Looking for technical advice from a pro if possible.

VaporDemon

VaporDemon

New member
Hope I’m appropriately posting this question apologize if I’m out of place. I’m about two years into my journey of learning amp modding and my question is what would be the advantage if any of running two capacitors in parallel as opposed to one single capacitor in a circuit? Looking at some schematics from some various amplifiers and I noticed the use of two capacitors when the value could be obtained by a single capacitor. Is this for tonal reasons or is it based on something else? Thanks
 
Could be a number of reasons:

1. Cost. Two .1uf caps might cost less than one .2uf, or .1uf is a common value that you stock, have large quantity discounts, and a lot on hand etc..

2. Form factor, Cap cans for example can have multiple taps such as a 50uf+50uf. So in a circuit You might find one in parallel for 100uf, or you might find one that spans multiple nodes, like 50uf->10k->50uf you see in many vintage Marshals. This one also goes back to cost. It's (was) more economical to stock 50uf+50uf cap cans , and reconfigure them to the needs of the circuit.

3. Trying to use up existing stock on a new designed. Again back to cost


4. And last, sometimes it will come down to sound, I've done builds where two devices sound different/preferable
 
CNutz said:
Could be a number of reasons:

1. Cost. Two .1uf caps might cost less than one .2uf, or .1uf is a common value that you stock, have large quantity discounts, and a lot on hand etc..

2. Form factor, Cap cans for example can have multiple taps such as a 50uf+50uf. So in a circuit You might find one in parallel for 100uf, or you might find one that spans multiple nodes, like 50uf->10k->50uf you see in many vintage Marshals. This one also goes back to cost. It's (was) more economical to stock 50uf+50uf cap cans , and reconfigure them to the needs of the circuit.

3. Trying to use up existing stock on a new designed. Again back to cost


4. And last, sometimes it will come down to sound, I've done builds where two devices sound different/preferable
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply! I kind of figured the part about cost and availability but wasn’t sure, I had read in another post that someone used multiple caps in a depth circuit because it made an audible difference.
 
A bit of advice, as you journey down this road. There are two camps.

Camp 1). .1uf is .1uf no matter what, makes no difference in the sound. Electrolytic caps are all the same, different manufactures/series all sound the same.

Camp 2). Everything makes a difference in the sound.

I'm in camp 2 :)
 
Well then I’m in good company since we are of the same camp! Appreciate your knowledge my friend! I am learning a lot on my journey however the two years that have transpired feel more like months since I often get lost in what I’m doing. I have so many questions running through my head all at once and I have to be sure not to get too needy with the questions because I have a habit of getting hung up on details 😂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top