Let's discuss capacitors and G&Ls. Maybe Darth will weigh in

Seems there's more chatter than ever in the discussion pages about caps and their tonal differences -- or whether they do shape tone. There's a video somewhere on Youtube where a guy A/B's a boatload of caps and I sure hear the difference. My questions are:

Fellow guitarists: Have you ever monkeyed with the tone cap in your G&L? What did you notice? I know that fellow GLDPer Gabe D. swears by silver mica caps, for example...

Darth: G&L uses the little green chiclet caps, from my experience -- is this because Leo always did (assuming he did) or because G&L's belief is that one cap sounds like another or because they're cheaper and you don't want to have to pass on any more cost to the customer? Just curious what the official G&L thinking is on caps.

I have my doubts as to how much difference the brand of capacitor can make, and you see a lot of hype around certain manufacturers. I haven't done any experimenting with the caps in my guitars because I really like the tone of them as they are. The tone knobs on my ASATs are great and I see no reason to change it. When you consider that capacitors are very cheap to buy, it seems like a good idea to buy a whole bunch and test for differences, but for now I'm happy.

I think the vast majority of the capicator / pot swapping that goes on is snake oil. An ohm is an ohm, a farad a farad. These components don't cost enough for guitar companies to skimp not buying 'the good ones' if there was real difference.

thanks, guys. many people feel that way. anyone else?

I've heard of the silver mica capacitors. I have a guitar to try it on too. Where did he source his?


Cheers,

Will

Here's from an e-mail he sent me:

Just buy some silver mica caps...search E-Bay and you'll find many to
choose from. You might have to buy a quantity of them but they'll be
worth it...they come in handy if you plan on working on guitars and amps
in the future. If you cannot locate a silver mica in the value(s) you
require (doubtful) then your next best choice is polypropylene. You can
use mylar as a last resort though under no circumstances should you ever
use ceramic caps on any audio signal...a big no-no. Remember, guitars
are ultra low voltage applications so there is no need for high voltage
cap's.

I think the vast majority of the capicator / pot swapping that goes on is snake oil. An ohm is an ohm, a farad a farad. These components don't cost enough for guitar companies to skimp not buying 'the good ones' if there was real difference.

I agree with this. I feel like design/component values do matter. And that matching those to your playing style and the rest of your setup could be beneficial. Having said that, I am an inveterate tinkerer, and I have never made an improvement to an instrument monkeying with this stuff that was worth the time. I have totally screwed some controls up-ie made them sound worse--and had to go back to the way it was.

G&L circuits are simple, well designed, and in my experience well constructed. I am just leaving them alone on my stuff. After all, I could stand to practice!