Fender now selling expesive caps

[randalp3000]

thought you all might enjoy this. wonder who is making them, zozo? jupitor?

http://www.fender.com/parts/amplifiers-audio/controls/

[Bob S]

And there's me thinking original mouseturds are spendy...
Don't all rush to buy a set guys. They may be on sale soon.

[rp]

Sort of cool. But I think Leo would be hitting his head against the wall.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Fender's execs must be slugging extra strength espresso to wash down their stupid pills. Imagine the board meeting: "Gentlemen, Gibson's getting what $130, for a pair of bumble bees? I want you to brainstorm a way for us to outdo them, show them up for the pikers they are. Alice, we're gonna make a million bucks!" Another desperate move by a company that's clearly circling the drain.

I'll bet ya half a peach they're all Made In China. How else to maximize profit? Snap em up at 90% off (still too expensive) when Fender does like Radio Shack.

[Jana]

It might be interesting to dissect one to find the real capacitor inside the wrapper.

[rp]

the sheet gives a description of the construction, which is why it's 'sort of cool', as apparently they didn't just stick a cheap mylar film cap in a retro shell like the new bumbles. Unless the description is just a lie, it looks like a Jupiter type of thing, or likely is, who else would mess with wax?

[Leo_Gnardo]

who else would mess with wax?

Heck wax is cheap, add kraft paper, tin foil, print up some labels. No toxic ingredients. Sounds like a Cub Scout project. Any caps that don't come out "right" just toss 'em, sell the rest at a 9000% markup. Who would? Somebody with time on their hands and/or cheap labor. Even more so if they see a market for their dabblings.

Any of us could make our own, copy the label of your choice or make up new ones. What do you think Jupiter & Dallessandro do? Now Fender too. It's not exactly hi tech.

45 years ago friends of mine at Newark College of Engineering built their own monster caps from rolls of wax paper and aluminum foil they bought at the grocery store. You can imagine, each one big as a roll of paper towels. They charged 'em up and used them to fire nails out of their home made rail gun. If a couple of teenagers can do it, anybody can.

I wonder what's inside those yellow Astron and blue caps besides. Plastic shells, anything could be in there, just like Gibson's bumblebees.

Needless to say, I won't be "investing" in any of these. However I may start "rolling my own" wax caps, just as soon as I have all my repairs done, and all the other important projects too.

[martin manning]

These new Fender caps don't apear to have plastic molded shells; rather a roll with epoxy plugged ends. I can see them looking at Sozo et al and thinking they should get in on that action. It doesn't matter where they're made as long as the quality is good and they Re consistent. As you say Leo, it isn't rocket science making old-tech caps. The pricing seems Gibsonesque, though. I think a better approach would be to match or slightly undercut the other boutique caps at a few dollars each. A little higher than mass-produced Vishay and CDE, but less than Sozo and Jupiter.

[Jana]

It's been a long, cold winter and I have been contemplating making some caps. A couple of questions I have are, when they say "tin foil" are they actually referring to aluminum foil? Or is it really tin that is made into a foil. And, if it is aluminum foil, how do you bond the leads to the foil? Soldering to aluminum is next to impossible.

[Leo_Gnardo]

It's been a long, cold winter and I have been contemplating making some caps. A couple of questions I have are, when they say "tin foil" are they actually referring to aluminum foil? Or is it really tin that is made into a foil. And, if it is aluminum foil, how do you bond the leads to the foil? Soldering to aluminum is next to impossible.

When they say "tin" I'll take them at their word, Sn on the atomic chart. Aluminum isn't too difficult to use, you can either tack-weld to the leads, or wrap the leads inside the roll, keeping the tension tight to make an acceptable contact. Real tin foil may take some searching but if they found it you can too.

Take a look at the audiophools at Audio Asylum for instance, and what they're offered by manufacturers of expensive caps. Tin, aluminum, copper, silver. And exotic dielectrics besides. Some cost over $100 each. Presumably there are desirable audio qualities for each of these, and some experimenters have reported their results, at least "what they heard." I expect there may be an element of "Emperors New Clothes" in some of those reviews. After all if you spent the mortgage money on a pile of little cylinders, they better sound unbelievably fantastic. Mundorf, Jensen, AudioNote are some of the manufacturers/dealers. Despite these attractive corque-sniffeur models, for the last couple years hottest thing is mil surplus Russian teflon-dielectric caps, because you could get them cheap. Now they're getting popular, not so cheap. Just like tubes.

I'll stick with Mallory 150. The prices went up a bit, and some other company owns them now, but I haven't detected any loss of quality. The quality/price ratio works very well for me. Of course YMMV.

Some affordable choices I do plan to try out, Mojo's Dijon film caps, and their PIO caps made in Brazil. Did somebody say Brazil? I gotta get my dose of coffee now... then maybe I can think up some big bucks ideas too. Bom dia' for now folks.

[rp]

It's been a long, cold winter and I have been contemplating making some caps.

Do they need to be small?

[Structo]

Mylar = polyester

[briane]

Mojo's Dijon film caps, and their PIO caps made in Brazil.

I use those mojo PIO caps when I want a 'period' PIO there - good for guitar wiring or pre-amp caps in a fender style build. get the polarity correct on the install tho. really good in the guitar.

I tried about everything, and those mojo PIO caps are ONLY 1 of 2 brands that dont produce noise in a guitar to my ears (I mean ANY noise at all), Orange drops in a guitar - you must have ears that cant hear it, or love a noisy guitar!

I finally taught myself, noisy humming, hissy guitar amp setup - someone screwed up the build.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I use those mojo PIO caps when I want a 'period' PIO there - good for guitar wiring or pre-amp caps in a fender style build. get the polarity correct on the install tho. really good in the guitar.

I tried about everything, and those mojo PIO caps are ONLY 1 of 2 brands that dont produce noise in a guitar to my ears (I mean ANY noise at all), Orange drops in a guitar - you must have ears that cant hear it, or love a noisy guitar!

I finally taught myself, noisy humming, hissy guitar amp setup - someone screwed up the build.

Interesting review, I'll have to score some next Mojo order. And pay attention to the "outer foil." FWIW I do find OD's "clacky" sounding. Thanks briane!

rp, funny you put up the Leyden jar. I forgot where I read it, one of the early experimenters charged up a jar then got a whale of a shock from it. "I thought it was all up with me." iow "thought I was dead." No doubt you can charge one to a couple dozen thousand volts. But they are a bit impractical to put in amps & guitars. Unless you insist on steampunk style, then maybe OK.

[drew]

Fender's execs must be slugging extra strength espresso to wash down their stupid pills. Imagine the board meeting: "Gentlemen, Gibson's getting what $130, for a pair of bumble bees? I want you to brainstorm a way for us to outdo them, show them up for the pikers they are. Alice, we're gonna make a million bucks!" Another desperate move by a company that's clearly circling the drain.

Recognizing that there is a population of affluent dopes who will probably pay crazy prices for these parts [that probably cost almost nothing to have manufactured] doesn't seem stupid to me. Why leave money on the table for the NOS parts hoarders and hustlers to pick up?