What about caps .... do they make a difference in tone ?

[AJ6stringsting]

I just bought some NOS "Orange Drop" caps for my guitars, some are 22mf and the others are 47mf.

Many say, you should use 500k ohms pots with 22mf caps for humbuckers ( I'm using these om Les Paul Custom) and use 250k ohm pots with 47mf caps with single coils.

Did any of you folks who have put "Orange Drop" caps noticed any difference between the ordinary light brown flat disk/ cap and green "Chicklet" type caps ?

If so .... what were the differences?

[Mad Tele]

 

oh boy get ready for a deluge of arguing, chest pumping, graphs, math...

I use cheap paper-in-oil caps. values I like for teles are 250K pots with .022, .033, or .047

buckers and p90s 500K pots with .022, .033. or .047

 

if I had to choose it would be 250K with .022 or 500K with .047

[DeepEnd]

I'm only going to reply to the .022 vs. .047 issue. It depends on what sound you want to achieve. A tone pot is essentially a low-pass filter. The "cutoff" frequency is related to the value of the pot with a higher value resulting in a lower cutoff. A higher cutoff is more subtle in terms of effect. If you like how your guitar already sounds, stick with the current value. If you want a more pronounced effect from the tone pot, go with higher value caps.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

Yes......yes, I believe they do

 

[kayd_mon]

I used Sprague Orange Drop caps on my partscaster. Sounds nice. They were ridiculously expensive, costing something like $2 for a pack (caps should be like $0.20), but they work. I never A/B'd it.

[gardo]

Caps are a form of voodoo,

the black magic that gives a guitar its personality 

Not really but some make it seem that way.

They are not expensive so buy a handful and experiment

[honeyiscool]

---

Mad Tele wrote:

---

Those grounds look like half a step away from cold. Like the pots weren't properly scuffed before they were soldered onto.