviera P93 electronics overhaul. I first demonstrate the original Epi setup, then swap in my new electronics, and then replace the pickups with a matched set of new Vintage Vibe Guitars P-90’s.

The new electronics include CTS 500k audio taper pots, no-load mod on the tone pot, an Orange Drop .01uF tone cap, all new shielded wire, and a new Switchraft L12A jack. So, if you’re wondering what it might sound like if you change out your pots and caps in your guitar, this should be a good example. (Note, I’m changing the jack for mechanical reasons, not to improve the sound). More

November 16, 2009

A Bloody Mess

Guitar Treble Bleed Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Video 167

Update Feb 4, 2011: I wrote up a number of ideas for solutions in this blog post. And I wrote up my final mods in this post.

Before plunging into the details, here’s the abbreviated version: the Epiphone Riviera P93 guitar has 3 pickups and 3-way selector switch. There’s no way to turn off the middle pot other than turning it all the way down. Because of this, the volume pots must be wired with independent (aka decoupled) wiring, which results in bad treble loss when turning down. And because of this wiring, there’s no way to use a treble bleed cap since turning down one will result in loss of high frequencies in the other. This problem can be avoided on a typical two pickup 3-way switch (traditional Les Paul style) guitar since it can use non-indendent (coupled) volume wiring. Read on for details…More

September 29, 2009

What the Bleedin’ Treble!

Guitar Treble Bleed Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, G&L ASAT III, Video 142

In part one of this, video I explain what treble bleed is, and how to evaluate and select the right cap. I demonstrate my G&L ASAT III which has a treble bleed cap on the master volume, and I compare that with my Epiphone Riviera P93 which has no treble bleed caps (yet).

The caps I tried are (as shown left to right): Silver Mica 100pf, 390pf and 1000pf, a tiny 1000pf ceramic cap, and Sprague Orange Drop (polypropylene) 1000pf, 3300pf, and 6800pf.

The tolerances on the caps are a bit all over the place. I measured the 1000pf caps on my DMM and all were closer to 1250. The 100pf silver mica was over 250! This is assuming I can trust my Mastech DMM.

September 9, 2009

Pickup experiment- bypassing electronics

Guitar Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Video 65

Speaking with Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars about possible dog-eared P-90 pickup replacements for the Riviera P93, Pete recommended I first try bypassing the guitar’s electronics to see if they’re sucking the tone away. This experiment requires disconnecting the pickup wire from the electronics, and routing it directly to the output jack. The results are interesting. Read on for pictures, and audio, video before/after.

It felt a bit like open heart surgery! I held the neck volume pot with locking pliers so I could use a soldering iron to remove the red wire from the pot. Old baby blankets and polish cloths came in handy here to protect the finish:)

Rather than fishing out the output jack through the f-hole, I used alligator clips to attach an extra jack hanging off the side of the guitar. The green alligator connects the jack ground to the pickup ground. The red alligator connects to the red signal wire of the pickup. With this setup, I can easily swap the red alligator between the new output jack and right back to the neck volume pot.