I think I've joined CREC

[Chuck H]

Coalition for the Replacement of Electrolytic Capacitors

It seems like every post I'm writing lately includes the suggestion of replacing them.

Stuff like 'My fourty year old amp was regularly gigged and then left sitting for a decade'.

I'm always surprised at how many people, techs and hobbyists think that it's unnecessary to replace these as long as they're not bulged, exploded, leaking or otherwise grossly bad. I've taken twenty year old NOS amps out of the box and seen them smoke and blow the power supply after five minutes. These are WEAR PARTS folks. We wouldn't drive with the old oil in our old or classic cars to preserve their vintage nature or save $$$... I hope.

Chuck

[JHow]

Ha ha. You just suggested that to me on another thread.

Maybe the problem is psychological: After all, the amp I lusted for in high school isn't really old. If it were old - then someone might conclude that I'm old. If those caps are wearing out, then maybe I'm.... NAAAH!

[Chuck H]

+++

It just occured to me after I posted on your thread. And I'm with you on the aging considerations. I just missed four days of work because I blew out my right elbow... one of my many ongoing issues with Chronic tendonitis

Never saw it coming. I was too busy being young. Well, as a friend of mine says "any day on the right side of the grass"

Chuck

[Enzo]

Part of the problem is perspective. I don;t consider something from 1980 as "vintage," even though if I think about it, it is 30 years old. In my little head vintage means 1950s or 1960s or something. But to a kid who is 19, the thing was 10 years old when he was born. It is hard for me to think of a 1986 amplifier as too old for its caps, even when it is.

[R.G.]

Coalition for the Replacement of Electrolytic Capacitors

It seems like every post I'm writing lately includes the suggestion of replacing them.
... These are WEAR PARTS folks. We wouldn't drive with the old oil in our old or classic cars to preserve their vintage nature or save $$$... I hope.

I'm forever advising people to replace electros, and very often have someone pop up to argue the case that they have seen forty year old caps be just fine. Some people can't be convinced that electros have a built in wearout mechanism. I guess I'm kind of a charter member of CREC.

[Chuck H]

and very often have someone pop up to argue the case that they have seen forty year old caps be just fine.

Right, which they weren't. Anyone making that claim is too ignorant to have been capable of properly testing them. A swap of good parts would reveal the truth. I've seen several posts where old (but working) electro's were replaced and the improvement was huge. Just because an amp is "working" doesn't mean it couldn't work better. But there is an almost cultish attitude with some players, gurus, "amp guys", etc. regarding changing parts in vintage amps. They don't do it unless the amp is broken, as in not working at all. In full belief that new caps won't "sound" as good as the originals. 'Cause vintage is God, right?

Sorry if I rant. There's an "amp guy" here on my island (well, not MY island). It's a big island (70,000 people) but it's still somewhat isolated. This guy does many of the tube amp repairs for the working musicians here and he's an absolute clown. The crap that his customers spew as second hand gospel is, well, crap. Very frustrating. The guy is nothing more than a fast talking good 'ol boy that can take a good jolt. Trying to talk sense to him or any of his customers just makes ME look stupid as they jibe and shun me 'fer makin all that fancy talk'.

Chuck

[Alex/Tubewonder]

There's an "amp guy" here on my island (well, not MY island). It's a big island (70,000 people) but it's still somewhat isolated. This guy does many of the tube amp repairs for the working musicians here and he's an absolute clown. The crap that his customers spew as second hand gospel is, well, crap. Very frustrating. The guy is nothing more than a fast talking good 'ol boy that can take a good jolt. Trying to talk sense to him or any of his customers just makes ME look stupid as they jibe and shun me 'fer makin all that fancy talk'.
Chuck

There's at least one like that in every town. I got two of them, one two blocks away the other works for a well known dealer...

[Chuck H]

Same guy, different shape. It's a small world bro.

[nashvillebill]

Tonight I recapped the preamp section (SS) of my Peavey Classic VTX. (I had already done the PS, had a dried up filter cap on the B+--this is a tube power amp, SS preamp). The amp played OK but nevertheless I figured, hey 27 year old electrolytics need to go (got an important gig Saturday night). Usually I don't bother checking caps but tonight I did, measured each old one with a bench DMM. Roughly 20 caps so it didn't take long for R&R.

Probably 2/3 of them measured roughly 10 to 15% low on capacitance (didn't have time to measure ESR, though I've got an ESR meter). A few still measured pretty close. But there was indeed one...supposed to be 2.2 mfd. Measured 0.14 mfd.

"But the amp sounded fine...."

[JHow]

See, 27 years old, that makes it 1983, right? That's not old, I was in high school. Those caps can't be old! But wait, in 1983, Madonna released her eponymous first (bad) album in 1983... so, those caps are as old as Madonna!

That's the comparison I needed.

[tboy]

CREC Membership Drive

I just joined CREC, and everyone else should too.

[martin manning]

We wouldn't drive with the old oil in our old or classic cars to preserve their vintage nature or save $$$... I hope.

Maybe even better to say: "you wouldn't drive a vintage car without replacing the "vintage" oil filter, would you?" ...Oil filter, filter caps, right? Funny quips in this thread!