Other than Sprague Filters

[jjman]

I saw a thread where a “mystery” cap was inside a Sprague that was cut open. Who knows if it was real or not. And they are more expensive than the others. I think I see Illinois brand in use often?

Either way, I’m wondering if other-than- Sprague brands have been holding up well in guitar amps. I’m only referring to filtering applications here.

Anyone used or heard good/bad things about Taiwanese, JJ, German F&T brand, or Illinois lately?

[dave g]

On most of the amps I've built I've used Xicons and I've never had a problem. I've used a few Spragues and in all honesty I couldn't tell any difference between those and the Xicons. I decided to use some Mallorys for my current TW build just to keep it aesthetically "faithful". All in all, I can't tell the difference, but sometimes I worry that somebody else can

[dartanion]

I seriously think that filter cap brands have little to no effect on tone.

I wonder if Sprague uses vintage sized skins over new electrolytics? The materials used in new ones makes them much, much smaller than they used to be.

[gldtp99]

I've used many brands of electrolytic caps for filtering---- Sprauge Atoms, Xicon, Illinois, Nichicon, Samwa, Tech-Cap, ARS, Cornell Dubiller, United Chemi-Con, F&T, JJ, Mallory computer grade cans, and some custom cans from Vibroworld for old Silvertone 1484/1485's----also the no-name axials from Weber.
They have all given good service and i'm not sure that i can tell the difference in tone between any of them as long as they're used within their rated limits.
For serious, $$$-type builds i'll usually use a brand that people seem to hold in high regard---- but i used 105 C. degree rated United Chemi-Con 220uF/450V cans in my latest 50 and 100 watt Hiwatt clones because i refused to use certain brands just because "everybody does".
My 50 watt clones sounded better than two real Hiwatt DR504's that my friend has when he A/B'd them, according to him--- so the less expensive cans haven't hurt the tone.
I'm sure that some of the more knowledgable posters here will have their own opinions on E-caps that may differ from mine.
But at least now i've posted here lately and no longer have to worry about getting kicked off the board for not contributing.
I'd like to continue lurking, reading, learning from some of the very experienced amp builders here.
And i'll let those more qualified answer the tech questions from now on................gldtp99

[sebastian]

I've used many brands of electrolytic caps for filtering---- Sprauge Atoms, Xicon, Illinois, Nichicon, Samwa, Tech-Cap, ARS, Cornell Dubiller, United Chemi-Con, F&T, JJ, Mallory computer grade cans, and some custom cans from Vibroworld for old Silvertone 1484/1485's----also the no-name axials from Weber.
They have all given good service and i'm not sure that i can tell the difference in tone between any of them as long as they're used within their rated limits.
For serious, $$$-type builds i'll usually use a brand that people seem to hold in high regard---- but i used 105 C. degree rated United Chemi-Con 220uF/450V cans in my latest 50 and 100 watt Hiwatt clones because i refused to use certain brands just because "everybody does".
My 50 watt clones sounded better than two real Hiwatt DR504's that my friend has when he A/B'd them, according to him--- so the less expensive cans haven't hurt the tone.
I'm sure that some of the more knowledgable posters here will have their own opinions on E-caps that may differ from mine.
But at least now i've posted here lately and no longer have to worry about getting kicked off the board for not contributing.
I'd like to continue lurking, reading, learning from some of the very experienced amp builders here.
And i'll let those more qualified answer the tech questions from now on................gldtp99

You have posted some GOOD brands of capacitors manufacturers!!
I use ALL these brands,and all of them give me excellent results,but If you do a A/B test with differents brands,in the same amplifier (and switching the same capacitor ) You can hear some differences,due to ESR,ripple ecc ecc
Expecially in HT power filters,just after the bridge rectifier,some caps make a LOT of differences.Take a superlead Marshall amp,and put 2 JJ 50+50mF after the rectifier,hear the sound and then put in the amp 2 ARS 50+50mF .The difference is between night and day!! JJ sounds sweet,warm but with a lot of sag,low power,they don't remains very tight with current demand from power amp.ARS sound more tight,with a lot more power (i feel more power ) ,more definition and more trasparent higs.
Another example,swap all Illinois capacitors from a Fender reissue and change them with some expensive (CDE is too expensive,the cost of these caps is not in proportion with the results) Mallory/CDE caps,make the amp sound more tight and more well defined,is not a difference between night and day (as in the case of JJ vs ARS ) but there is.

I use with good results ARS ,Nichicon,Panasonic and Samwha,for me are the best sounding electrolytics capacitors (of course Marshall use Samwha from the late '80s and expecially from the JCM2000 series because they are inexpensive but sounds good;Marshall use now JJ preamp and power tubes,because JJ has now low prices,but don't use JJ caps,use ARS again in Handwired and vintage reissues)

[Phil_S]

I've been using Tung branded electrolytic caps from Weber and they work just fine. They are about as inexpensive as you can find and physically, they are small, which is a real advantage. Here's what they look like (below -- this is a 6" wide chassis for size reference; sorry, I'm just not a neat freak.). This amp is as quiet as any I've ever (not) heard.

I'm off the reservation with layout and other components. It lacks oopmh, but voltages seem more than adequate. I'm putting in new power tubes to see what that will do. Then, I'll swap out preamp tubes. I think I've got some lead dress issues, as well (squeal is killed by cranking Presence to "9") and there is some very low level oscillation I can hear with no signal.

Look for a thread in the proper place later today or tomorrow.

[Structo]

Any of you guys get any bad imported caps a few years ago?

I like to build custom PC's for people and some of the motherboards coming out of the orient had power supply caps that had bad electrolyte paste in them and they would either leak or short out.
It was sort of like an industrial espionage thing.
I read something about some guy who thought he had stolen the recipe for the best electrolyte paste and when a certain company started using it, all the caps that came from that factory were junk and failed.
There were literally thousands of motherboards affected.

[Tubetwang]

yup...the caps on my Mac motherboard went south on me...

Luckily...they replaced them free-O-charge...

[ampgeek]

I think I've got some lead dress issues, as well (squeal is killed by cranking Presence to "9") and there is some very low level oscillation I can hear with no signal.

Hey Phil,
If you haven't already, try switching the OT leads at the power tubes to kill the squeal.

Dave O.

[LOUDthud]

I try to use 105 degree types when I can find them. Usually radial lead or snap-in. They will be a pain to replace when that days comes, but they still might be available. I took apart one of those compact flourescent bulbs and inside was a 10uF 400V 105 degree radial lead cap.

I read that there were some counterfeit caps in the super high ripple current types used on computer mother boards. Check out this site:

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=2

Below is a shot of a 5E3 with radial lead caps. The board is on standoffs and the equalizing resistors are on the back.

[Structo]

Yes there were a few guys that jumped on the repair bandwagon when the bad caps started appearing. ( on motherboards)

I just kind of wonder if it only pertained to the type of caps found on motherboards (small voltage, radial lead) or crossed over to the bigger higher voltage axial lead type that we use on amps.

[David Root]

I find that it depends on what you're trying to do with them i.e. the amp design. The power supply is the heart of your amp, after all. And one more caveat, are you rightsizing, undersizing or oversizing your iron?

If you're building a clean Fender or Hiwatt type design (not a Champ!) I would buy the best filter caps you can afford. I built a brown Vibrolux with reverb using all Black Gates, and you should see the pro players' jaws drop when they play it. Sounds great in moderate overdrive too, better articulation.

If you're doing a modern crunch monster you need large, fast caps that can dump a lot of energy fast and then recharge just as fast. I noted with interest that Marshall uses JJs in the standard stuff but ARS in the handwired vintage hi-end stuff. I didn't know this but it has to tell you something! JJ sez their can caps were designed for Hi-Fi, but they don't say how hi is the fi.

If you're building a 50's blues compression machine then just about anything goes, but modern Spragues are nowhere near as loose as the originals, they can't build them that bad any more. Maybe this is a case for cheapo Chinese caps? I'd buy made in Taiwan but not China.

FWIW I'm putting F&T axial caps in my current build, which is a tweed Bandmaster reconfigured for blues harp. Heard good things about them. We shall see!

[rfgordon]

I tend to use what I can get at a good price, and I've not been able to tell much difference between brands. I have, however, had one bad F&T multi can bad off the shelf, but that happens.

Interesting side note: I just recapped a Peavey Classic 50 (405 volts on EL84s!!!). I ordered exact replacements for the filters: Illinois, same values/ratings. The 47 mF ones were substantially bigger than the originals! I had to get, shall we say, creative in their new locations.