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Post subject: Re: Combo Basses
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:56 pm
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I finally bought the fender squire vintage modified p bass with humbuck at neck. I happen to like the thick sound that comes from it I decided to add a p.u. one at a time. I do have a duncan hot single coil that I might add after the new year. At least with this combo I'll have the difference between a thick to thin/bright sound. To stoker and bro dave what caps would you use for a variation of sounds?


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Post subject: Re: Combo Basses
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 1:01 pm
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Bro Dave knows all the caps and exactly what they do. The two I use are an .047 ( 5 ) and a 22. Those have always done what I need to get the job done. I always look at the fact of if I want one sound I put in a 5 and if I want to hear what it sounds like with a 22 , I do that. Then I decide which one works best for me,


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Post subject: Re: Combo Basses
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 4:40 pm
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Location: Albemarle, NC
kitdrums wrote:
I finally bought the fender squire vintage modified p bass with humbuck at neck. I happen to like the thick sound that comes from it I decided to add a p.u. one at a time. I do have a duncan hot single coil that I might add after the new year. At least with this combo I'll have the difference between a thick to thin/bright sound. To stoker and bro dave what caps would you use for a variation of sounds?


Strokie is correct. Experiment. You can't say exactly what cap is going to work best in any one instrument till you try at least two different ones. I'd start with a 0.05 (0.047) and if you want to brighten it up overall then try the 0.022. Usually anything over 0.05 will start sounding too dark, but if you have a really bright instrument it is perfectly OK to try a value higher than 0.05! On the other end of the spectrum I have one bass with a 0.018 in it as the pickups on it were apparently overwound and the difference between 0.022 and 0.018 made enough difference that I left the 0.018 in it. Get some alligator test leads at Radio Shack or any electronics shop and get a range of different value caps. Ceramic disc or Poly caps are very cheap. Once you settle on the value that gives you the right tonal range you want then it is time to consider what type to install permanently in order to deliver the tonal quality you want.

In tonal quality the caps suitable for guitar/bass tone circuits ranked from crunchiest (most distortion) to cleanest & warmest (least distortion) are:
Ceramic Disc (very, very edgy with sometimes brittle upper mids, but very cheap)
Import Small Poly Chicklet type (slightly edgy and very cheap)
Sprague Orange Drop Poly (larger & warmer but still has an edge and costs a bit more)
Sprague Orange Drop Mylar (much smoother, far less crunch, same cost as an O.D. Poly.)
Sprague Vitamin-Q Type Paper In Oil (very smooth, almost no distortion and on most instruments when using a typical combo amp you'll get about the same tone as with an Orange Drop Mylar for less money. The difference is easier to hear on a high quality preamp when compression and EQ are added such as in post production on a recording project. The $5 Russian or Soviet made Vitamin-Q clones are by all reports just as good as the hard to find $20 USA Sprague Vitamin-Q vintage caps. Stick to the 200 Volt variety in either case!)

So what cap to use depends on what kind of sound you want. For hard rock/punk/metal/hard country a ceramic disc is often a good choice but on a single coil pickup which inherently has more upper mids a ceramic may sound too brittle. If you are going to do smooth jazz or pop or if you like to crank the tone wide open most of the time you might want to consider the Mylar or Vitamin-Q Type.

The only Paper In Oil type cap I'd put in a guitar is the Vitamin-Q type as they will never leak (they are sealed in glass which is then sealed in aluminum) and they remain stone cold stable over decades of use. Other types of Paper In Oil or Paper In Wax caps (such as Bumblebees) are notoriously unstable or prone to leaks or both. Stick to Ceramic Disc, Poly, Mylar or the Vitamin-Q Paper In Oil type for guitar tone circuits.

In the 1950's through 1980's Sprague made metal encased glass sealed Vitamin-Q type caps for many brand name companies that were fulfilling government contracts for communications, navigation, avionics, satellites, missiles, rockets, nuclear devices, etc. You'll sometimes run across them with other brand names on them like PHILCO for example. On these re-branded OEM Vitamin-Q type caps made by Sprague USA you will always see the "S" in the CIRCLE hallmark on the minus end of the aluminum casing. They are functionally the same as the Sprague branded ones but usually only the ones branded as "Sprague Vitamin-Q" will have the clear insulation shrink covering over the metal casing. I find this insulation layer over the aluminum casing more desirable in a guitar tone circuit than bare aluminum.

One final note. Have any cap you are considering installing put on a capacitance meter before permanent installation to get the actual reading of that individual cap. A ceramic cap labeled 0.047 could read anywhere from 0.037 and 0.057 for example. All of them will vary a bit with the greatest variance being on the ceramic disc ones and the least variance from stated value on the Paper In Oil Vitamin-Q's. Just because any capacitor says it is 0.047 doesn't mean it is really close enough to 0.047 to install permanently until you verify it. This is just one of the many reasons that sometimes otherwise identical brand new instruments sound or perform very differently from each other.


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Post subject: Re: Combo Basses
Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:24 pm
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Thanks again to Stoker and Bdave, I now have a better understanding of what I'm getting involved in. I'm having fun working with it. I love the finish on it as well as the weight of it. My plan still is for me to add the 2nd pick up to it sometime after Spring of 2012. Once again thanks for all your help and advice. (P.S.- If you wonder where I get my user name...I still play the drums.) :mrgreen:


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