Orange Drop Capacitors
As you know, we love to discuss the smallest details about our guitars, and the tone caps inside of them are no exception. Finding the right tone cap can be a very time-intensive and expensive project and, as always, the internet is full of urban legends – including magical, para-psychological “facts" about them. Believe me, there is nothing mystical inside of capacitors. Without drifting into any voodoo fields, it's time to uncover some of the mystery that surrounds these little rascals. Over the next two months I will show you how find your tone cap – without wasting a lot of time and money!
In a nutshell, a capacitor is an electrical/electronic device that can store energy in the electric field between a pair of conductors (called "plates"). The process of storing energy in the capacitor is known as charging, and involves electrical charges of equal magnitude but opposite polarity building up on each side.
Capacitors are often used in electrical and electronic circuits as energy-storage devices. They can also be used to differentiate between high-frequency and low-frequency signals. This property makes them useful in electronic filters, and that´s exactly what we use them for inside our guitars. Basically, our passive tone control can be used to dampen the high frequencies. When you close the tone pot, it rolls off the treble response, giving a more mellow tone. Adjusting this control affects the sound very noticeably, but it still is quite recognizable as the same guitar.
A basic rule for tone caps is that the bigger the cap, the darker the tone. Depending on the cap's value (capacitance), the effect can reach from "slightly warmer" to a "woman tone" all the way to "completely dark and clinically dead." Remember, the tone cap is always part of the guitar circuit and it even influences the tone when the tone pot is fully opened.
I often receive e-mails and calls from guitarists who don't use the tone control at all, mostly complaining about tones that are darke and lifeless, hotspots when closing the tone pot, and a basically useless taper of the tone control. I'm sure you've experienced the last problem; when closing your tone control, all changes occur between 10 and 8, and from 8 all the way to 0 there is no audible change of your tone. Don't worry, this can be solved. I hope that I can encourage you to give your tone control a second chance. It is really unbelievable how many tone colors can be easily dialed in with a proper tone control.
There are two basic parameters that we will talk about: the value (capacitance) and voltage rating of the cap, plus the type of cap itself. Both parameters will influence the tone a lot; this month, we will start with the value and voltage rating of the cap. Capacitance is a measure of the amount of electric charge stored (or separated) for a given electric potential. The voltage rating describes the maximum working voltage of a cap (potential, measured in volts).
Voltage Rating
One of my all-time favorite urban legends has to do with voltage ratings. You can read about voltage ratings of 400 volts – and higher! – for tone caps, and how this influences the tone. Do you ever talk about 400 volts coming out of your guitar? Of course not. Then how exactly does it influence tone?
As a basic rule you can say that every cap with a voltage rating of 0.5 volts or higher will work inside a passive electric guitar, with higher voltage ratings resulting in larger caps. The reason for the high-voltage tone caps that you find in guitars is easy to explain. A lot of popular caps, like the Sprague "Orange Drops," are for tube amps with inside voltage of 600V or higher. Nevertheless, the caps sound great inside a guitar, but an Orange Drop cap with a 10V rating would also sound great. A cap with a higher voltage rating does not sound different from the same cap with a lower voltage rating.
I've spent a lot of time with A/B comparisons, blind tests and measurements and I never could ear any difference. I'm not Eric Johnson, and I use my eyes instead of my ears to verify if the grass in my garden is growing, but you can try these tests yourself. Orange Drop caps are great for this experiment because they are available in voltage ratings from 100 to 680 volts.
Value (Capacitance)
Now that those rumors are debunked, let's focus on the more important parameter – the value of the cap. Remember our basic rule to help understand this parameter: the higher the capacitance, the darker the tone.
In the "golden days" of electrical guitars, Fender and Gibson used tone caps with a very high capacitance (0.1uf/0.05uF and 0.047uF/0.022uF, depending upon the time period). The 0.022uF value is still the standard today. If you need very dark and bassy tones, this value may work for you. For most of us, however, this value is much too large and the effect is more or less useless, resulting in the aforementioned problem of the effect only taking place between 10 and 8. The solution to the problem is simply a tone cap with a much smaller value. This little change will enhance the usability of your tone control dramatically, giving you a good evenness among the complete taper of the tone control without any hotspots, and every movement of the pot will result in a change of tone.
The value of your tone cap is always a matter of individual choice and needs, because everyone has a different ideal tone and everyone uses the tone control differently. Personally I use very small tone caps of 3300pF up to 6800pF, depending on the guitar and how bright it sounds. With these mall values I´m able to dial in a lot of tonal shades and colors all over the tone pot, and with every small movement the tone gets a little bit warmer and sweeter - not dull and dark.
Finding the Perfect Value
To find the perfect value for you, I suggest getting a piece of cardboard, two 10" pieces of wire, two solderable alligator clips and some cheap standard ceramic caps. The cheapest caps from a local electronic store are good enough for this, and the voltage rating is completely unimportant. Get values from 1200pF to .1uF, plus every value in between you would like to try. One piece of each value is enough. Glue the caps side by side on a piece of cardboard, with the legs reaching over the edges. Don't forget to note the value of each cap on the cardboard! Then, solder the alligator clips to the wires (one clip per wire, soldered to one end of the wire).
Now open your guitar and desolder and remove the existing tone cap. Solder the end of the wires opposite to the alligator clips to the points where the original tone cap was connected and close your guitar leaving the wires hanging out. Now you can change the different caps within seconds by simply connecting with the alligator clips. Play your guitar and use the tone control to see which value works best.
Hopefully you will be able to determine through this method what your favorite cap value is. My tip is to try 2200pF, 3300pF, 4700pF and 6800pF and listen to how they interact with the tone and taper of the pot. Chances are good that you will like them!
This is a very important step in converting your tone control to a useable and helpful tool in the future. Next month we will talk about the different cap types, and how to figure out which one is for you.
See you next month!
[Updated 11/23/21]
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Huge shocker incoming: Zach Broyles made a Tube Screamer. The Mythos Envy Pro Overdrive is Zach’s take on the green apple of his eye, with some special tweaks including increased output, more drive sounds, and a low-end boost option. Does this mean he can clear out his collection of TS-9s? Of course not.
This time on Dipped in Tone, Rhett and Zach welcome Tyler Bryant, the Texas-bred and Nashville-based rocker who has made waves with his band the Shakedown, who Rhett credits as one of his favorite groups. Bryant, it turns out, is a TS-head himself, having learned to love the pedal thanks to its being found everywhere in Texas guitar circles.Bryant shares how he scraped together a band after dropping out of high school and moving to Nashville, including the rigors of 15-hour drives for 30-minute sets in a trusty Ford Expedition. He’s lived the dream (or nightmare, depending on the day) and has the wisdom to show it.
Throughout the chat, the gang covers modeling amps and why modern rock bands still need amps on stage; the ins and outs of recording-gear rabbit holes and getting great sounds; and the differences between American and European audiences. Tune in to hear it all.
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Hats off to Carmen Vandenberg of Bones UK, our celebrity Question of the Month respondent.
Guest Picker - Carmen Vandenberg, Bones UK
The cover of Soft, Bones UK’s new album, due in mid-September.
A: My favorite method these days (and to be honest, from when I started playing) is to put on my favorite blues records, listen with my eyes closed, and, at the end, see what my brain compartmentalizes and keeps stored away. Then, I try and play back what I heard and what my fingers or brain decided they liked!
Bone UK’s labelmade, Des Rocks.
Obsession: Right now, I am into anyone trying to create sounds that haven’t been made before—bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, and our labelmate, Des Rocs! There’s a Colombian band called Diamanté Electrico who I’ve been really into recently. Really anyone who’s trying to create innovative and inspiring sounds.
Reader of the Month - Sam C. Schiff.
Sam spent endless hours trying to learn the solo Leslie West played on “Long Red,” off of The Road Goes Ever On.
A: The best way to learn guitar is to listen to some good guitar playing! Put on a record, hear something tasty, and play on repeat until it comes out of your fingers. For me, it was Leslie West playing “Long Red” on the Mountain album, The Road Goes Ever On. I stayed up all night listening to that track until I could match Leslie’s phrasing. I still can’t, no one can, but I learned a lot!
Smith’s own low-wattage amp build.
Obsession: My latest musical obsession is low-wattage tube amps like the 5-watt Fender Champ heard on the Laylaalbum. Crank it up all the way for great tube distortion and sustain, and it’s still not loud enough to wake up the neighbors!
Gear Editor - Charles Saufley
Charles Saufley takes to gear like a duck to water!
A: Learning by ear and feel is most fun for me. I write and free-form jam more than I learn other people’s licks. When I do want to learn something specific, I’ll poke around on YouTube for a demo or a lesson or watch films of a player I like, and then typically mangle that in my own “special” way that yields something else. But I rarely have patience for tabs or notation.
The Grateful Dead’s 1967 debut album.
Obsession: Distorted and overdriven sounds with very little sustain—Keith Richards’ Between the Buttons tones, for example. Jerry Garcia’s plonky tones on the first Grateful Dead LP are another cool, less-fuzzy version of that texture.
Publisher - Jon Levy
A: I’m a primitive beast: The only way I can learn new music is by ear, so it’s a good thing I find that method enjoyable. I’m entirely illiterate with staff notation. Put sheet music in front of me and I’ll stare at it with twitchy, fearful incomprehension like an ape gaping at the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’m almost as clueless with tab, but I can follow along with chord charts if I’m under duress.
The two-hit wonders behind the early ’70s soft-rock hits, “Fallin’ in Love” and “Don't Pull Your Love.”
Obsession: Revisiting and learning AM-radio pop hits circa 1966–1972. The Grass Roots, Edison Lighthouse, the Association, the Archies, and Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds—nothing is too cheesy for me to dissect and savor. Yes, I admit I have a serious problem.
