Favorite Type of tone cap.

Aidenn7

Aidenn7

Jan 26, 2007
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#1
I realize this may be redundant- I done a search.. I've all ready decided.. To use a .15-.22uf

But what company provides a good durable material and holds up or what's your favorite to you.

It's a 2003 p with a j neck. Bill Lawrence or geezer butler.. Going as bright is hell.. With minimal cut to mids and lows..

Thanks guys
 
#6
ctmullins said:
It doesn’t matter.
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With all due respect.. I know It doesn't matter sound wise.. A cap is a cap.. I'm asking about durability/strength.. Which you haven't answered, can't answer, or in your professional opinion believe it don't not matter.. But It's a valid question.. What is the most durable cap type.. I was thinking mylar.. Can anybody answer my ridiculously silly question. Lol
 
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#7
In a passive bass circuit no capacitor is going to see enough current to “wear out” and, once it’s soldered in, it shouldn’t be moving around so there really isn’t much difference in how well a cap is going to last. I had a bunch of the green ones I got cheap when Radio Shack went out of business here but they’re about gone so I’ll probably order whatever is cheap and small (physically) at Antique Electronic Supply.
 
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#8
Adienn7 said:
With all due respect.. I know It doesn't matter sound wise.. A cap is a cap.. I'm asking about durability/strength.. Which you haven't answered, can't answer, or in your professional opinion believe it don't not matter.. But It's a valid question.. What is the most durable cap type.. I was thinking mylar.. Can anybody answer my ridiculously silly question. Lol
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The most durable are glass and mica capacitors. They’re expensive, tend to be bulky, and are pretty much only used in high frequency circuits, medical devices, military applications, and space programs. They usually only come in picofarad values, so they’re not all that useful for guitar tonestack purposes.

In a guitar or bass circuit, durability isn’t a factor. Any type of non-polarized capacitor can easily handle the very small current and voltages that are present as well as tolerate the environmental conditions a musical instrument is ever likely to be found in.

Just use a mylar or poly film capacitor like almost every instrument maker does and don’t overthink it. They’re, cheap, reliable, and come in a large number of capacitance values. Your standard 35¢ mylar film capacitor will provide you with a lifetime of worry free performance.
 
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#9
40Hz said:
The most durable are glass and mica capacitors. They’re expensive, tend to be bulky, and are pretty much only used in high frequency circuits, medical devices, military applications, and space programs. They usually only come in picofarad values, so they’re not all that useful for guitar tonestack purposes.

In a guitar or bass circuit, durability isn’t a factor. Any type of non-polarized capacitor can easily handle the very small current and voltages that are present as well as tolerate the environmental conditions a musical instrument is ever likely to be found in.

Just use a mylar or poly film capacitor like almost every instrument maker does and don’t overthink it. They’re, cheap, reliable, and come in a large number of capacitance values. Your standard 35¢ mylar film capacitor will provide you with a lifetime of worry free performance.
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Thank you!! With good detail
 
#10
You also don't need anything rated for high Voltage, because the Voltage output of our instruments is under 1 Volt.
These Chiclet-sized ones are fine:

31724-b76f836058ab2da6f420e1f8bf3f6d0d.jpg
 
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#12
Adienn7 said:
With all due respect.. I know It doesn't matter sound wise.. A cap is a cap.. I'm asking about durability/strength..Can anybody answer my ridiculously silly question. Lol
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yep;

any cap of the right value big enough to comfortably handle and small enough to fit in there; as long as you're minimally capable with the soldering iron, once it's in there it'll last forever
 
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#13
In terms of electronic "durability", well as others have said, in a passive bass circuit, just about any cap will be fine. The tiny currents are miles away from even the lowest rated caps.

As for physical durability, I have come across a few brands of ceramic cap with very fine wire legs. I'd think for a beginner, these might be a bit difficult to use. I'd also say, for beginners, smaller caps in general will be more likely to suffer heat damage if you are new to soldering. So that's a case for the 500v orange drop caps I guess.

Many circuits show the cap soldered to the tone pot casing. If you are trying to do this with a cheap solder pencil, overheating the cap is a real possibility. I'd recommend using aluminium heatsink clips. FWIW, you can also use blu-tac for holding wires and caps in place while you solder as well.

In a way, paper-in-oil caps are not durable. I believe the paper breaks down over time (whether they are used or not) and their capacitance drifts, and they pass DC. In amps, they can be noisy. Honestly, in a passive bass, they'd still be fine I'd think. It's not like a valve amp, where a faulty cap can pull the bias around and start blowing up stuff...
 
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#14
I’ve noticed that discussions regarding tone cap construction are infrequent at TB.

40Hz said:
Just use a mylar or poly film capacitor like almost every instrument maker does and don’t overthink it. They’re, cheap, reliable, and come in a large number of capacitance values. Your standard 35¢ mylar film capacitor will provide you with a lifetime of worry free performance.
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Tell our skinny 6-string brethren that. Ever go to a Les Paul forum irt tone caps? They’ll argue for days over it, pio vs whatever...:woot:
 
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#17
Killed_by_Death said:
I'm not so sure, a recent discussion about the basics of how the capacitor functions had folks dropping in to comment about how informative it was, & I'm guessing 30% or more of players think the treble-cut cap actually adds something.
"tone" knob is a bit of a misnomer
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People are going to absorb what they absorb. I’ve since learned to mellow out about these things and lighten up. I think a lot of people don’t really care about absolute technical correctness because, in terms of the bigger picture, a capacitor is not really all that important.
 
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#19
Killed_by_Death said:
People don't care, until it does matter, then they start grasping at all the snakeoil BS that gets posted online.
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You can only do so much. I try to share what I know. If someone chooses to disagree or ignore it, then so be it. All my observations and suggestions (I don’t offer advice) are offered gratis and as is. I’m not a crusader when it comes to something as inconsequential as bass guitar. I stopped tilting at windmills ages ago. And I became a lot happier for doing so. :)
 
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