Inexpensive Electrolytic Capacitors

[FYL]

Probably the thing you are paying for most in the expensive ones is duty cycle.

Lifetime is spec'ed at max voltage and temperature. Another important element is ripple ratio & frequency.

Suitably derating caps allows for 10+ years of operation.

Check http://www.cde.com/tech/multipliers.pdf for more info.

[argonaut]

BTW, other caps have small innards too. Apparently these caps expand when they heat up.

Quality caps are filled to the case, as proper coupling between the innards and the aluminum can is required for proper thermal dissipation. That's why TVA caps are only rated for 65 or 85°C.

If you don't mind me asking, what brands do you consider top quality/ good consistent quality? I'm really interested in your opinion, as a person does read and hear a lot of tslk about 'mojo' blessed components. I'm more interested in consistency, longevity, and performance.

[Richie]

I'm of a mind, if it works, it works. Cheap ones can work as well as more expensive ones. Probably the thing you are paying for most in the expensive ones is duty cycle. You want 1000 hr caps or 5000 hr caps? There you go.

If you think it will take you 5 years to put 1000 hours on an amp, you don't need the 5000 hour caps. If you play 4 hours a day, every day, you will get some value with 5000 hour caps.

i don't even use sprague caps anymore, some won't last 5 mil seconds. Seen too many "new" bad ones. And seems the smaller black sprague are even worse. used as bypass caps,they can kill your tone,used as output cathode bypass,will kill your tubes or whatever cooks first. but if you like the smell of burning boards,use the sprague. Just be sure to mount a fire ext on the side of your cab.

[M Fowler]

We are eliminating a lot of cap choices here guys so what are we left with as a choice for Fender type amps, Vox type or Marshall type In regards to tone stack caps, coupling caps and filtering caps.

Mark

[Rich M]

For filtering on Marshalls, I use mostly ARS for the chassis mounts and BC/Vishay for the axials. Rifas are supposed to be real good as well, but tend to be a bit larger.

[C Moore]

We are eliminating a lot of cap choices here guys so what are we left with as a choice for Fender type amps, Vox type or Marshall type In regards to tone stack caps, coupling caps and filtering caps.
Mark

Which is why I made this posting. Like I say, I have started using the Radial and Axial e-caps from Xicon and Nichicon. Some of those Radials are so inexpensive, often under a dollar for 300-500 volt caps in the 10-40 mic/farad range. So I could not help wondering about quality and longevity. In the few months I have been using them, I have not experienced any problems/failures, but I do not know what will happen long term in the years to come.
I have tried Sozo, Jupiter, and some other "expensive" coupling caps.....but maybe I am biased. It just seems to me that between "Orange Drop", M150 (yellow or white), Cornell Dubilier, rust colored polypropylene (modern day brown turd I guess), and those "Dijon" from Mojo, I have never had a wanting for "better" caps.
I know Sozo is now manufacturing "blue" capacitors......whatever.
I guess time will tell if those inexpensive caps I have used from Xicon and Nichicon, will last as long as a big axial from F&T.
Thank You

[FYL]

If you don't mind me asking, what brands do you consider top quality/ good consistent quality?

Brands don't really matter, what you need are properly designed, built and used caps. For instance if Sprague TVA's should be avoided in most cases, their 500D and 53D series are fine - and much cheaper BTW.

I use caps from most manufacturers, with the final choice depending on the project. F+T, SIC, JJ, CDE, IC, Samwha, Nichicon, Sprague, ERO, Rifa, you name it.

If you don't have access to a large organ bank, IC for general purpose apps and F+T for more critical stuff are readily available and quite affordable.

[Phil_S]

I recall reading several years ago at another forum the results of a comparison, done by someone who appears to be a very competent tech with the right equipment, between Illinois and Sprague electro-caps. With IC being considered just ordinary and Sprague Atom considered in cork sniffing territory. I can't recall what was actually done or cite results. I do however, remember the surprise at finding the IC consistently tested better (closer to spec, less leakage, whatever). I recall the sample was small, perhaps too small to be definitive. It suggested what we hear from time to time, that sometimes you pay for the name, not the quality.

If you really want to know, you'll need to do your own testing and satisfy yourself. Personally, for my amateur use, inexpensive caps have always worked fine for me. If I did this sort of thing for work, I'm not quite sure where I'd come out on it.

[Tonegeek]

I recapped the PS in my Twin with IC's oh- about 20 years ago. Still going strong.

[Blindog]

Wonder who makes these Ruby branded caps?

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=020-670


FWIW, I used F&T in my Super Reverb, no problems in almost a year.

MArk

[Structo]

Not sure but they are kind of expensive aren't they?

[M Fowler]

Well I am going to keep on using whatever caps I decide I want to use and I am 100% sure the rest of you will continue to do the same regardless of what we read or hear.

[Blindog]

Not sure but they are kind of expensive aren't they?

Yeah, they are up there with Atoms, just curious to know who Ruby used.

Mark

[krash]

In all of my amps, I use Xicon electrolytics for cathode bypass caps >4.7uF and power supply filter caps.

I use Mallory/CDE (Cornell-Doublier) 150s for all other caps, including cathode bypass caps about 2.2uF and below.

I also have a pile of Panasonic polyester film caps that I use in prototypes or if I need some odd value and I don't have a Mallory 150 that will do the trick. For example, I am building a Littlerock right now that I'm flexing towards more BF voicing and I wound up using a Panasonic cap for one of the tone stack caps since I don't usually have .039uFs around in M150s.
Also if I need something to fit a smaller space, I like the radial lead form factor of the Panasonics. Plus I have Panasonic polyester caps in 4.7uF-10uF and those are freakin' killer for coupling caps in a low-voltage circuit like for a mic pre. Bypass the ps electrolytics in your CD player with a 6.8uF polyester film cap, for example.

I use Xicon ceramic caps for small pF value stuff. I know, y'all can go about cork sniffing with silver mica caps but for me the ceramics sound just fine. I do everything within reason to avoid using some special material caps. If I have an amp circuit that only sounds good with a silver-mica or polypropylene cap, then there is something seriously wrong with the design. Since I'm the guy doing the design, it's easy to find who to blame

Now if I were building amps for 2 or 3x the price of my amps, and there were guitar geeks all over the internet posting the gut shots, then maybe I'd find a marketing reason to use different brand name parts. I'm an engineer, I stink at marketing. I just care about how it sounds.

[Rick]

I found an article on fake Rubycons on ebay and decided to look what kind of "bargain" I fell for so I chopped open a recent cheap "Rubycon" 33 uF 450V axial. It was pretty sickening. There was a small 22 uF 450 v labelled rubycon inside the larger 33 uF 450V labelled can YK type. Worse yet, I opened that small can and found a brown labelled unknown at this point piece of crap cap. Bargains like this are no bargain. Time lost, terrible performance, failures and destruction of yours and my hard work make this extremely offensive so I have uploaded the pics to document my findings. Buyer beware, stick to trusted suppliers of quality components or suffer the loss. I won't be buying this stuff again. The seller was goodbuy711 with nearly 30,000 feedbacks and a 99.6% rating!!
Not exactly the "good buy" I was looking for!

I looked more closely at the cap inside all of this and it was a radial with leads extended out to make it axial, it was never even and axial cap! Being so small, I seriously doubt it would even be 22 uF and being dried out it probably wouldn't work even at low requirements for very long. Junk!
This is the link made by a fellow with an identical experience with caps from another eBay seller. http://reviews.ebay.com/Fake-RubyCon-El ... 0009070950
This sale was covered with ebay buyer protection, wish me luck