Where Can I Find Capacitors??

[Jtwusmc]

Ive taken up the hobby of digging into amps (I'm not awesome yet though...). One issue im having is finding parts, specifically electrolitic capacitors. Im working on restoring a music man amp and just cant locat the caps!

Im needing (prefer mallory for all if possible, but ill take???)

2 - 25v 400mf caps
2 - 50v 150mf caps
1 - 50v 20mf cap

Can someone steer me in the right direction? If you are a vendor and have these parts, even better!

Thanks!
Jonn

[leydenjar]

Newark, Mouser, Digikey, Antique Electronic Supply, Mojo, ...

Do not shock yourself. It sucks. Badly.

[big_teee]

Ive taken up the hobby of digging into amps (I'm not awesome yet though...). One issue im having is finding parts, specifically electrolitic capacitors. Im working on restoring a music man amp and just cant locat the caps!

Im needing (prefer mallory for all if possible, but ill take???)

2 - 25v 400mf caps
2 - 50v 150mf caps
1 - 50v 20mf cap

Can someone steer me in the right direction? If you are a vendor and have these parts, even better!

Thanks!
Jonn

TubeDepot has some pretty close you can probably sub.
Electrolytic Capacitors
Mojo has a lot of stuff
Axial Electrolytic Amplifier Capacitors
Mouser has all kinds of Caps, if you can weed through them.
Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors | Mouser
AES has all kinds of stuff.
Search | Antique Electronic Supply

[Enzo]

And don't take the values as gospel. There is a set list of numbers used as "standard values" and your list isn't on those numbers. For example 400uf is not a standard value, you will have a much easier time finding 390uf or 470uf. 20uf may be easy enough to find, but 22uf might be easier

[Jtwusmc]

Im glad you wrote. This has been a huge question/confusion for me. Capacitors hold some power and seem like they are something you dont want to be wrong on. What is te rule when replacing caps with different sizes? Is there and increased risk of failure? Is there an impact to the amps sound?

[Enzo]

It depends on what the cap is doing. If it is a power supply filter, then the value isn't critical, just come close. In tube amps if you increase the filter caps on the high voltage too much is takes the flexibility out of the sound. But now we are talking going from 20uf to 100uf or something.

You can always use higher voltage caps than you need, just be aware that the higher the voltage, the larger teh caps is likely to be physically. SO if you have to replace a 25v with a 50v, just make sure it will fit the space. Places like MOuser always list the dimensions on the listing.

FIlter caps are not known for close tolerances anyway, so some slop in the specs is OK. The difference between a 20uf, a 22uf and a 25uf cap is not worth worrying about. But the difference betwen a 2uf cap and a 200uf cap as a cathode bypass cap in a tube stage will make an audible difference.

No, a 47uf cap is no more likely to fail than a 22uf cap, as long as the circuit voltage is within the cap voltage rating.


I guess basically, if the cap is in the signal path, stay close to value, if it is a power suppyl cap you have a lot more flexibility. In the tone controls for example, the cap value sets the frequencies the controls act on. In your guitar, if you change the 0.02uf tone cap to a 0.1uf or a 0.005uf, you will hear a difference.


"Filter cap" is not a type of part, it is a use for a part. Just as in your car, you have a headlight fuse, and a heater fuse, and a tail light fuse. They are all 10 amp fuses, but they are labelled by their use. So a filter cap does store energy, but I like to think of a filter cap as sorta like the shock absorbers in your car. They help keep the body of the car pretty stable as the road under it is bumpy. Your filter caps keep the DC voltage smooth for the circuit.