Capacitor swap brought guitar to life

  • Thread starter Thread starter GuitarGuy08
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GuitarGuy08

GuitarGuy08

Well-known member
Hello all,

Recently put together a tele with Humbuckers. Sounded good but I found myself always reaching to roll up the Volume knob, as if it were lacking a certain 'oomph'.

I then recalled that I recently upgraded a firend's Epiphone with some new pickups and electronics. Before, the Epi had a certain muffled sound in the midrange and lack of clarity that I did not care for. Put the same old pickups in another guitar to test and they sounded great. Thought it was coincidence....


Well the electronics - vol and tone pots with yellow Mallory cap installed, ended up in that Tele. The tele had that same nature the EPi was giving me. Not as bad, but still. I thought about that cap and then swapped it with some swuare green ceramic thing I had lying around. I honestly put it in because it was green and it should be within an OK range.

The guitar sounds miles better. Like a blanket has been lifted off. There is that drive and punch again.....

Weird. Everyone said the cap would not make a difference but I did testing bypassing them altogether and you ca definitely hear a difference.


Was suprised that removing/swapping that cap from the equation is really what this guitar needed, even though the knob was rolled up to 10.

I knew they could make a difference but did not think it would be that much. YMMV.




UPDATE:

I went ahead and swapped in the new pots I grabbed for Warmoth. I set the guitar up in a vol/vol config with no tone/capacitor in the circuit at all and I easily like it the best - no comparison.

The vol/vol also makes that tele be able to get a really wide range of tones when running in middle position.

I have 3 guitars without any capacitors/tone knobs and absolutely love the punch and clarity they provide. I also find something much richer and fuller in the top end especially.

Definitely something easy to try if you are willing to break out a soldering iron and have some spare time.
 
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Lately i visited a pickup maker near me, and while we were talking about guitar, gear, wiring and cables, he also said the capacitor make a difference and could impact the results... It caught me off guard at that moment, and not asked what he likes to install.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
Was suprised that removing/swapping that cap from the equation is really what this guitar needed, even though the knob was rolled up to 10.
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Re the cap, its all about the value of the cap vs the quality of the cap. How you have it wired relative to the pot and leg placement makes a big difference too. Glad you got it dialed
 
DanTravis62 said:
Different wiring styles make huge differences, especially in LP style guitars IME

I prefer 50's style, but many like 60s and modern
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I dig 50s in LP along with the slightly under powered pots and ceramic caps. I prefer modern wiring on most of my other guitars. My main strat totally doesn't have a tone or cap anywhere, just a vol, kill switch and blender knob. I have another that is just a vol knob as well.

I had no clue wiring was so much fun to play with until the past several months while doing upgrades for a buddy of mine.


On another note, those bumblebee caps from Emerson DO sound killer, I cannot deny that. At almost $30 a pop though.....
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
I dig 50s in LP along with the slightly under powered pots and ceramic caps. I prefer modern wiring on most of my other guitars. My main strat totally doesn't have a tone or cap anywhere, just a vol, kill switch and blender knob. I have another that is just a vol knob as well.

I had no clue wiring was so much fun to play with until the past several months while doing upgrades for a buddy of mine.


On another note, those bumblebee caps from Emerson DO sound killer, I cannot deny that. At almost $30 a pop though.....
Click to expand...

That's funny I'm almost exactly the same way - modern style wiring with everything else, but especially with LPs it just sounds wrong if it isn't 50s wiring

I prefer my pots under spec for humbuckers that are lower output, but for higher output ceramic HBs i prefer them close to an actual 500k.

Honestly theres only specific guitars I even need a tone knob on - single P90s, teles, etc
 
DanTravis62 said:
That's funny I'm almost exactly the same way - modern style wiring with everything else, but especially with LPs it just sounds wrong if it isn't 50s wiring

I prefer my pots under spec for humbuckers that are lower output, but for higher output ceramic HBs i prefer them close to an actual 500k.

Honestly theres only specific guitars I even need a tone knob on - single P90s, teles, etc
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I am flirting with going dual volume on this guitar but idk it has coil tap switches which effectively drop me to half volume so idk if it would be worth the effort. It sounds good with the current stuff. Did not realize that one cap would do it. I already have new CTS pots and then some cheaper ceramic caps to try.

I probably won't be able to help myself and will install the new pots. I hardly ever use tone knobs at all so that is why the dual volume may suit me a bit better.
 
The orange Spragues hold in more guitar tone if you get the big ones.
 
VonBonfire said:
The orange Spragues hold in more guitar tone if you get the big ones.
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Yeah? All of the orange drop style ones I have heard scoop mids out and add bass and treble, which is not what I seek.

I can see how some people like that but not my thing.

Maybe I am confusing two things, I feel really heavily that maybe I am so please correct me and disregard above statements if they do not apply.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
Yeah? All of the orange drop style ones I have heard scoop mids out and add bass and treble, which is not what I seek.

I can see how some people like that but not my thing.

Maybe I am confusing two things, I feel really heavily that maybe I am so please correct me and disregard above statements if they do not apply.
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Do you think you could tell the difference between orange drops and ceramic in a blind test?
 
VonBonfire said:
Do you think you could tell the difference between orange drops and ceramic in a blind test?
Click to expand...
I can tell you that I did blind audio testing with videos on YouTube and consistently picked my favorite one throughout, which is the bumblebee. That test did not have the Mallory but I listened to another video that did and it did exactly what I thought it would when listening blind A/B so, idk, possibly.

I can hear the difference between silver and gold connectors in a blind test and had a buddy do it. I also have hearing that is abnormal and unbalanced from ear to ear. Made my ear training and blind listening musical composition much easier.

Could listen to a 4 part harmony piano piece and write it all out while being played simultaneously.
 
VonBonfire said:
Do you think you could tell the difference between orange drops and ceramic in a blind test?
Click to expand...
Check this out and let me know if you hear differences. "Best" to me is what sounds closest to the guitar with the cap totally removed so take that for what it's worth.

YouTube video showing back to back caps. Testing starts at 3:10.

 
LP Freak said:
To me there’s a way bigger difference in tone by switching between pot values vs capacitors. I rarely have my tone on less than 10 though
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Agreed there 100% that there is a larger difference. I was just wondering why these pickups had stuffy mids and missing upper mids. The cap was the problem and I always leave my tone on 10. Just that little extra piece of the puzzle,.as it were.

In my case, I hadn't thought it would be that major, so I already have new pots and stuff to put in it lol don't really need them now though they are nice and I may just swap em in.
 
I went ahead and swapped in the new pots I grabbed for Warmoth. I set the guitar up in a vol/vol config with no tone/capacitor in the circuit at all and I easily like it the best - no comparison.

The vol/vol also makes that tele be able to get a really wide range of tones when running in middle position.

I have 3 guitars without any capacitors/tone knobs and absolutely love the punch and clarity they provide. I also find something much richer and fuller in the top end especially.

Definitely something easy to try if you are willing to break out a soldering iron and have some spare time.
 
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