.1 /400v caps?

[chuckb]

Hey guys ,is there another value of cap I can use in the 5e3 instead of .1/400v? I don't have any of these at the moment.

Chuck.

[Chuck H]

The general opinion is that a lower value is better than higher for the preamp, Down to .022 should be fine for the coupling caps in the preamp. I don't know if anyone uses lower values for the PI coupling caps but I would think that anything down to .022 would be fine there too, but I'd try to go higher if you have them since AFAIK this isn't a popular place to mod the value down. Of course, the PI coupling caps need to be the same value for each side.

Chuck

[chuckb]

Hey Chuck, I do have .022 caps so I guess i'll use those. The only other caps I have is .033uf,.15uf,.047uf &.22uf.I have some of the .1uf caps ordered. Thanks for the reply.

Chuck.

[tubeswell]

I prefer the .022uF after V1 (on both channels) - cuts out a lot of the flab and mush that .1s leave in there. YMMV

[chuckb]

Hey Tubeswell, ya, I've only got .022 right now so I'm going ahead and use them. Thanks for the reply.

Chuck.

[Chuck H]

Maybe you could try this...

The .022 caps in the preamp are popular with the 5e3 builds. But if you feel the amp lacks guts you could parallel another pair of .022's on the PI outputs to bring their value up to .044. You just need to make sure there is room to add them if it comes to that.

Chuck

[chuckb]

Hey Chuck, I got loads of room to parallel them if I want. I had the chassis made 6"x16". I'm not using any board ,I'm doing all this hand PTP wiring.This is how a "amp tech" friend of mine does it ,so I never learned any other way.I have never used the boards but would like to try them,looks like itmakes everything nice and neat. When you say it'll give me more guts,do you mean more gain,power,etc?

Chuck.

[Chuck H]

Some will argue that the knee frequency of a .022 in the PI decoupling circuit of a 5e3 makes the difference between using a .1 or a .022 (or a .044) moot. But IMHE there is a difference in bottom end. So, by guts I mean bottom end. The really low stuff that you don't really hear in the mix with a band but you notice when it's gone.

I like using a board because my layouts tend to be more "form follows function" than attractive. So with a board I can hide things like voltage traces from the power supply, transformer leads and ground buss' that can make an amp look cluttered otherwise.That and my soldering skills, while functional, aren't that pretty on the big clunky ground buss', so I can hide some of this with a board too.

Chuck

[Enzo]

And if you have .047 caps, two of them wired in parallel makes .094, which is close enough to .1 in my book.

[chuckb]

I'd like to try using the boards to lay out the parts sometime,I must say it does look real neat and it would hide some of the clutter from the power supply etc, as you stated. I will try different cap values to see how the bottom end reacts as well. Thanks for your help,I'm allways eager to learn what I can from you guys. I'm pretty new to this amp building game and I must say it seems to be addictive.I really enjoy it and the satisfaction of hearing an amp when the build is complete is awesome. I have two more amps almost complete now,a Matchless Lighting and of course the 5e3. These are simple designs I know, but I'm not to confident to try anything more complicated just yet.I do want to try a Bassman next though. Thanks again.

Chuck.