The definitive answer: do "boutique" capacitors affect tone in bass wiring?

[khutch]

Originally Posted by uOpt

I can only repeat that the difference I hear was still there after I hand-picked a ceramic disk that had the same actual value on the multimeter as the orange drop I used to compare. This does of course have the difficulty of possibly inconsistent playing.

Two things:

a) multimeters have a limited resolution on the capacitance reading and you may be able to hear tonal effects with capacitance changes below that resolution,

b) depending on the voltage rating and dielectric ceramic capacitors can be quite nonlinear as the link to capacitor tests above demonstrates quite well. If your cap was nonlinear you will definitely hear that.

Ken

[Ric5]

The definitive answer: do "boutique" capacitors affect tone in bass wiring?

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This is a good question ... I know pots effect tone ... but is a capacitor just a capacitor?

[lownoteBb]

It's always easier to muddy up a punchy tone than to punch up a muddy one-for what its worth

[stanknuckle]

So if my tone control is turned all the way up and I find that the treble is lacking, it's not a cap issue, but a potentiometer problem?

[funnyfingers]

Originally Posted by stanknuckle

So if my tone control is turned all the way up and I find that the treble is lacking, it's not a cap issue, but a potentiometer problem?

I would look at strings and pickups actually. Strings can help and then different pickups would really bring out the strings even more.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by stanknuckle

So if my tone control is turned all the way up and I find that the treble is lacking, it's not a cap issue, but a potentiometer problem?

If your tone pot is all the way up then ideally none of your signal is being bled off through the cap, so the cap has nothing to do with your treble at that point.

In some cases you can get a brighter tone by using a 500K pot; and also a defective or poor-quality pot can affect the tone. So yes, of those two things, the pot is more likely to be a problem than the cap.

That said, the strings and the pickup are even more likely to be the real problem.

[uOpt]

Originally Posted by bongomania

If your tone pot is all the way up then ideally none of your signal is being bled off through the cap, so the cap has nothing to do with your treble at that point.

No, 500 Kohm is still enough to make a 22nF capacitor have a noticeable effect. It's still a capacitor and resistor in series.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by stanknuckle

So if my tone control is turned all the way up and I find that the treble is lacking, it's not a cap issue, but a potentiometer problem?

Of course there are LOTS of reasons for lacking treble...strings...pickups... you name it.

But the only way you can tell how much your tone control is cutting highs even when turned to max bright is to actually disconnect the tone circuit. Personally I find that the amount of roll off in that case is small unless you are using a fairly low value tone pot. There is a compromise here. A low value tone pot gives you a nicer control over tone as opposed to a high value one where tone settings are sort of scrunched up at one end. But a lower pot is never completely off either!

So my personal preference in a passive bass is to install a spdt on-off-on toggle switch. The center position is open and gives max brightness. I then use a lower (250k or less) tone pot to give spread out range. And I wire a .047 ufd to one side and an .015 to the other. Hence I can go from max bright to some predetermined tone setting (usually on the .015 ufd side) And of course the .047 side gives the factory sound from the bass. I really love this mod!

While there is not a huge rolloff with tone on max there is some which is why I prefer the switch mod.

[wvbass]

I used a no-load pot as a tone control on one of my basses. This makes a subtle difference in tone. It has NOTHING to do with the capacitor, though, it has to do with getting the resistor out of the circuit.

The bottom line here is this. Idiots believe what idiots believe. The truth won't set them free, because the don't recognize the truth when they encounter it.

[mikecd1]

This is a great thread which I've watched with enthusiasm and enjoyed the posts. Folks here really do care about their tone. I've used a lot of the cheap and a few of the boutique with small differences noted at best. What I'd like to know and what opened my tone up was fixing a ground problem on my bass with single coil pickups and 250k pots. My pickups sounded thin and had some hum especially if my hands were not on the strings. Knowing single coils have hum I accepted it and tried to make up with the amp as much as possible, but inevitably became frustrated especially at higher volumes. The standard fender diagram shows each pickup ground wired to back of pots, bridge grounded to back of tone pot and NO wire to sleeve on jack, only the hot signal. I'm using single coils and after installing brass ground plates under each pickup, grounding those to the pots then grounding all the pots to each other and then a wire to the sleeve on the jack - THAT opened up my tone AND solved my ground problem or vice versa. I also shielded the control and pickup cavities as well. It also helped with microphonics and my crappy, thin sounding mexican pickups suddenly sound great! I've tried several tone caps now in the bass and notice differences more with the values than with types of caps. Everything sounds better with a lot less microphonics and perhaps someone can explain how proper grounding overcomes this. I went with a .05 by the way...