20uf@ 500V Prices are Insane !

[Enzo]

The last batch of IC 22/500 I got from CEDist work fine, and prior to that I bought a bag full of the Rubys from Magic - they had been on sale for 99 cents - and they all worked fine too.

Yes, the modern caps are a lot smaller in size, but so is most everything else. COmpare an old 1950s era .047/600 paper cap to the modern mylar equivalent. The old can cap 20/450 was huge beside a modern 22/500 axial.

Current 22/500 pricing at CEDist:
F&T 3.85ea, 2.50 in 10 lot
IC 2.45ea, 1.95 in 10 lot
Atom 4.85ea

I don't cry at under two bucks. And 2.50 ain't bad.

[Carl / Zwengel Amps]

I'm sure Enzo is aware of it but for those that aren't please bear in mind that the 500v rating printed on those IC caps is the max surge and not steady state working voltage, which btw is 450v. While this should work just fine in most amps, i think it's a bit of a crap shoot in some of the SF and UL Fenders as well as the larger part of the high powered ampeg lineup, and a few others mfg's that like to throw something in the neighborhood of 500v at the plates of those EL34's.

-Carl

[dai h.]

* If you were to open one up you would find that there is a lot of empty space inside the case. The actual capacitor is of modern construction. It is NOT made like the old Sprague caps.
* The quality control has gone way down on these parts. Every batch I get has some that rattle because the small guts in the big case are not held in place properly.

so I wonder if that means they are some other series of Sprague, and maybe you might as well buy those instead?

also, the black Atoms were made by someone else too IIRC (BMI?).

lastly, I think I read some amp maker finding some 40uF Atoms that were being a nuisance by rattling, and I guess that makes more sense in light of Tom's observation (or is that just for some of the Atoms?).

[pappajoe]

expensive cap alternative

Check out Just Radios. I use them all the time and have found them very reliable in my amp builds.

20uf 450v= $1.69
20uf 500v=$2.79
20uf 650v=$8.95 BIG jump to 650v


http://www.justradios.com/

[jrfrond]

Personally, it does not give me and warm and fuzzy feeling to spend big bucks for what amounts to overblown packaging, when the Xicon and Panasonic caps I purchase from Mouser and Digi-Key, respectively, do the job just fine and I haven't had a failure on anything I've installed yet.

[Gregg]

I buy my 500V caps from Digikey. They have a nice selection of Panasonic 500V radial caps priced very good which I bet are much better that any atom and stuff.

http://pdfcatalog.digikey.com/T091/SectF.pdf

Check out page 1588 (page29 from this section).

[domocaster]

These are more expensive than others, but,.. from a personel point of view[ here in England],two amps I recently changed the caps on, both Gibsons, both 1960 vintage a Gibsonette GA 8 and a Gibson Skylark GA 5T[ blonde tolex],I tried the smaller caps, then got hold of some Sprague's, about twice the size[ physically],same spec's;BIG difference in sound, more "punch", better bass, more "everything" in fact.
In my humble opion, in some circuits, it's worth the extra.
Cheers !

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

These are more expensive than others, but,.. from a personel point of view[ here in England],two amps I recently changed the caps on, both Gibsons, both 1960 vintage a Gibsonette GA 8 and a Gibson Skylark GA 5T[ blonde tolex],I tried the smaller caps, then got hold of some Sprague's, about twice the size[ physically],same spec's;BIG difference in sound, more "punch", better bass, more "everything" in fact.
In my humble opion, in some circuits, it's worth the extra.
Cheers !

Hmmm... I have not found that to be the case at all.
I'm more worried about the small (and I mean small) high voltage caps having a shorter life span, not their ability to smooth the DC with very low ESR.

[jbltwin1]

caps

I don't do a boatload of stuff like some of the guys here but I've been using the xicons, Illinois, and nichion(?) for a while and really have no complaints. They are so much cheaper and haven't had any failures so that's my story and I'm sticking with it. I also haven't had any with the ends mis-marked like I found with an atom.