Fender Brown Caps Differnt Sound Than Blue

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Blue Molded Cap for Guitar Tone Cap?

• Thread starter Josey
• Start date Sep 9, 2015

• #1

So for those who have been helping and encouraging me along you already know that I've recently undertook the challenge of building a new loaded pickguard for my Strat. I went with the parts kit from RS Guitarworks and I couldn't be more pleased with the response I get from the controls. Thanks for all the help and input from everyone here.

However before buttoning it all back together I decided to run a couple leads out from under the pickguard with a couple of alligator clips attached so that I could do a tone cap taste test. I've done some amp repairs in the past so I happened to have a few different caps of different values (.1, .047, .027, .022) and material (ceramic disk, blue molded, some sort of brown turd). Plus the .022 cap that came with my RS kit.

Now I'm not going down that road saying ones better than the other. In a live setting I doubt you would be able to tell a difference at all. (I'm speaking strictly materials here and not values. I understand different values roll off more highs resulting in a darker sound). But each have their little nuances and I have to say that I was shocked with the blue molded caps that I pulled from a couple of my blackface amps. I believe they were originally the "death cap" that I took out after rewiring for a 3 prong power chord.

Has anyone else used these as a tone cap in their guitars. They seemed to give more sustain retaining more of the highs longer than the other caps. I even brought my wife into the room as an unbiased guinea pig so she could listen without letting her see which cap I was using. We both noticed how these caps gave a pulsing effect that was much more apparent than the others.

I haven't tried the orange drops yet but I have some on the way (716P and 225P). I've read the polymer & film ODs sound like the blue molded caps. The ODs seem like they would be easier to install but was just wondering if anyone else has wired the old blue molded caps in their guitars.

• #2

Well, the blue molded caps are kind of enormous. They're rated in the hundreds of Volts which is a teensy bit of overkill for a guitar circuit. But if you like them and you can fit one, why not?

I don't see how they could possibly affect sustain, though. They only subtract frequencies from the output of your pickups. And what do you mean by "pulsing" effect? And how could that be a good thing?

I'd be interested to hear if you found any differences between caps of the same value but different designs. That's the big debate about caps.

• #3

Yes they are bulky. That's why I figured something like an 100 volt OD would be much easier to install. I have a .047 600v blue molded that is huge and a .022 400v that's not that bad but with it being a pull from an amp and the leads not very long it would take some head scratching to get it installed. I prefer the .022 for my purposes over the .047.

Maybe "sustain" was the wrong word to use. More like the .022 blue molded cap seemed to retain more of the highs longer than the other .022 caps I have. The others are the .022 cap from RS Guitars and some other .022 brown turd cap that looks like a tootsie roll. I'm not sure what any of these are made of (polymer, polypropylene, etc..) The difference is faint and maybe it's just the difference in age of the caps but I can tell a difference.

Also maybe "pulsing" was the wrong word to use but I don't know how else to explain it. Sort of like shaking the guitar after ringing out a chord. Please Keep in mind that these are faint tones I'm hearing but this "pulsing" was obvious enough that my wife, who doesn't know nor doesn't care to ever know these type things, could hear it as well. I'm not saying it is a good thing or a bad thing, but I will say that I was digging it.

I don't mean to start a debate on whether different caps of same value sound different. That horse has been beat, buried, dug up, and beat again a thousand times over. On paper maybe they do but in practice there are too many unknowns for me to make a call. Maybe it's a placebo effect. Like those who believe removing the tremelo spring cover gives them better reverb. Anything that would give an artist more confidence to express them self I'm all for...well almost anything.

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Source: https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/blue-molded-cap-for-guitar-tone-cap.362121/

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