Cheap caps

[Paul G.]

I have a JTM45 copy, following advice from the notorious inter webs, I tried changing the Cathode bypass cap with a 1uf to lessen flabby bass.

I'm not convinced it was a good thing, now I feel amp has less gain, less girth. Not ready to go back to 220uf yet.

I want to experiment with a few different values, I'm thinking 10uf should be my ballpark. I live in Rhode Island and literally nothing is available locally. Before I mail-order a few caps, plus shipping, week for delivery, etc., I thought I could stop at my local Radio Shack and get some electrolytics there to test. I'm sure they're the nastiest Asian junk available, but a bypass shouldn't really depend on quality for tone. Once I find proper value, will order something better. Plan to replace with quality part ASAP.

Any down side to this? Am I wrong to think in this application that the cap doesn't actually matter except for reliability?

P.

[vibratoking]

You are on the mark. Some guys put a cap in parallel on a switch for different tonal variations.

[martin manning]

Actually I have seen some decent quality stuff at Radio Shack lately.

[Meat&Beer]

What part of RI are you in? In Cranston, 132 Gansett Ave there's a little place called Avtec. They'll almost surely have what you need, it saved me from ordering parts countless times! Super nice guy runs it, go take a look around if you can. Tell Rich I said hello.

[Paul G.]

What part of RI are you in? In Cranston, 132 Gansett Ave there's a little place called Avtec. They'll almost surely have what you need, it saved me from ordering parts countless times! Super nice guy runs it, go take a look around if you can. Tell Rich I said hello.

Thanks for that!! I'l give them a try. It would be nice to have a decent local source.

[LeftyStrat]

I was very happy lowering the first cathode bypass to 5 uf, and raising the preamp filtering to 32 uf. YMMV, but sounds awesome with a strat.

[Paul G.]

10uf worked out quite well. I bought a 22uf as well, and never bothered trying it -- the 10uf sounded just right. Gain and fatness are back, without boomy flubby bass.

P.

[Stevem]

I have used the shack caps and have no bad thing to state about them, never took time to measure there ESR, but they sound fine.