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#271959 - 13/02/10 06:07 AM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: dg.riff]
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DaveBass
Old Timer
Registered: 30/10/02
Posts: 6424
Loc: The wilds of Surrey
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As a former electronics engineer who used to design professional audio circuits, I know that the type of pots and capacitors (as opposed to their values in ohms and farads) makes absolutely no difference to the sound, whether at full on on half.
But other people, generally those with little or no knowledge of electronics, insist that they can hear a difference.
Your choice! 
Dave
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#290238 - 01/12/11 07:21 PM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: stickyfiddle]
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Ape09090
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 01/12/11
Posts: 421
Loc: South Wales
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Dave Bass,the values in ohms and farads can make a measurable tonal difference to a guitar if you swop them out then?
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#290244 - 01/12/11 10:27 PM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: Ape09090]
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DaveBass
Old Timer
Registered: 30/10/02
Posts: 6424
Loc: The wilds of Surrey
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Ape09090: Values in ohms and farads can make a difference; however, the way a capacitor is made and the materials it's made of don't make a noticeable difference. This is because passive electronic components are a very mature technology, and it's virtually impossible to buy anything that isn't of excellent quality from an electrical point of view.
If you're going to use components in high-power circuits or at radio frequencies, you do need to be careful because the imperfections can make a big difference. But at the low frequencies and low voltages of audio electronics, these effects are completely negligible.
One thing to beware of is tolerances. For instance, a pot may have a tolerance of +/-20% (e.g. a 100k pot could be anywhere between 80k and 120k).
And a ceramic capacitor intended for bypassing high frequencies (not for use in audio) may even have a tolerance as wide as -20%/+80%.
Now take two such capacitors, both nominally 10nF say, but one of which is 8nF and the other 18nF. The difference is going to be clearly audible.
Also if you try these capacitors against a third capacitor, maybe of a different type, which is actually close to its nominal value of 10nF, the difference may also be audible. I think this is probably how some of these capacitor myths arise.
Dave
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#290246 - 01/12/11 11:23 PM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: DaveBass]
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Ape09090
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 01/12/11
Posts: 421
Loc: South Wales
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Nice one Dave,so I spunked a few quid for a minimal improvement then.Well it won't be the first or last time I've done that.
I'm trying to keep all this kit I'm investigating now to a +/- 10% tolerance.
I figure if company A makes something to a +/-20% tolerance and company B make a similar product to a +/-5% tolerance then company B are probably making the better stuff.
What caps would you recommend for me to put on a strat to open the treble up a bit,the 225p 47uf orange drops or the 715p 22uf orange drops?
Thanks again
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#290247 - 01/12/11 11:42 PM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: Ape09090]
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Megi
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 08/07/11
Posts: 865
Loc: Lincolnshire
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Hi, I can give you my own findings on caps... Like you I've spent money I very possibly shouldn't have on different types. I got some Russian paper in oil ones for about £3 each on Ebay (0.015uF) and have played around with different values of orange drop ones before that. I don't know about the whole business of different types sounding different - I doubt the difference is significant really. But what I can say is that the value can make a big difference to how the tone control operates. I think 0.047uF is just way too high a value - Gibson use/used it, which is why you still see them, but you just end up with unusable muddy sounds for most of the the control's turn. 0.022 is OK, so I would put them in your strat if it is a choice between the two.
But personally I find I like even lower values for the tone cap. The 0.015uF ones I got are good, and I have 0.01uF in another guitar and like that a lot. With these lower values, I find that you can still roll off as much top end as you would ever want to, and the tone control gives a much better gradation over it's range - makes it more usable.
One thing you could do to open up the treble on the strat is to use 500K pots instead of the stock 250K normally used.
_________________________
Graham, jazz guitar nut!
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#290248 - 02/12/11 01:42 AM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: Megi]
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Ape09090
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 01/12/11
Posts: 421
Loc: South Wales
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Thanks Graham,
I have a CTS 500k log pot on it's way now and I'm going to try it as a tone pot.
I'll put the 47uf in as they were the first ones I ordered.I'll also update here as to what the exact value of the caps is as I'm probably a decimal point or 2 out there.
It looks as if this is an ongoing experiment with multiple tone hunters using various guitars so all good,it looks like I'll have a few heads to bounce idea's off and that's exactly what I was looking for.
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#290249 - 02/12/11 08:51 AM
Re: Replacement Pots & Caps
[Re: Ape09090]
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Oldjono
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 15/09/09
Posts: 842
Loc: Dorset
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Just put an alpha 500k in my SG400 and it works a treat. Have one more to do. I have also got to put on the.001 caps on too. Most importantly it's people such as Graham and many others who have helped me fix up loads of soldering jobs I would have at one time outsourced because of the advice given on this forum.
One day I will do the whole loom and hopeflly not burn myself in the process.
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