What does changing an old compositor do?

[duderus]

Please help.
It's on a vintage traynor yba 2 amp tube head.

Thank u

[Nighttrain1127]

What is a compositor?

[Mykk]

A compositor looks like quite the contraption:

[Sid Fang]

A compositor manipulates video. A capacitor, aka accumulator, is an electronic component. Tube amps tend to have big ones that will degrade and fail with time, particularly if they're left unused for long periods. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[B-string]

Capacitors are also used for tone shaping, blocking DC voltage, stabilization.....

[Mr. Foxen]

Changing the filter caps will do very little if they work, but if the ones in there don't work, which is common, then it will make the amp less noisy, and have more headroom.

Changing ones in the tone path for ones of different values will shift all sorts of things about sound wise.

But the main thing is, you really need to ask the right question, because as it is, bit unspecific.

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by Sid Fang

A capacitor, aka accumulator, is an electronic component. Tube amps tend to have big ones that will degrade and fail with time, particularly if they're left unused for long periods. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You mean, a condenser?

Why have capacitors been known by names that are used in air conditioning (accumulator and condenser)? Hmmm

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by 1958Bassman

You mean, a condenser?

Why have capacitors been known by names that are used in air conditioning (accumulator and condenser)? Hmmm

Condensor I couldn't tell you. As for "accumulator" (I have never heard them called that) it is pretty easy to speculate as to the origin of the term. With a capacitor, electrons "accumulate" on one side of the dielectric (the space or insulator in the middle) and protons "accumulate" on the other side. (The simplest description that many use for what a capacitor does is "store a charge".) All kinds of tricks and magic can be done by using this characteristic by itself or in combination with resistors and/or inductors and bending it to the will of the human mind.

Fair enough?

As for the OP, we need to know WHICH cap it is, WHO told you it needed to be changed, and WHY they told you that. Clear all that up and answers will fly at you at such an alarming rate you will think they were waiting around the corner for you to ask.

[dincz]

Bigger filter capacitors will get you closer to Behringer's burst power ratings.

My grandfather was a compositor but he refused to change.

[craig.p]

Originally Posted by B-string

Capacitors are also used for tone shaping, blocking DC voltage, stabilization.....

The really big ones are also used -- with wires bent down the sides of the can -- to charge to max voltage and roll under the new guy's tech bench so when he picks up what just tapped his foot you can watch his hair spring straight up and have a good laugh.

(But that was back in the '70s, when you could get away with that sort of business.)

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by craig.p

The really big ones are also used -- with wires bent down the sides of the can -- to charge to max voltage and roll under the new guy's tech bench so when he picks up what just tapped his foot you can watch his hair spring straight up and have a good laugh.

(But that was back in the '70s, when you could get away with that sort of business.)

Meh. We still toss 'em around the lab at school every now and then. You see something flying at your face, you will reach up and grab it. Good times had by all.

[B-string]

WAY back when in high school electronics we had some "computer" caps. 20,000 mfd low voltage we would charge up and toss to give someone a "charge"

[tom-g]

Back in the day we called rechargeable batteries accumulators.

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by two fingers

Condensor I couldn't tell you. As for "accumulator" (I have never heard them called that) it is pretty easy to speculate as to the origin of the term. With a capacitor, electrons "accumulate" on one side of the dielectric (the space or insulator in the middle) and protons "accumulate" on the other side. (The simplest description that many use for what a capacitor does is "store a charge".) All kinds of tricks and magic can be done by using this characteristic by itself or in combination with resistors and/or inductors and bending it to the will of the human mind.

Fair enough?

As for the OP, we need to know WHICH cap it is, WHO told you it needed to be changed, and WHY they told you that. Clear all that up and answers will fly at you at such an alarming rate you will think they were waiting around the corner for you to ask.

No experience with a 'condenser'? Ever work on a car with ignition points? The metal part with one wire that has a metal mounting tab is the condenser and is used to suppress voltage spikes when the spark even occurs, AKA, a capacitor.

I guess it's because the electrons flow in and can't flow out at the same rate, so they're 'condensed'.

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by B-string

WAY back when in high school electronics we had some "computer" caps. 20,000 mfd low voltage we would charge up and toss to give someone a "charge"

My friend's college roommate used to rummage through other peoples' stuff all the time and once my friend got tired enough of this, he charged a dual cap that was less capacitance than yours, but it was 400VDC. One day, Bob grabbed the newspaper that didn't belong to him and then he saw the cap. He picked it up, flipped it into the air a couple of times and the last time, it came down into the palm of his hand, legs first. He got the message.

[Mr. Foxen]

I take boxes of caps pulled from amps from my local tech, to stick on ebay (not sure why people buy duff old caps, but their money spends as well as any other, so on they go). I know one day he's going to be a funny guy and charge some of them up.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by 1958Bassman

No experience with a 'condenser'? Ever work on a car with ignition points? The metal part with one wire that has a metal mounting tab is the condenser and is used to suppress voltage spikes when the spark even occurs, AKA, a capacitor.

I guess it's because the electrons flow in and can't flow out at the same rate, so they're 'condensed'.

Makes total sense. I had never heard either term used. But I can understand how they would come about.

[mystic38]

well, condenser (capacitor) predates air conditioning by some serious decades, so your question should be reversed!..

Originally Posted by 1958Bassman

You mean, a condenser?

Why have capacitors been known by names that are used in air conditioning (accumulator and condenser)? Hmmm

[BAce]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around "compositor"

[Pilgrim]

A compositor is simple: it makes compost.