Bumble Bee caps

[lassoharp]

Considering I've got about 85+ of these I've pulled out of assorted amps over the years, and of those I'd have to say that about 75% of those were bad leaky - I find this auction amusing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=160550674700&si=aJS88aKztXEF1uknvtU%252BfU%252BzigM%253D&viewitem=#ht_574wt_932


Don't know what it is about those caps but they sit at the top of my list of "most often found to be leaky and causing major problems  ".  Useless for reuse as a coupling cap.  Perhaps this doesn't affect their use in passive guitar tone controls but I wouldn't trust a used bumble bee in a coupling position for a minute. 

 

[shabtek]

appears to be an organs worth

 

[okgb]

Kidney ?

 

[APEX JR.]

These are very sought after caps for restoring vintage equipment to be correct.

I have a few asian customers who are always looking for these.
( I do not have any of these in stock)

Same with Astron and Mustard caps.

Steve @ Apex Jr.

 

[lassoharp]

I have a few asian customers who are always looking for these.
( I do not have any of these in stock)

I would assume this to mean NOS, though I have seen asian sellers on ebay with lots of pulls advertising them as for guitar amp (high voltage coupling type).  I asked one seller if he knew whether or not they were leaky and if he'd had the opportunity to check, mentioning my experiences with them.  His only reply was a quick retort:  "How much you offer for these?".  I wasn't haggling.

If any of your asian clientele have a desire for used Bumble Bees I've probably still got 10-15 sitting in a box on my workbench.  The rest I've thrown away.  Would be glad to trade for some small items like tube sockets or pots.

 

[APEX JR.]

Lassoharp....
Yes, NOS and only in certian values;
.01Uf, .022Uf, .047Uf and .1Uf at 600V are the most sought after

Used, RFE (removed from equipment) are still usefull but not for
me. I try and sell only NOS stuff.

Steve @ Apex Jr.

 

[tubologic]

Lassoharp....
Yes, NOS and only in certian values;
.01Uf, .022Uf, .047Uf and .1Uf at 600V are the most sought after

Used, RFE (removed from equipment) are still usefull but not for
me. I try and sell only NOS stuff.

Steve @ Apex Jr.

Even N.O.S "Bumble Bee" or "Black Stripe" capacitors can be (and usually are) defective. Being paper capacitors they are hygroscopic and have a limited shelf life,depending on storage conditions,etc... I measured a couple of N.O.S exemplars at rated voltage and they were leaking as hell... I would never use these caps (N.O.S or not) for any repair or restoration purpose, if not already defective they will fail sooner or later and damage or degrade the equipment they're used in. The leakage current dramatically increases as the capacitor heats up in tube circuits,with detrimental effects on  bias and ultimately tube failure due to increased current and plate dissipation. Of course, they have a different "sound" but remember this is the sound of a DEFECTIVE amplifier, not the way it sounded when it came out of the factory 60 years ago. And YES, they can have a bad effect used in guitar tone control circuits too: just think about shunting all the capacitors in a high impedance tone circuit with a resistor of a few megohms and imagine (or compute) the effects on the circuit parameters. Again, this NOT the way your vintage amp ot guitar sounded when Leo Fender designed it long time ago,whatever "guitar experts" claims.  I should have stored the hundreds of defective BB cap's I replaced in my life,they would worth a small fortune today on the well-know auction site. This is just crazy ! Leave them for the obsessive (asian?) "guitar gurus" and stop damaging your valuable vintage gear with  outrageously expensive defective capacitors.

 

[lassoharp]

Good to hear I'm not the only one with that experience with those caps.