Best (LCR 50/50/500 replacement) current manufactured caps?

SQUAREHEAD

Well-known member
I am re-capping a Marshall and a Bogner ecstasy classic head, both take the 50uF/50uF/500vdc can caps... Unfortunately, as you know, LCR does not make these any longer…
I don’t really care about price, I am looking for the best tone and from everything I read, the ones I should get are the F&T caps from Germany…
I am just double checking here so any input or advice would be greatly appreciated,
hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend!
Thanks again,
Keith
 
What happened to LCR? Did they just start making electrolytic capacitors?
I have 4 brand new LCR 32uF/32uF/450vdc if anybody needs them...
 
Yup Dave is correct. ARS are the ones to get.

I don't like F&T either. I never had a failure with them, they just don't sound that great.
 
CrazyNutz":ivjsx1rf said:
Yup Dave is correct. ARS are the ones to get.

I don't like F&T either. I never had a failure with them, they just don't sound that great.


Wow, so many have experienced the same issues, thanks for your input broCrazyNuts !
 
CrazyNutz":1k09rj5j said:
Yup Dave is correct. ARS are the ones to get.

I don't like F&T either. I never had a failure with them, they just don't sound that great.
Interesting..... never really thought different brands of filter caps would have a "sound", but now I'm curious...
Always just used F&T.
Fek!!! another rabbit hole... :doh:
 
fusedbrain":1alg3fhj said:
CrazyNutz":1alg3fhj said:
Yup Dave is correct. ARS are the ones to get.

I don't like F&T either. I never had a failure with them, they just don't sound that great.
Interesting..... never really thought different brands of filter caps would have a "sound", but now I'm curious...
Always just used F&T.
Fek!!! another rabbit hole... :doh:


Haha, welcome to the OCD zone ;)

Yes different brands of filter caps sound different. As with most parts It's more drastic as you get closer to the input of the preamp. The preamp filter caps I can hear the largest difference. The main filters are harder to tell. I have some amps with F&T in the Main & Screen spot, and ARS in the Pre, sounds fine to me.

Some people can't tell at all.

When I notice stuff like this, I have one friend that I trust his ear as much as I trust my own. I'll call him over, and run a blind test on him to confirm my findings.
 
I recapped my 2015 Marshall 1987xl because heat was causing the top of one of the caps to bulge. My tech said it was not a true bulging cap, but I lost sleep at night over it, so I recapped it with new F&Ts. Recently I've been getting some ghosting when playing the top three strings above about the 11th fret. I've read this can be due to caps being too low avlue and to go with a higher value. But I recently went through some bad tubes too, finally got that all straightened out and the ghosting is way reduced now. Still thinking of re-recapping it with ARS. But not sure what value to go with.
 
Rick Lee":23zec2nz said:
I recapped my 2015 Marshall 1987xl because heat was causing the top of one of the caps to bulge. My tech said it was not a true bulging cap, but I lost sleep at night over it, so I recapped it with new F&Ts. Recently I've been getting some ghosting when playing the top three strings above about the 11th fret. I've read this can be due to caps being too low avlue and to go with a higher value. But I recently went through some bad tubes too, finally got that all straightened out and the ghosting is way reduced now. Still thinking of re-recapping it with ARS. But not sure what value to go with.

The bulge on cap cans can be misleading. There is usually a plastic disk at the top that is squeezed by the shrink wrap on the sides causing the plastic disk to bulge.

The 50 watters have more filtering that the 100 watters. So motor boating should not be an issue with good caps.

Get you three ARS 50uf+50uf

Same link as above:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/50uf-50uf-500v ... SwNgxWDsYz
 
CrazyNutz":20ozlbp0 said:
The bulge on cap cans can be misleading. There is usually a plastic disk at the top that is squeezed by the shrink wrap on the sides causing the plastic disk to bulge.

The 50 watters have more filtering that the 100 watters. So motor boating should not be an issue with good caps.

Get you three ARS 50uf+50uf

Same link as above:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/50uf-50uf-500v ... SwNgxWDsYz

That's the same value I already have in there. Are you saying the ghosting is a result of the cap value or the quality of the cap?
 
Rick Lee":18pcqmh5 said:
CrazyNutz":18pcqmh5 said:
The bulge on cap cans can be misleading. There is usually a plastic disk at the top that is squeezed by the shrink wrap on the sides causing the plastic disk to bulge.

The 50 watters have more filtering that the 100 watters. So motor boating should not be an issue with good caps.

Get you three ARS 50uf+50uf

Same link as above:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/50uf-50uf-500v ... SwNgxWDsYz

That's the same value I already have in there. Are you saying the ghosting is a result of the cap value or the quality of the cap?

50+50 is more that enough to prevent motor boating. Your problem could be caps are bad, or bad ground, or something else in the amp.

just for reference 50+50 caps in a 50w marshall equates to:
100uf main, 50uf screen, 50uf PI, 50uf pre, 50uf pre

in a typical 100w marshall (year 1970+) 50+50 caps equates to:
50uf main, 50uf screen, 100uf PI, 50uf pre, 50uf pre

So really 50+50 caps in a 50w amp is overkill
 
psychodave":2ejpz0cl said:
Just make sure you apply voltage to the new caps slowly. Don’t just install and turn on the amp.

Good rule of thumb just in case you installed one incorrectly. But otherwise you shouldn't need to form new electrolytic capacitors. If the insulation between the conductive wrap is questionable it's not a good idea to use it at all.
 
Bumping this because I just installed ARS 50/500s in my 87 2210. I've always gone with "if it ain't broke..." . Now I'm a believer. This particular 2210 is a good one, with a boost it screams and rivals ANY 2203 I've owned, stock or modded. Just a really great stock Marshall. But, it had original caps and they aren't bulging anywhere. Bought some replacement ARS can caps and figured, if it sounds worse I can always reinstall the LCRs.
Now this thing blows the doors off of any 2203 I've had. It's simply unreal at volume. It's so punchy it reminds me of a Wizard. Seriously.
If you have amps that need a cap job, or your amp seems less ballsy grab some ARS caps now. They are the real deal.
:rock:
 
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