Every clod has a silver lining

[David Schwab]

...but if you insist on whacking caps, note that disc ceramics are substantially microphonic in the larger values (like .1uF) when they are directly in the signal path.

I recently built myself a copy of a Maestro Bass Brassmaster pedal. I used to own the real thing. It had HUGE .1uF ceramic disk caps. Like an inch+ in diameter. All in a row. You could boink them with your finger and hear it.

I was discussing the tone of the modern clones with a guy who works for a large effects company who studied many of the originals on his work bench.

He came to realize the two reasons the clones don't sound exactly like the real units he had to study was the big ceramic caps, which were microphonic, and also radiated to the other caps that were almost touching, and the out of spec resistors.

I think crappy parts played a big role in old effects units.

[dai h.]

I built a Maestro Fuzz-tone clone and it sounded more "correct" (to my ear) with a cheap ceramic at the input.

oh, and with ceramics, one aspect that might be missed is that they are not all the same (class 1, class 2 and all that). Might be a case of optimization (or not) depending on the type used. I know Marshall used some (N750) class 1 ceramics in some of their old original amps. MY PRS EG has a class 1(also N750??) on the volume pot also (tone cap was a class 2 ceramic if memory serves).

as far as mojofication. Let's see... Silver solder, copper (containing) solder, OFC, PCOFC, Teflon wire (never got to the Western Electric stuff), Groove Tubes, Rubycon Black gates, Elna Cerafine, Panasonic Pureism, Sanyo OS Con, resistor swapping, cap swapping, opamp swapping, baking alu electrolytics under a hot lamp to re-form them (thanks Gerald Weber ), star grounding with ginormous wire, re-wiring with huge wire...

Not that everything was inaudible(or seemed that way) but I guess out of ignorance (of how things worked) I tended for the easy to do.

[GlennW]

Did someone say mojo?

[dai h.]

lol... PKM polyester film and kraft paper. Bought some of those from Angela a long time ago but these days I'm no longer inclined to think of them as very special. They usually seem to leak a bit and I've even got one that is shorted. Some old caps have good longevity though. I think I have liked them subjectively (once for the presence cap in a Marshall).

[David Schwab]

Some of those old caps, and even orange drops, are hydroscopic.

One of the best sounding tone controls on a guitar I've heard was on a Taylor Standard solid body. So I was curious what they had in there. All the controls were mounted on a circuit board, and they had a modern metal film box cap.

So much for mojo!

[dai h.]

does the effectiveness of getting a pseudo-wah wah effect with the gtr. tone control have a lot to do with the resonant frequency of the amp's speaker? I increased the capacitance in the reactive load portion of a Marshall Power Brake one time (which should have moved the resonant freq. down according to my understanding) and it seemed to noticeably increase that pseudo-wah wah effect using the tone pot. Sorry if that's a weird question, lol.

[Bruce Johnson]

I think that The Capacitor Wackers is an excellent name for a rock band.

[wizard333]

If electrolytics were microphonic, hitting them with a screwdriver should produce a Boing! through the speakers, just like with microphonic tubes.

Electrolytics can in fact go microphonic when they go bad. They'll squeel just like a microphonic pre-amp tube. I've seen it up close and personal on more than one occasion.

[Sweetfinger]

Zombie thread needs BRAAIIINNNNSSSS!!!!

One amusing by-product of the lumbering zombie thread is seeing just how prescient the OP was -now that Seymour Duncan has coughed up the silver wire pups for just about the prices envisioned!

[Possum]

I'm announcing my new "coat hanger wire PAF" next week. It weighs 12 pounds and takes 2 Sumo wrestlers to wind the coils. The baseplate is sterling silver, and you have to cut a big hole in your guitar to use it. They are $13,000 each and I only made one ;-)

[DavidSmith789]

Yeah, that's great. Let me know when you are going to launch it. It seems really interesting.

[Possum]

I can't do much more with, my shirt is hanging on it now. Its powered by two cow magnets mounted using specially purchased DiMarzio hot glue....

[Sweetfinger]

Ya know, ... if you built them like a Lace Alumitone, you COULD use coat hangers!

[Possum]

Do you realize that Alumatone spelled backwards says Enotamula? I don't think I'd want to hang my clothes on one of those ;-)

[soundmasterg]

Do you realize that Alumatone spelled backwards says Enotamula? I don't think I'd want to hang my clothes on one of those ;-)

Well coat hanger backwards spells ragnah taoc.....don't think I want ot hang my clothes on one of those either!

Greg