Crate VC-3112 Re-Cap Question

[garygad]

Season's Greetings to All! I have an old Crate VC-3112 that needs to be recapped. That's 4pcs 47uF 450V, 1pc 100uF 450V, and 1pc 10000uF 16V electrolytics. It appears that these caps need to be "low profile" types in order to fit without fouling the back panel. I'm sure many of you have recapped this amp. What caps did you use? I can't get low-profile caps here in the Philippines so I'm planning to order from Digikey. Can anybody give me the Digikey part numbers? If they don't actually have suitable caps can you suggest an alternate source? Thanks so much guys!

[g1]

How about the cap for the power tube cathodes (220uF 50V) and the 6 caps for the low voltage supplies (maybe you have those) ?
Anyone who has done them may have just matched up with what they had in stock, so you may need to measure them and look them up on digi-key website.

[garygad]

Thanks for the reply g-one. Those low profile caps are the only ones that can't be found locally. Based on my measurements, there's a max of 1-3/8" above the PCB without contacting the back panel. I did measure the original cap heights and have some "possible" choices at Digikey. I just thought I might be able to crosscheck with what others have used. Perhaps I just assumed Digikey was the most likely source? I'm not aware of other sources of low profile radial electrolytics. If anybody can suggest an alternate source, it might be worth a look. Cheers!

[g1]

Mouser, Newark, and Allied are other large suppliers.
Remember lead spacing must match to mount to the pcb. Also if they are close together diameter will also be a limiting factor.

[Jazz P Bass]

Thought that I would ask, as it has not been brought up.

Are the installed capacitors truly 'bad'?

Or is this a "hey I think I will recap my amp" thingy?

[garygad]

The caps are truly bad - all puffed up and a couple starting to show signs of leakage. Amp hums badly and I'm reluctant to power it up for further testing until the caps are replaced. It's a friend's amp and has other issues which may at some point be the topic of another thread. I'm pretty experienced. Did a lot of building, modding, and repairing from the late '60s to the early '80s. Amps back then had mostly axial caps that were easily available here. No longer the case. I haven't done much amp work in the past 15 years or so and this is the first time I've had to deal with low profile caps. Never had to order caps from overseas before either so it's another new adventure for me.

[g1]

I can't get low-profile caps here in the Philippines

This is very surprising. Are you looking by size or are you looking for something specifically being marketed as "low profile"?
You should be looking by size. I would think a lot of them were being made closer to you.
Buy Capacitors parts & accessories online | RS Components
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[Jazz P Bass]

Here is a pic that I found here on MEF.

[garygad]

Quite a few electronics components are manufactured in the Philippines but for export, not the local market. Farnell / element14 doesn't actually have an office here but rather in Singapore. Not sure what Vishay's situation is. Many sources are prohibited from selling retail - to the end user (me!) - but rather sell to the trade and industry which I don't qualify as or have minimum quantities - can't just walk in to their fancy Makati sales office (were they don't actually carry any stock) and say "I want one of this, and two of that." Some of their offices are quite far from where I'm located. I know it's hard to believe if you haven't lived in certain parts of Asia but it's the way it is. Generally we still buy our parts at brick and mortar shops. I had a similar situation in Hong Kong in the '80s when I needed some RAM chips for a computer. I only needed 8 pcs but every place I went to wasn't interested in talking less than 1000 and up quantities. I ended up ordering them by mail from the UK.

Anyway, I do thank you guys for trying to help. I think I'm going to stick with my Digikey choices and let the whole acquisition process be my friend's problem. For me it's just a pro bono favor anyway. Even with new caps there are going to be other issues with this amp but I won't even have to deal with them until well after New Year's!