Buying filtering cap.

[Alan0354]

I have been searching around replacement filter caps for my Pro Reverb. I find Illinois Caps are reasonable price. Are they good enough. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[Resonator Guy]

I have used Illinois caps a number of times. They seem to work well. Some folks rail against these as bad sounding cheap imports but I take that with a grain of salt as it seems like cork-sniffing. Antique Electronics in Tempe has a good selection of a number of brands to pick and choose.

[soundguruman]

I have been searching around replacement filter caps for my Pro Reverb. I find Illinois Caps are reasonable price. Are they good enough. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

I would never recommend Illinois Capacitors, Made in China, not Illinois.
I think they make the amp sound awful, gritty...
And of course, they don't last as long.

F&T has the best result that I have ever tried.
Sound quality superior, to my ears. Longer life for sure.

"cork Sniffing..."
not my fault you are tone deaf.
But give credit to those who hear the difference.
(you will never hear it, cause you can't)

[g1]

Ahhh, so that's why all those Fender amps sound so "gritty". It's actually the sound of the filter caps.

[Resonator Guy]

I would throw in a quote from Oscar Wilde about battles of wits but I really can't be bothered dealing with such an opinionated dolt.

[mort]

I generally buy F&T because I'm a buyer that doesn't want the cheapest option or the most expensive one either.

As for how long they last ? How the hell would I know....

[soundguruman]

Ahhh, so that's why all those Fender amps sound so "gritty". It's actually the sound of the filter caps.

The filter has a lot to do with it.

And the amp sounds considerably better with good filters installed.

If Leo was still alive, I doubt that he would be using Chinese Capacitors.

[nickb]

I'd first look for long life types. For example Illinois caps have TMA series with 2000 hours life at 105C.

[Alan0354]

Thanks for all the reply.

I am talking about filter caps!!! How can filter caps affect the sound as long as it filter out the 60, 120, 240 etc.? You look on the scope, it it is clean, what else do you want?

What is the average rating in hours of a filter cap? 2000hr for Illinois sounds reasonable. I really don't want to pay a lot of money. I rather but the 450V 100uF cheaper cap than 350V best cap.

Any cheaper caps that is good?

Thanks

[nickb]

Thanks for all the reply.

I am talking about filter caps!!! How can filter caps affect the sound as long as it filter out the 60, 120, 240 etc.? You look on the scope, it it is clean, what else do you want?

What is the average rating in hours of a filter cap? 2000hr for Illinois sounds reasonable. I really don't want to pay a lot of money. I rather but the 450V 100uF cheaper cap than 350V best cap.

Any cheaper caps that is good?

Thanks

That's 2000 hours at 105C. At lower temps they last much, much longer. I recently was looking at MIEC caps for ripple current ratings (Full River Cap co in China) and felt they were an excellent choice taking into account voltage ratings, ripple current, life and price.

[soundguruman]

I'd first look for long life types. For example Illinois caps have TMA series with 2000 hours life at 105C.

That's hilarious.
2000 hours is NOT long life. But for "Illinois" i suppose it is ! hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhaah!

10,000 hours IS long life. 105C IS GOOD! high ripple current is GOOD! Low ESR is GOOD!

KNOW the difference between cheap and GOOD.

I buy the best ones. They only cost a little more. And worth every penny.

[Alan0354]

I can understand the hour rating. But what does cap make any difference on the sound? 100 to 200mA is not high current in any stretch, guitar frequency is low. I just don't think ESR and impedance play a role in the sound. Particular if it is a tube rectifier that it sag when draw more current.

Maybe, it's a little more important for hifi that goes to 20KHz and use very stiff power source. Particular for SS that the current draw is a lot higher.

[pdf64]

Cap ESR may tend to facilitate feedback paths via the B+ between stages, due to imperfect de-coupling.
This effect may be exacerbated by designs in which several cascading gain stages share a B+ node.
Pete

[Alan0354]

Cap ESR may tend to facilitate feedback paths via the B+ between stages, due to imperfect de-coupling.
This effect may be exacerbated by designs in which several cascading gain stages share a B+ node.
Pete

Can you see it on the scope when probing the hv note on the preamp tubestages?

[Tom Phillips]

For any and all interested there is an extensive presentation about Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors at http://ww.chemi-con.com/chemi-con.co...ionmay2012.pdf .
It includes a lot of information about actual expected life based on the many factors that affect that life.
There are other sources for this information of course but the one I referenced is apparently a presentation format that gives a lot of information without the need to read a lot of detailed text. The downside is that you need to have some previous background knowledge to understand some of the information.
Cheers,
Tom