Anyone else like 0.22uf or 1uf caps? Yes 0.22uf and 1uf not 0.022uf or 0.1uf
 

Just wondering if anyone else likes 0.22uf caps or has even tried them, i have one in my frettless p copy which previously had a 1uf cap in it. Honestly i liked the 1uf a little more tonally but the volume drop was too much, however with the 0.22uf it seems to be right in the sweet spot in terms of balance between tolerable volume cut and tone. Just so you guys know though that bass has active pickups and 100k pots which most likely is a factor in the equitation, but nonetheless i like high value caps in that bass. I found that the 0.22uf and 1uf caps are able to roll off different frequency ranges and have a bigger sweep, both of which i like. Going even further back though when i first wired it up it had a 0.1uf cap that was recommended for the circuit but as soon as i heard it i though it barely did anything and i hated it so much i put in the 1uf. So i basically just wanted to know what you guys think though because i don't think anyone else has really mentioned anything like this before.

Active pickups have a low output impedance. When resistance goes down, the frequency cutoff goes up, so increasing the capacitance shifts it back down. That's why higher values work with active pickups. Those values will turn everything to mud with passive pickups, however.

Exactly true. Which is why the thing to do is simply TRY tone caps until you get the sound you like. You can just tack them in quick with solder to try them. And when you find the value you like you can do a more permanent job.

Personally when I can't decide, I go with TB: Have the ALL!

This is why my favorite circuit for a passive Jazz bass is to add a on-off-on switch that goes between ,o15, none, and ,047 ufd. That way I can get as bright as the bass goes (none) or switch to some preset tone in either the standard value .047 or a lighter tone (.015) which I like sometimes.

Would work for your actives too, though the values will probably be different.

Ok so since everyone seems to thinks its from the active pickups i have tried the same caps with my Ibanez SR300 that i recently converted to passive and what i found was that i still liked the 0.22uf cap. The tonal difference of how it effected my tone was very similar to the p. The SR300 right now has the stock ibanze soapbar humbucker pickups, a 3 way pickup selector, and 500k pots. So far i only tried the 0.22uf but the cap i want to put in is still in the mail so i have it rigged up with alligator clips right now and i'm gonna try some others i have around.

If you like a cap that big then you do. I have a switched cap tone control in one of my basses that goes up to 0.15uF and that is plenty big enough for my taste. I normally run it at a much smaller value.

Ken

Hey Ken,

Tell me what you mean by "a switched cap tone control".

Thanks.


Your Avatar is wonderful. (I love dogs)

He means a tone control with a capacitance switch.

Thanks line6man,

I've thought about trying that. Any comments about them? Usefullness?

Try reading a little. It's been bumped to the top recently, many (10) pages of discussion about various ways to do it - predates this thread by quite a bit...180+ posts

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/mu...ontrol-737912/

Thanks T Bone TL.