Caps

[rockabilly69]

Has anybody tried .022 Spraque Vitamin Q caps in their Les Paul? I have a line on some and just want to get some feedback here before I buck up.

 

[roadrunner]

Vit. Q

They're supposed to be the cool things. I've never tried one but the audio guys rave about 'em.

I'm partial to bumblebees or the Hovland Musicaps myself.

 

[dragon]

Hey Roadrunner how do the Hovland's sound? I just put in some Sprague Black Beauties and like the sound paired with some 68' CTS pots. Haven't tried Vit Q's yet.

 

[rays44]

Most everyone on this forum goes with the .022's. I have great luck with .0068's. on both P90's and humbuckers. The rolloff to me is much more gradual and usable. I know it's way out of spec but for me , it's the only one that sounds good.

 

[roadrunner]

Hey Ray... you never have to apologize for what you like!

Dragon: I like the Hovlands, they have a real transparent quality.
They seem to let more of the sound of the wood through.

 

[rockabilly69]

Vitamin Q's have arrived, and are going in the guitar right now. Ihave a gig tonight, I'll report soon.

Rockabilly69

 

[toni]

Do you see any difference when the tone pot is set to 10 ?

 

[rockabilly69]

Vit Q Test

After a night of gigging with my Les Paul equipped with stock antiquities, I got a good chance to hear the difference in caps.
As for the useable range of tone control with the new caps, I think the Vit Q is no better than the stock cheapos, but when the tone control is open 2/3rd's or more, I think the tone improved(especially on the bridge pick-up) as it seemed a little less harsh. With the tone control wide open, I think the pick-ups sounded a hair more open. Were they worth $16.00 each? Hell yeah. But, as in the case of Rays44, I think I may play around with other values so I have more usable range. Well, that's my .02 cents!

After the second set, I tried Toni's pole piece adjustment technique. I didn't like it on the neck pick-up (I actually back my low E string polepiece a little lower than the others), but for the bridge it did give a little more mids to me overall sound. I'm not sure if I liked it though, before with my polepieces sitting flush, my pick-ups sounded a tad more balanced. I think I'm going have to play around with this mod a little more in the quiet of my house.

Rockabilly69

 

[tonejunkie]

I've had some very good results with .015 Vit Qs also--a little less roll off, and slightly different tonal character in the 2/3 to wide open range. Different upper mids or something, but great results.

 

[dragon]

The older NOS caps tend to drift up in value so if you can get a hold of a cap meter or have the person selling them to you (hopefully they have one) read several till they find the value you want. I went thru several with my meter till I got the 2 that measured okay.

 

[rockabilly69]

caps

I'm wondering if wiring the guitar in the 50's format would bring about a more apparent tonal change with the older style caps. Anyone got a schematic?

 

[Neal]

Rockabilly69,

Go to http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/humb.html for the schematic.

 

[Mojojojo]

To wire it to 50s specs, you only need to move the tone cap from the center lug of the volume pot to the outer lug of the volume pot that is not grounded. It does make a tonal difference. Which lug (center or outer) on the tone pot being grounded makes no difference.

 

[rockabilly69]

50's schematic

Jeff,

I'm going to try the mod for tonights gig, thanks for the info. What kind of tonal difference are we talking here?

Rockabilly69 (Dan W)