Which electolytic caps for a 1964 Deluxe non-reverb?

[Big Steve]

I have a very original 1964 Fender Deluxe. I was playing it cranked up at a gig and a couple of the coupling caps in the dog house blew. So it time to change all of the electrolytics out. (blue molded caps staying of course.)

This is one of my main amps and I want to make sure I get the right caps in it. I want to buy the best caps for it. Money isn't an issue. I don't want to waste any, but am willing to pay top shelf if necessary. Which caps should I get?

[dorrisant]

Those are not coupling caps in the doghouse... They are filter caps. I would look around for Sprague Atom caps or F&T caps. Don't worry if the values are slightly different... 22uF vs 20uF etc. Tubesandmore.com, mouser.com or wherever you can find them.

Post what you think you should order along with the model number and someone here can verify.

[xtian]

Mike is a buddy of mine; he specializes in vintage Fender. Check out his page, which has details on Sprague and F&T:

http://vintagefenderamprepair.com/maint ... ecap-kits/

[Big Steve]

Those are not coupling caps in the doghouse... They are filter caps. I would look around for Sprague Atom caps or F&T caps. Don't worry if the values are slightly different... 22uF vs 20uF etc. Tubesandmore.com, mouser.com or wherever you can find them.

Post what you think you should order along with the model number and someone here can verify.

Thanks I appreciate it. Yes, of course filter caps under the dog house.

[rp]

For resale with vintage Fenders Sprague Atoms "look" like you cared to use the best, that's about it. F&Ts are made in Germany (JJs EU too?) you're free to believe Germans get up every morning enthusiastic to get to their capacitor factory assembly line and pour all their heart, soul, and Teutonic discipline into cap making and the estimable owners cut no corners. Those generic IC caps had a bad rap in the past but I doubt they would have been around for 30 years if they truly sucked, but they imply a low-budget repair job. It also looks nicer if you replace 16mfs w/ 16s and 20 w/ 20s rather than 22s, though it make no difference I can feel or hear.

If this is a dead stock original I'd say go for Atoms purely for the implied quality repair in case down the road your crown pulls out chewing on a caramel and you're short on dough.

[C Moore]

Guys really get hung up about caps, don't they.?
It seems to be the amp equivalent of motor oil for car dudes.
Nichicon
IC
Xicon
F&T
Panasonic
etc etc
I have used a lot of IC and those "generic" caps from CE for quite a few years with no trouble.
With the exception of the CE "brand".....prices seem to be somewhat comparable....... more for one Mic stamping, but maybe less for another.
I think they all work equally well.
good luck

[Phil_S]

+1 on the IC caps. AFAIK, they are every bit as good as the others and don't cost like the others. No one is looking under your dog house after you do the cap job. Those IC caps might outlast you!

[rp]

I think IC got a bad rap like 20 years ago, maybe a bad batch, I had heard a bad run of chemicals from their supplier, or maybe they got bootlegged. People just associate the IC caps with mass produced flimsy pcb & ribbon cable amps. IC needs a boutique line: exact same innards in slightly bigger cans, a nice red sleeve like the old caps in Silvertones, and charge 3X. People would fly to them.

I wish Nichcon made more axial and HV e-caps and they were more available other than through Mouser. Everything I've tried from Nichicon has been good in MI and Hifi, their FG-Gold, Fine Gold, KZ and Muse caps are terrific. Panasonic too.

The motor oil analogy is perfect.

[Stevem]

I am not going to knock any one brand of filter cap, but folks get yourself a ESR meter and check new ones out and some of your opinions may change!

And Steve ,I would check your Amps fuse rating and make sure it's right, as I would think that with more than one filter failing that it would have blown first before the smoke came out!
Be sure to change out even the preamp bypass electro lytics while your in there!
Also if you want to keep the stock power transformer alive and happy then while your are re-capping the amp I would add a inline fuse to the DC output of the supply since such a fuse will blow far faster than the mains AC fuse ![/list]

[rp]

I am not going to knock any one brand of filter cap, but folks get yourself a ESR meter and check new ones out and some of your opinions may change!

You mean about e-caps, right, not using big modern films for filters? OK, so don't tease, which ones are the dogs and which are good ones?

[stretch2011]

Justradios.com has caps just as good as others for cheaper. And has the right values.

[C Moore]

I am not going to knock any one brand of filter cap, but folks get yourself a ESR meter and check new ones out and some of your opinions may change!
[/list]

I trust you.
What brands of new caps have you checked, how many, and what were the numbers.?
Thank You

[M Fowler]

I use IC all the time without any problems and think people are wrong about IC being a bad cap.

Use whatever you want generic brand sold many places, F&T, IC, many others. The blue Mallory's or Sprague Atoms are very long so watch your limited space in those cap dog house.

Mark

[rfgordon]

The only filter cap issue I've come across is size. For example, I worked on an old Peavey Classic 50 and ordered the same brand/value filter caps. Well, sometime between the amp's manufacture and now the cap company (the brand on the sleeve is, after all, only that) changed sources for the actual caps. The new ones were bigger, and they wouldn't fit on the Peavey board; the PCB had been designed to accommodate very specifically sized parts.

These days I tend to use the F&T caps, but I haven't had any problems with any of the other brands. The Spragues are just too expensive these days.

[David Root]

I've been using the MIEC brand 105 deg C caps from justradios.com. Nice axials in all the old values, right down to 4 uF even, nicely priced. And 600V caps available up to 100uF too, although they cost quite a bit more.

F&T are also good, and seem to run a tad higher ESR than the MIEC. Neither are what I would call low ESR, where some hifi caps measure in milliohms, which is good, most MI amps IMO don't benefit from low ESR filter caps.
Although I don't think you can buy e-caps these days that have anywhere near the higher ESR from even 30 years ago never mind 50 or so.