Guitar amp resistors

Forget I asked :sad:

What a waste of a post

Caps are cheap make up your own mind.

Geez, Gus, that was pretty harsh.

I didn't see the post before editing. But whatever Pucho posted, it's not like he's one of those "grab 'n go" clowns who just drop in here for some spoon-feeding and disappear. Cut him some slack, will ya? :sam:

Yes too harsh. Maybe it is not good for me to post having a bad day

pucho812 Maybe you should put your post back. What do you care what I post? You should not care, don't let me stop your poll.

I could have posted in a nicer way.

I believe the best way to learn about caps and resistors is to try them yourself.

I think the web has to much sway with stuff like this resistor and caps.
I don't trust a lot of what I read I always try to test it.

Yes I am picky with caps not so much with resistors

Caps and resistors are cheap and maybe if someone posts they like one kind over another someone will not try the other. This site does seem to have some influence.

FWIW most of the time I do not like ceramics BUT in certain spots thats what I want

So if someone says 150s are better that sozos(sp) etc others might not try them.

I sometimes cringe when I read some of my early posts with microphones. I sometimes think about edits but then that would not be truthful to the history of the thread at the site.

With resistors and caps the differences seem to be noted more when there is a greater voltage difference between the leads.

But then again don't trust what I post, test it.

I didn't see the initial post.

My personal favourites, last time I checked was for a carbon composition on the first plate, and metal film mostly everywhere else.

In the power supply I used some wire wounds as I recall. (For some inductance, and to cover that big electron burst when the amp powers up)

This combination gave me the best clarity and sparkle. The carbon comp added slight sweetness, and I found the first plate to be the best position based on my ears.

Carbon film throughout.... 2 watters .... were ok. The amp lost some of the clarity. Was a bit "softer" tone.

Carbon comp right through, which I thought would be my favourite, sounded dull to my ears. The amp lost sparkle.

I think musical styles and my taste in sounds has changed over the years, and this was reflected in my choices.

i guess i wouldn't post here or build stuff or read all the time if i had never asked why.

like... why does this mic pre cost 59 dollars and this one costs 3999 dollars. Or, what makes this one sound good, and what makes that one sound bad?

etc.

not calling pucho a newbie or anything like i was a year or two ago when i started getting with this place.

but i gotta ask... why is it that people like carbon comps... i mean, i know there isn't an explanation for everything. and don't get me wrong, having never A/B'ed anything at all, I'm using carbon comps throughout on a 59 champ clone i've got half done, my dad and i actually. just think they look cool, they're old, the amp circuit is old, they feel and look more 'rugged,' which, without getting into actual wattage specs, I assume is a quality thats important for a tube amp.

but are they inductive? do they change resistance with voltage/current/heat significantly? i've wondered for a good while, and i trust the myth busters and the experienced on this forum more than i trust my mother.

i mean, if they do drift signifa

i'm a blabberer, heres a pretty cool article.

maybe the way to do things is to hook it all up with high wattage pots and trim it all til you like it, and then stick in a resistor that wont change appreciably.

The main reason for using the old resistors is probably 50 percent retro, 30 percent power rating, and 20 percent actual sound improvement.

1 and 2 watt resistors went out with tubes.

I use them because
a) i HAVE A TON
B) tHEy LOOK WAY COOL
C)IF i CAN MAKE MY AMP SOUND 0.00000000001 PERCENT BETTER, i WILL TRY IT, and
D,
this keyboard sucks.

I reversed engineered a little old 5 watt amp circuit. It used all wire wound resistors. I wanted to do the same but it became cost prohibitive. Heck... even using all crap components, it's bordering on cost prohibitive.

What 5 watt amp was that, Butterylicious? And ya gotta schemo for it?

Peace,
Paul

I gutted this Elk 40 watt head that was sort of a clone (kind of) of a super. They used wire wound resistors everywhere! I still have them all kicking around...I'm assuming they were wirewound because they were hollow.

[quote author="pstamler"]What 5 watt amp was that, Butterylicious? And ya gotta schemo for it?

Peace,
Paul[/quote]

Don't laugh.... OK go ahead, laugh.

It's the amp from a Concord 880 R2R, the only thing I've used for a guitar amp for about the past 5 years. I recently bought a back up on evilBay so I'd have one to pick apart to see what makes it tick.

Here is my Rev. E. (please note the input jack is supposed to be a switching jack and not a stereo jack). There may be other errors too.

http://www.butterylicious.com/Schematics/Etc/C880-schematic.pdf

I don't think I'd really give much of a shit what models of caps and resistors I put in a guitar amp. As long as they suited their task, were economic and were durable then I wouldn't worry.

Guitar amps are not HiFi.

The sort of people that make amps with exotic film caps, etc. probably listen to Steve Vai.

That's probably harsh too, and I'm sure some of you will probably disagree.

The sort of people that make amps with exotic film caps, etc. probably listen to Steve Vai.

Click to expand...

HA! :thumb:

Bedroom guitar heroes. :razz:

I cant hear a difference between carbon comp, metalfilm whatever....

If you can hear a difference youre not playing loud enough.

Not only tube Guitar amp makers that are using carbon comps.

The military is a big user of them. They use them in RF and repair
of older equipment and that's where the weirder values are
sold.

I'm still buying them since I'm selling them too.

Steve @ Apex Jr.

[quote author="rodabod"]The sort of people that make amps with exotic film caps, etc. probably listen to Steve Vai.[/quote]

Ha! :grin:

(...or Eric Johnson, or Joe Satriani...)

That's definitely a contender for best quote of the week, along with:

[quote author="kato"] But with the popularity of gearslutz, and other forums... the surplus has all been snatched up, I presume by tools who make shitty music.[/quote]

well carbon comp have that sound and carbon film has a cleaner sound to carbon comps.

my original question has to do with cap selection based on using Carbon film resistors. Yes test and try various as caps are fairly cheap, however was looking for starting point into sonics of mallory's VS orange drop caps when combined with carbon film caps. and since I knew a few of you already had an opinion was wondering what people would go with and Why. Yes amps are not Hi-Fi but I don't consider them lo-Fi either. If anything call them Fi.

Really, I'd just get a bunch of caps and try them out, if you really believe there might be an audible difference between them.

I use carbon film resistors, Orange Drops and (for small values) silver mica, because they're easy to get, affordable, reliable and they do the job. I've even used those cheap green film caps (Xicon?) from Mouser--never had any problems, never obsessed about this stuff.

[quote author="NewYorkDave"]
That's definitely a contender for best quote of the week, along with:

[quote author="kato"] But with the popularity of gearslutz, and other forums... the surplus has all been snatched up, I presume by tools who make shitty music.[/quote][/quote]

I always realised that Gearslutz was populated with some utter tools, but only recently have I been getting pissed off with some of the people at Tape-Op and other places too. Some of these guys..... "Yeah, I changed the Sovtek tube for an EH and now this thing is so punchy!!!" Oh dear. Even some of the more "respectable" writers there I have come to decide are complete and utter tits.

[quote author="Pucho"]well carbon comp have that sound and carbon film has a cleaner sound to carbon comps[/quote]

Yeah, I really notice that cleaner sound when my amp is turned up half way and emitting something which is nowhere near clean in terms of distortion. Then there's the fact that half the caps in my old amp are probably dried up anyway.... :razz:

If it keeps you happy Pucho, then go ahead. I'm just not convinced.

Re: coupling caps, I can't hear any difference between Arcotronics Polypropylene from RS and Sprague Orange Drops .... so I figure a decent popyprop is fine (though I know others have successfully used paper/polyester etc). For low values I like Silver Mica also.

Could an audience tell the difference? Nah, probably not .... but I like to feel happy with my sound. The amp is a huge part of the instrument. I didn't realise how big a part until I started DIYing my own amps and transformers. And my pillows seem to sit up and take notice ..... :green:

This seems like a slippery slope to start assigning "sounds" to passive components. Yes, different types of resistors and capacitors will deviate from ideal devices in differing degrees and ways, but to isolate the "sound" of one in use in a complex circuit is beyond my expectations, unless a deviation from ideal is extreme and in a sensitive circuit node.

Yes, stuff varies but IMO 99% of what we hear is simple frequency response variations. The value of the compents may be an order of magnitude more significant than lesser secondary non-ideal behavior.

YMMV

JR