Yes, the original mustard caps were built better than any modern caps and most of them check out perfect, so yes, very long life span. These are the caps in all Plexi and metal panel Marshall amps up until around '78-'79.
Those aren't filter caps. Those are 'tone' circuit caps, and they don't fail ever from what I've read. They may go out of spec, but not 'blow up' like some filter caps can over time. The sad thing is many old Marshalls have had those Mustards removed for Orange drops. Ugh.
Yes, I’ve seen plenty of Marshall amps with orange drops. Completely wrong tone cap for a Marshall.
In the description and or Build Specs for each of our amp models we list the tone caps used. The MGL100 & MGL50 Limited amps are 100% mustard cap circuits. The new Modern/Vintage Series amps use 8 mustard caps in the circuit. Our 2204-2203 based amps use Mallory M150 and or SoZo caps depending on the model. Original 2204-2203 amps used metalized polyester tone caps. So, mustard caps aren’t right for that type of tone.
I really like the Modern/Vintage feature set. It is at the top of my list for next year when I get another amp. Do you have any vids showing how the diode switch changes up the sound? I honestly could be happy with probably any of your builds. Good stuff.
Good point! We will do a future demo with playing the same parts with & without the diode clipping engaged. We are now using a mustard in the clipping circuit and it pretty much keeps 100% of the amp tone, just adds the compression, more greasy feel and perception of more gain. We'd love to build you an amp!
