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Post subject: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:10 am
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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:00 pm
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Interesting , Thank's BMW2002Ti

How to build the tester ;

www.soundgaragetales.com/amp-building/o ... -capacitor


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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 1:35 am
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Steve, gotta say... I can really dig this post!!!! I brought up this subject years ago, along with a Sprague Atom examination and quality issue post. But, it died, very quickly, on the vine. The tester is impressive. But it takes no more than a guitar cable to determine the outer foil side of a cap!!! I've always oriented my caps!! JMO, Art

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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 1:59 am
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Art, I usually aligned the writing on the caps in the same direction. And resistors' banding order in same direction. This makes for a neater looking layout.

For coupling caps it end up that the direction I've oriented them on the board = having the banded or outer foil side toward the input signal (previous stage's anode). And the non-banded side to the next stage grid.

This direction in most BF adn SF Fender amps is what is recommended --- banded or outer foil side toward the lower impedance. Pure serendipity... :D

I can't really hear any difference in the orientation of the coupling cap. Prolly my tin ears.


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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:54 am
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BMW2002Ti wrote:


I can't really hear any difference in the orientation of the coupling cap. Prolly my tin ears.

]


Same for me .

I do the test with 'scope and 60 HZ close to the cap , very hard to tell wich side is wich on may different capacitor brand


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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:02 pm
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Yeah, it's just an "nth" degree. Totally agree with the sonic appreciation aspect. Art

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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:04 pm
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BMW2002Ti wrote:
Art, I usually aligned the writing on the caps in the same direction. And resistors' banding order in same direction. This makes for a neater looking layout...


Same here. It really bugs me when I have a resistor or cap "backwards" compared to others next to it, even though it might not matter functionally. :x Sometimes it bugs me so much that I almost always redo it just so they will all be the same orientation.

Note the resistors in the lower right. Once I realized what I had done, I had to turn one around, NK.

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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:24 pm
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Yeah Shimmy, I've done the same type of thing. :lol: But it was with some high-zoot PIO caps in the B' Master!!!! That's why I said, I couldn't hear the difference. They sounded great both ways!!! That cap orientation is probably more important, in high powered HI-FI equipment or transmitters. Don't know!!! Art

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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:24 pm
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Another old thread dug up.....sorry.

I just had to report my personal experience with the whole outer foil theory. Tonight I decided to check the orientation of the caps in my Bandmaster Reverb, an early '70s silverface. I found two that were technically installed backwards, with the outer foil going to the high impedance side of the circuit rather than the low side.

I started with a reference point! all tone controls set to six, volume to 4, plugged into my les paul studio. I listened for how much hum I was getting once the amp was powered up and warm. No more noise than the usual hum associated with tube amps. I then played a few chords just because I had already gone through all this effort to get out to the garage, plug in all my gear, warm up the iron, etc etc. and dang it if I wasn't gonna strum that baby :lol: .

Anyways , after re orientating the two caps I found to be "incorrectly " installed, I performed the same test as earlier and dang it, it's true. I could swear that the amp is much quieter now. I'm not gonna say that the tone is better because I really can't tell. But I will say that from now on I'm gonna make sure any amp that comes across my work bench has the caps oriented correctly. I'm a believer.

What I should have done is recorded a before and after. Oh well, next time. I still have a Bandmaster that needs to be checked. That one for sure will be recorded and documented.

As stated, this is just my personal experience with this subject, YMMV.

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Post subject: Re: One way to tell outer foil of coupling caps
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:28 am
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SoZo capacitor write interesting things ;

Also , caps need 100 hours break in

http://www.sozocapacitors.com/FAQ.html


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