best tone cap?

[beeastman123]

what is the best tone cap for strat?

sprague .047, .022 ?

paper in oil?

callaham site says a .1 is all you need

any thoughts on differences between these?

thnks.

 

[rcole_sooner]

Personal taste, but I'd go .047 for SCs with 250K pots, .022 and 500k for HBs. I've been trying some different PIOs recently, but sprague orange drops would be fine. Heck even the round orange ceramic are okay, I just don't like the little green chicklet caps. Not that I could probably pick any of these out in a blind test.

 

[Rickster]

Depends on the other variables like neck, body wood and pickups. You want to balance out the combination. 047="darker sounding", .022="brighter" sounding. When I did my last build, I ordered a bunch of Russian PIO caps from Ebay. Then when I did the wiring, I temporarily soldered two long wires with alligator clips where the cap would go, and let them hang down under the pg cover. After assembling the guitar, I test drove the various caps, and ended up choosing the .022. That sounded the best to my ears in a light ash body, maple neck strat with vintage sounding pickups. Good luck.

 

[Thin69]

I use whatever modern cap I have on hand. What really makes a difference is the capacitor value. The .1 cap will roll off more highs quickly and be fully CCW, the .047 less so and the .022 being the brighter selection. Selection is all a matter of personal preference. A lot of people use clip on leads and try different values to find what they like the best. I find that I like the .022 best for my tastes.

Edit
I type slow, missed your post Rickster

 

[sevycat]

What works for me is a Sprague Vitamin Q .47 cap. Thats what is in my cs strat. I have a mojo .47 cap in my tele. I picked up some bad cat .15 caps for a future project or strat.

I don't think there is such a thing as a best cap. That being said, .01 are darker and .022 are brighter. So, figure out where you want to be and go from there.

 

[beeastman123]

the vintage strats use .1 100v ceramics right? 60's strats?

 

[Thin69]

Check out the Fender site and you can see which guitars used which cap. Just remember higher value pots yield a brighter guitar.

Wiring/Parts Diagrams

 

[Thin69]

That being said, .01 are darker and .022 are brighter. So, figure out where you want to be and go from there.

I think there is a typo here and you meant ".1 are darker and .022 are brighter".

.01 caps will be brighter than a .022 cap

 

[tjk3052]

The value of the tone capacitor sets the resonance when the tone control is turned nearly all the way down (darker sounding). When the tone control is any less than that, it is the tone pot alone that causes the tone to get darker by loading the pickups (and cables, etc.) and damping the resonance. This also explains why larger pots make the tone brighter. So the value of the tone cap is really only relevant if you play with the tone knob turned all the way down, at which point a larger capacitor will shift the resonant frequency more than a smaller one, making it darker sounding.

Also, don't fall for the hype that one type of cap sounds different than another, the type of capacitor makes no difference in a guitar circuit, only its value. If there is a tone difference between 2 different types of the same value, it is because the actual values are different due to tolerances.

 

[bhillnm]

And to amplify on what tjk3052 says, just about all caps you can find at any reasonable price have a tolerance of plus or minus 20% of the stated value. And by reasonable value, the price of a cap for a guitar tone circuit should not cost more than 45 cents for any make. The printing on the outside of the cap adds nothing to it's tonal value. Any cap will do, the voltage rating is meaningless when compared to the typical output from a guitar which is around 100 millivolts max. (.1 volt for you history majors ) And by any cap, any of the three most common values used for guitars, .1, .047 or .022 uf.

 

[rcole_sooner]

The value of the tone capacitor sets the resonance when the tone control is turned nearly all the way down (darker sounding). When the tone control is any less than that, it is the tone pot alone that causes the tone to get darker by loading the pickups (and cables, etc.) and damping the resonance. This also explains why larger pots make the tone brighter. So the value of the tone cap is really only relevant if you play with the tone knob turned all the way down, at which point a larger capacitor will shift the resonant frequency more than a smaller one, making it darker sounding.

Also, don't fall for the hype that one type of cap sounds different than another, the type of capacitor makes no difference in a guitar circuit, only its value. If there is a tone difference between 2 different types of the same value, it is because the actual values are different due to tolerances.

I think the idea is, that modern caps are more even across all frequencies. Old PIO caps might have "holes" at certain frequency allowing that sparkly sound to come out. The old caps are probably not that way by design. Some may be musical and some not. Some people get a whole stack and listen to each to find the one(s) they like.

 

[sevycat]

I think there is a typo here and you meant ".1 are darker and .022 are brighter".

.01 caps will be brighter than a .022 cap

my typing mistake.

 

[woodsie831]

The value of the tone capacitor sets the resonance when the tone control is turned nearly all the way down (darker sounding). When the tone control is any less than that, it is the tone pot alone that causes the tone to get darker by loading the pickups (and cables, etc.) and damping the resonance. This also explains why larger pots make the tone brighter. So the value of the tone cap is really only relevant if you play with the tone knob turned all the way down, at which point a larger capacitor will shift the resonant frequency more than a smaller .

so, what you're saying is that there is no difference in tone, effected by the cap, when the tone control is at 10?

 

[softwarejanitor]

I like a .047uf Sprague Orange Drop.

 

[woodsie831]

I like a .047uf Sprague Orange Drop.

i think i'll try that next. i just put in a .01 orange drop and i'm not sure i like. it. I'm probably going to get a .022 and a .047 and try the alligator clip and leads trick to A/B/C them.

 

[sjtalon]

so, what you're saying is that there is no difference in tone, effected by the cap, when the tone control is at 10?

that's right

 

[Musician78]

that's right

Interesting. So, because I am too dumb to wrap my mind around this properly, what cap should be used to get the widest variation?

 

[woodsie831]

that's right

yeah, that's a little surprising. i put a .01 in yesterday and i could swear it's ice picky at 10. i have to turn it down to 5 to get to where i think i was with a .022. maybe it's just me.

what would provide the widest useable range with the tone knob?

 

[Thin69]

Interesting. So, because I am too dumb to wrap my mind around this properly, what cap should be used to get the widest variation?

A larger cap value will get you more variation because it is capable of rolling off more of the highs. I personally find the tone control more usable with smaller caps, it has slower roll off of the highs.

 

[amstratnut]

I generally play with my tone on 10 always. Some minor rolloff if I'm feeling like a slightly warmer sound. Anyone actually play with their tone rolled all the way down? Based on this thread thats the only time the cap comes into play unless I misunderstood. Voodoo to me....I've never messed with the stock caps that come in my guitars.