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What's you favorite tone cap value?
- Thread starter Thebiggestjerk
- Start date
.047 miniumum for bass. Sometimes, a .1.
I had a few in between (.068 i recall).
I had a few in between (.068 i recall).
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Down to .022, anything lower can imo/ime sound honky... unless really small, where it sounds interesting again (but of marginal utility, unless you have a tonestyler type cap selector).
Removed from the circuit and put in a drawer.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
I've been debating which value capacitor, whether 0.1 UF or .047 UF, to put with my 2004 American P maple neck / light alder body with Duncan SPB-1's. Maybe I need to get a .068 and try it as a compromise between the two values...
I have varitones on two of my basses. I have no idea which value I like, but on both of them I've found one setting I like more than all 9 others.
I think it depends on the bass and pickups; in my experience, it's not quite one-size fits all (although a case could be made for .047). I think .033 uF is an overlooked value that has great potential, too, since it leaves more mids intact than .047.
I've rewired my Hofner to have three cap values (plus bypass)--.0068, .03, and .062 (just because I had .047 and .015 caps handy and combined them). The tiny cap gives a wonderful woody tone with a hint of P-bass grunt. The .03 is smooth and round (but still with solid mids), and the .062 is my dub tone. Mostly, I switch between .0068 and .03. (Bypass and .062 are 'bonus tones.') I arrived at these values after also trying .015, .022, .047, and .1 uf caps. All of them were lacking in one regard or another, with the lower values being too honky.
On the other hand, .022 sounded great on another bass (with a MM humbucker, wired passive with coil switching). I tried out a variety of values and settled on .022 and .047. (.047 sounded best with the pickup wired in series; .022 sounded best with the pickup wired with the G&L OMG-style 'bass boost'--a .1 uF cap wired across one of the coils.)
The upshot: it's worth hooking up a couple of leads with alligator clips and trying out a handful of different values. It's quite interesting and a cheap and easy way to help dial in one's sound.
I've rewired my Hofner to have three cap values (plus bypass)--.0068, .03, and .062 (just because I had .047 and .015 caps handy and combined them). The tiny cap gives a wonderful woody tone with a hint of P-bass grunt. The .03 is smooth and round (but still with solid mids), and the .062 is my dub tone. Mostly, I switch between .0068 and .03. (Bypass and .062 are 'bonus tones.') I arrived at these values after also trying .015, .022, .047, and .1 uf caps. All of them were lacking in one regard or another, with the lower values being too honky.
On the other hand, .022 sounded great on another bass (with a MM humbucker, wired passive with coil switching). I tried out a variety of values and settled on .022 and .047. (.047 sounded best with the pickup wired in series; .022 sounded best with the pickup wired with the G&L OMG-style 'bass boost'--a .1 uF cap wired across one of the coils.)
The upshot: it's worth hooking up a couple of leads with alligator clips and trying out a handful of different values. It's quite interesting and a cheap and easy way to help dial in one's sound.
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I removed the tone cap from one of my basses and am really happy with the sound. So 0uF 
I have no idea what my favourite value is. I know that I had two caps in at one point t up the overall value.
At that point the bass didn't open up as far as before even with the tone all the way open. No idea why that was( anyone here know?).
I removed one cap and have used it like this since.
At that point the bass didn't open up as far as before even with the tone all the way open. No idea why that was( anyone here know?).
I removed one cap and have used it like this since.
Did you have them in series or parrallel? Caps are the oposite of resistors, you need them in parrallel to up the value.
For my P Basses the 0.1 uF like in my '59 P-Bass. More low end, clearer overall. I also prefer paper-in-oil capacitors. Some say they can't tell the difference. I'm sorry for them, but I'm not alone in feeling that isn't really true.
I just had my Dingwall re-wired. Had tone capacitors taken out. IME they only roll off response in a passive instrument and in an active, I always leave all tone pots flat. So...
I don't know...
The value did go up with the two as in; more top end was cut. The problem was that when the pot was all 'open', it didn't open up as much as when only one cap was in...or as much as when two caps of lower value were in there.
Is this normal and if not...why might that be?
It could be that the pot does not actually go completely to 0 ohms. So the larger the value you put in, the more highs lost even with the pot "off".
They actually sell no-load pots that are guaranteed to be off when set to 0.
