JJ caps in Marshalls?

[Randall]

Has anyone used JJ filter can caps in Marshalls? I have used them once or twice, and so far so good with the 32+32 and 50+50. I am usually drawn to F+T, since caps is all they do, and they are German made, which I like more than Slovakian made. But, they are also a few $$ apiece more than JJ, and that cuts into my profit margin. I'm doing an '83 JCM800 that has three 50+50s, and was real tempted to order JJs, but ended up going F+T.

[The Dude]

I've used JJ's and nothings come back.

[Leo_Gnardo]

The only JJ's I've used so far were multisection caps, 40/20/20/20 500V, in some Dynaco MkII power amps & similar. No problems. The diameter is a bit bigger than the standard 1 3/8" - a feature that wasn't explained when I got 'em. No worries, I crammed 'em inside the chassis, where they barely fit.

FWIW I've mostly been using Ruby capacitors from Magic Parts. But there's a problem lately, they're out of 22 uF 500V my favorites, and their old vendor quit making axial caps. These were dead cheap but we have to expect, the price will be going up once they find a replacement vendor.

So... F&T has been my choice over the last couple months. I may give JJ's a go too. What I find about F&T is, their leads are a bit fragile, easily broken off right at the cap's surface. Boo! Aside from that, they're OK.

Randall, charge what's appropriate, say a buck or two markup. Or more if the traffic will bear it. That's capitalism - no need for you to suffer. If some crusty crustomer challenges you, tell 'em to buy their own dam' caps and PAY THE SHIPPING. That last part will put a stop to most sniveling. I generally buy 50 at a time, sometimes 100. The arbitrage is essentially the difference between what I pay with a quantity wholesale discount plus ship a bulk order vs. what a crustomer would have to pay for just a couple caps plus shipping. Easily $2 a cap for hi voltage electrolytics. It won't make you rich, but you'll be able to afford a couple beers.

[Chuck H]

I've used JJ multi section cans in a couple of projects. One about fifteen years ago and no complaints from the customer. The other more recently because I had no problems associated with the much older one I'll use and endorse their inclusion in projects.

[nosaj]

Has anyone used JJ filter can caps in Marshalls? I have used them once or twice, and so far so good with the 32+32 and 50+50. I am usually drawn to F+T, since caps is all they do, and they are German made, which I like more than Slovakian made. But, they are also a few $$ apiece more than JJ, and that cuts into my profit margin. I'm doing an '83 JCM800 that has three 50+50s, and was real tempted to order JJs, but ended up going F+T.

I've used the 50+50 and 32+32 in my traynor yba-1 no problems at all.

nosaj

[J M Fahey]

If some crusty crustomer challenges you, tell 'em to buy their own dam' caps and PAY THE SHIPPING. That last part will put a stop to most sniveling. I generally buy 50 at a time, sometimes 100. The arbitrage is essentially the difference between what I pay with a quantity wholesale discount plus ship a bulk order vs. what a crustomer would have to pay for just a couple caps plus shipping.

Being 5000 miles further away but mainly behind a Customs barrie, plus horribly expensive shipping (3X what the part costs or more) I *only* buy in bulk or kludge some replacement from what´s available, nothing in between.
And as far as tubes are concerned, they cost 2X what in USA and have a high dud rate, since importers buy bottom of the barrel bargains to maximize their profit, so I send customers to buy tubes themselves.

Otherwise the 1 in 5 guaranteed to fail will burn my profit on the other 4 so I end up working for free.
So, no deal.
If a customer complains about a failed tube, which happens VERY often; I tell them "go fight the shop you bought it from, I only plugged it in the tube socket" .... which as you know is not exactly the case but saves me lots of trouble and anger.
Oh well.

People who small scale build tube amps here have DIY made large testing racks, say 24 to 36 sockets to test that many tubes at once, where they are burnt in, measured, matched, it´s weird to hear dozens of relays clicking clicking clicking while a PC goes through all of them measuring everything in sequence for hours, sometimes a full day, and then print own just made datasheets plus stickers to identify all of them.

Basically same which is supposedly made by Groove Tubes and others, only way to really match them and ensure reliability.

Crazy effort when selling, say, 10 or 12 heads a Month only but there´s no other option.

[Chuck H]

Being 5000 miles further away but mainly behind a Customs barrie, plus horribly expensive shipping (3X what the part costs or more) I *only* buy in bulk or kludge some replacement from what´s available, nothing in between.
And as far as tubes are concerned, they cost 2X what in USA and have a high dud rate, since importers buy bottom of the barrel bargains to maximize their profit, so I send customers to buy tubes themselves.

Otherwise the 1 in 5 guaranteed to fail will burn my profit on the other 4 so I end up working for free.
So, no deal.
If a customer complains about a failed tube, which happens VERY often; I tell them "go fight the shop you bought it from, I only plugged it in the tube socket" .... which as you know is not exactly the case but saves me lots of trouble and anger.
Oh well.

People who small scale build tube amps here have DIY made large testing racks, say 24 to 36 sockets to test that many tubes at once, where they are burnt in, measured, matched, it´s weird to hear dozens of relays clicking clicking clicking while a PC goes through all of them measuring everything in sequence for hours, sometimes a full day, and then print own just made datasheets plus stickers to identify all of them.

Basically same which is supposedly made by Groove Tubes and others, only way to really match them and ensure reliability.

Crazy effort when selling, say, 10 or 12 heads a Month only but there´s no other option.

Ha! When I build and amp, which only comes up once every year or two!!! I have to just keep buying parts until they stop failing. A "matched" pair or quad becomes moot when one blows since it's near impossible to to order one tube to match what's left over. Since I never even know when I may build an amp I only order tubes specific for the project at hand, and I often have to buy two or four sets to get ONE that will work. I've griped about this before here. The major manufacturers have all the good tubes locked. What you get from ANY of the vendors are tested rejects or what's left over after the preferred customer has been served. (<period) This is where the Groove Tubes and Ruby vendors come in. They are trying to buy in lots big enough to get a good consideration from the supplier and then testing/matching them so that "we" have an option. It works, for the most part, and I suggest patronizing these sources. The other option is to pay a huge premium for "Fender" or "Mesa" tubes. Which works, but costs $$$. This as it applies to the big bottles. For my el84 amps...

I buy a tube "lot" on *bay or from our local member that vendors them. Then I test and match them myself. This works out pretty well and I only buy small lots of sixteen or twenty tubes. I get (maybe) one quad and three matched pairs out of a lot. I keep the odds that don't match in case I can pair them latter and I toss the duds. For the small timer working with small bottles this actually works. Though I haven't had to do it with 6v6's yet. To hell if I'm going to pay $15 a tube for el84's. I get premium performance at much less this way.

YMMV

[xtian]

+1 on successful deployment of JJ 50/50 cap cans, years ago, no failures reported.

[J M Fahey]

That´s the way to go.
We pay $15 for a single cheesy 12AX7 , imagine the others.

6V6 are basically unavailabe since they were never popular here, we are basically an European Country so EL84 and EL34 are the classics here, 6L6 are available only because "everybody" uses them so Importers bring tjem in (expensive!!) because they know they have a market but the logic behind 6V6 is: "they cost 50% more than 6L6, almost nobody uses them and to boot they put out half power or less compared to EL34/6L6 so why bother?"

[nsubulysses]

Ha! When I build and amp, which only comes up once every year or two!!! I have to just keep buying parts until they stop failing. A "matched" pair or quad becomes moot when one blows since it's near impossible to to order one tube to match what's left over. Since I never even know when I may build an amp I only order tubes specific for the project at hand, and I often have to buy two or four sets to get ONE that will work. I've griped about this before here. The major manufacturers have all the good tubes locked. What you get from ANY of the vendors are tested rejects or what's left over after the preferred customer has been served. (<period)

I'm surprisd to hear this. I send back a quad or pair of tubes once or twice per year. I don't know how many pairs or quads or sextets I buy per year. Many dozens, probably not over 100 though. . Can't you just buy from CE or Amplified parts and get matched pairs or quads with 24 hour burn in and they're pretty reliable? Also if one fails you can request same rating as what you had and it usually matches good. I mostly buy JJ because I'm cheap I guess.

[Randall]

How and why did this turn into a tube conversation? I am asking about JJ filter can caps. Thank you for the few responses to that question.

[Mick Bailey]

Quite a few years ago I bought some replacement can caps from Marshall to replace LCR ones in (I think in a JCM900) and they sent me JJs. Thats the first time I'd used them and I thought "well, if they're good enough for Marshall, they're good enough for me". I also see these quite a bit in boutique amps - Blankenship and such - and they're fine. I've been using them now both in new builds and repairs for over 10 years and not had any problems.

Who Makes Ruby caps?

[nsubulysses]

Has anyone used JJ filter can caps in Marshalls? I have used them once or twice, and so far so good with the 32+32 and 50+50. I am usually drawn to F+T, since caps is all they do, and they are German made, which I like more than Slovakian made. But, they are also a few $$ apiece more than JJ, and that cuts into my profit margin. I'm doing an '83 JCM800 that has three 50+50s, and was real tempted to order JJs, but ended up going F+T.

Here's my silly logic. For my own stuff I typically use United Chemicon or Panasonic (21st century modern industry standards ?)

For repairs I used to use F&T's old fashioned-style big bulky capacitors. I think it helps vintage amp people reminisce more fondly about the days of yore and they have more confidence in a cap that looks like the old one, and to boot it even has some cool gold writing and emblems on them for extra mojo (no cringing or scrunched up face syndrome when they open an old blackface or silverface Fender and the power supply caps are replaced with panasonic). and they fit in big spaces like how the old amps had a large distance between one mounting point and another because old caps were large. Eventually I switched to JJ for the old fashioned-style caps. JJ is one of the few tube manufacturers left in the world and I need their tubes. So I give them money for their caps hoping it will help their tube business stay afloat.

Not sure if that makes sense but I have had no problems with JJ, F&T OR united chemicon and panasonic. This is only about 10 years ago to present, though.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Who Makes Ruby caps?

They wouldn't reveal their source. And that source is about to change anyway, or else Ruby's going to get out of the cap biz.

Besides the generally good experience* I've had with them, it's been reported that no less than H. A. Dumble shops at Magic mostly for transformers and filter caps. Apparently he prefers their 33 uF 450V variety. I figure what's good enough for him, oughta be good enough for anybody else. Any customers want to know why I use the Ruby's, that's the answer. So far nobody's demanded I use something else. Previous to Ruby, I was using Sprague Atoms. But I think we all know what went on there, so Atoms are off my shopping list.

*Generally good: on one occasion I had a Ruby cap go kaboom, because its wrapper was on backwards indicating the wrong polarity. In recent years Ruby caps have no metal end shell which usually indicated the negative end. Previous to say 10 years ago, they did have the metal at the - end. Perhaps there was a change of vendor/manufacturer then? In any case no country of origin is indicated. Given the price, I expect they'd have to be made in China. Right there, a minimum 25% increase due to new tariffs. Oh, those tariffs are off now? Well don't worry, they'll raise the price anyway because the tariff could be switched back on any moment. Meh who cares, customer's gonna pay anyway...