Blunote Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I posted pictures of my new H150 DLX a last week & mentioned at the time that the dealer advertised it with Seth Lovers when it really had SD-59s in it. It was an honest enough mistake and he's sending Seth's to me for me to swap into the new guitar. While I'm generally a do-it-yourselfer, I've decided to have a local luthier do the work. But it occurs to me that this is an opportunity to upgrade the electronics. It came with 500K CTS pots which I think are what folks on this board used to upgrade to. I don't know who makes the caps or what type they are, but I have seen some oil & paper Jensen's on the RS Guitarworks site they claim provide a noticeable improvement. It seems like a simple and relatively inexpensive change. Or, are there other caps I should consider? Here's what it looks like now:
H Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I have done this when I've had a few types of caps and could A/B them quickly. If your tech does it and you have to wait a while then I'm not sure you'll honestly be able to make a realistic comparison. I don't doubt that some of these caps make a difference, it's whether it's a difference you'll like that matters. Good luck in your quest!
Blunote Posted March 4, 2011 Author Posted March 4, 2011 No, I won't be swapping multiple components in and out. Looking around on line, I'm guessing that Heritage puts vintage capacitors in them. The ones that are in the control cavity look like PIO, or paper in oil. It's hard to imagine one company's paper or oil to be much different than another's. But I thought it would be worth asking anyway.
kbp810 Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 No, I won't be swapping multiple components in and out. Looking around on line, I'm guessing that Heritage puts vintage capacitors in them. The ones that are in the control cavity look like PIO, or paper in oil. It's hard to imagine one company's paper or oil to be much different than another's. But I thought it would be worth asking anyway. It's one of those age old "what's better" arguments! I've always gravitated to PIO as well... but honestly I think it's really accuracy (tolerance), longevity, and the value that matter more so than composition when it comes tone caps. I do have a good A/B story... I did once put in a .047 orange drop, tried it, and then replaced it with a NOS.047 PIO. They both sounded good, but the PIO really seemed to sound brighter and clearer... later on, out of curiosity I measured both caps; the OD measured .045, the PIO measured .033. So did the PIO really sound better because is was PIO, or did it sound better because my ears liked the brighter tone and the lower value allowed more treble to pass through the signal chain? (maybe I should have seeked out a .033 OD and tried it again???) but anyways... whatever the moral of that story was, I do still lean towards using PIO, and my value of choice is in the realm of .022 now.
rooster Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 I've mentioned this before, I think on this forum. I've been an electronics tech for over 20 years, it's my trade as well as my hobby. Nobody could ever have convinced me that paper-in-oil caps could sound different than any other cap in a guitar tone circuit, which is a treble bleed. However, I stumbled upon a small stash of old Sprague Vitamin Q PIO caps at .022uF, so I thought, "why not try it out." I won't say "night and day", as that phrase is way overused; but, after installing them, I found I could get a "growl" with the tone knob rolled down that I could never get before -- it always sounded muffled instead of growly, and I've never gone back. All my guitars get the PIO caps, and for the price of the Russian military surplus caps, it's the cheapest change you can make to a guitar to make the controls more useful. It looks like that is what you have in yours right now, from the picture. rooster.
Spectrum13 Posted March 5, 2011 Posted March 5, 2011 You are still a young rooster if you studied electronics in the 50's and 60's you would not have drank all that cool aid! Anyone remember drinking milk out of a bottle? The container you store a liquid in effects the taste and I would imagine electrons dig PIO.
rooster Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Well, that goes back a bit before my time! However, I did make it through the 80's with a clean criminal record and my nasal passages still in one piece! rooster.
DetroitBlues Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 HA! I was in Elementry school during the 80's....
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