Let's talk signal caps!

[Cliff Schecht]

What are your favorite signal caps and why? My favorite cap compliment is paper in oil and polystyrene. This compliment provides smooth bass and balanced mids. The highs can be interpreted as harsh, but I prefer the term accurate and use other techniques to tame excessive high end sizzle. All of my recent builds have been PIO as much as possible, they not only sound great but looks snazzy to boot. I love to use Vitamin Q's when I have them but the old US made Sangamo and West-Cap PIO's are just as good IMO.

I've been looking for a cheaper alternative to these caps though. While have a lot of those Sangamo and West-Cap 0.1uF and 0.047uF 600V PIO's, I seem to NEVER be able to find 0.022uF 400V or 600V caps. Actually in that respect, I seem to have the hardest time finding good HV 0.022uF caps PERIOD!

I saw someone mention the the Xicon MPP series in a Dumble thread. How do these stack up to 6PS stuff that everyone else is so fond of?

What about the Wima red bricks? I used them in a S&H I did for PAiA and have found them very useful in other sensitive circuits, especially VCF's and VCO's. They go in the signal path in the VCF circuits and I found them to be very transparent.

The Panasonic film caps are popular in the DIY stompbox realm but we don't see them much around here. Anybody have good or bad words about them?

Lastly, what is your favorite vintage signal cap?

[JamesHealey]

I love the old mustard caps in Marshall, vox and hiwatt of old.

I also really like sozo premiums! But they're not really useable here in the UK too much hassle buying from US.

I recently tried some dm6 caps in a hot rodded Marshall and they sounded good!

I've tried to love and use vishay mkt1813 since they're available readily in the UK but i can't get them to sound good very strange hi-end when amp clips

I'm experimenting with lcr pc/hv/s/wf 1000v polypropylene film foil at the moment only tried them in a treble booster pedal so far and they sounded good there but anything would i suspect.

I'm quietly confident I'll like them in amps though.

[iknowjohnny]

I also really like sozo premiums!

What do those sound like compared to mallories?

[Structo]

I've tried those Wima's and they seemed to work fine but I sure wish they would make the leads longer.

[dynaman]

Not sure exactly what Panasonic caps you're talking about, but I picked up a bunch of 22nf @400V Panasonics a while back. Mine are radial and look like the usual red Xicon/Nichicon film caps, 'cept these are a dirty tannish/burnt orange color. I've not compared them with other amps in similar builds, but I think they sound just fine. Good enough for me to save them. I'll note that they have been very dependable. I've had plenty of leaky PIOs and other pricey caps, but I've not had a single failure with these.

[David Root]

I use 6PS orangedrops in Dumble type amps (although I saw recently that HAD used mostly 4PS), and ceramics, although I did put one polystyrene in my Bluesmaster. I use Solen caps in the buffered loop though.

In other circuits I like Sozo, Mallory 150s, Vitamin Q and other PIOs. I put a pair of NOS Sprague 400V .022s in my Epi LP.

One type I am curious about, and that is the older Domino type silver mica, would these be appropriate in Tweed builds? Or Dumbles for that matter.

[JamesHealey]

Basically they're fatter warmer with a very musical high end!
The mallory 150 are nice though really work well in Marshall circuits

I also really like sozo premiums!

What do those sound like compared to mallories?

[David Root]

Tony doesn't like the Xicon MPPs. His opinion was pretty strong as I recall. I haven't tried them myself though, to each his own.

[Jackie Treehorn]

Mostly 716P (polypropylene) and polystyrene for me. I might throw in a single polyester for some thickness in the mids or parallel a ceramic for some texture on top, but I generally don't like polyester caps. Sozos are good in my marshall, though. I've got some oil caps coming to mess around with, too. Nichicon KG Muse series for cathode bypass. Sometimes, I'll parallel a film cap there, too.

[yankeerob]

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned Solen... we use Vishay MKT1813's for the majority of mainstream builds but have found Solen 'fast' caps to be incredibly responsive and consistently so..

[JamesHealey]

I'm going to try some of those panasonic polyester caps mentioned by the o.p.

[David Root]

yankerob, I did note that I use Solens in my on board buffered FX loop. (0.1, 0.22 and 0.47uF).

[mlp-mx6]

I have used Xicon MPP caps to good effect in my 6V6 ODS. I generally use 6PS caps in an ODS circuit, though. I will admit that the one with Xicons does the best job of sounding good with any type of guitar. Hot 'bucker to Strat, that amp just sounds good. It has Xicon coupling caps on CL1, CL2, OD1, and OD2. I think I used 715s on the PI plates, and a Xicon on the PI entrance.

[mike9]

For .022uF/600+V PIO caps you'll probably have to get them from the Russians. They are mil spec and great caps.

[M Fowler]

I picked up some mojo Dijon caps to try in a project to see how they sound.

They are film and foil caps similar to mallory 150s.