Box Film Caps

[ranchak]

Is there an audio difference between "metal box film" caps and the "polyester chicklet" style of caps?

[jonathan perez]

depends on the circuit

[ranchak]

Where are they good to use?

[mattpocket]

I used box film caps in my lofo mofo, they are bigger which makes it harder to fit everything in the box, and they normally have short rigid leads so you cant lie them flat against the board.

[brett]

Hi
I use them all of the time because they have a consistent 5 mm / 0.2 inch lead spacing.
For large values (0.22uF to 2.2uF) they are smaller than greencaps, which is a definate advantage.  Hence they are a good choice for the 1uF non-polar caps in Tubescreamers.
One of their main selling points is that they are self-healing if broken by high voltage, but here in stompboxes we don't usually see them broken, coz their rated voltages are usually 63V or 100V.
cheers

[markm]

Being "old-school", I prefer regular old mylar or ceramic disc......

[John Lyons]

If you replaced a pedal that had all ceramic caps with metal film box caps you would possible hear a big difference.
If you replaced a couple mylar/poly caps with thye box film caps you would most likely not notice a difference.
Generally from "grittyest" to "smoothest" it goes Ceramic, Poly/mylar/film, silver mica, polysterene.
I'm sure someone will disagree but this is what I've heard...
Replacing a lot of caps will have a bigger difference in the sound. Replacing one of two may not be noticeable.

One place that is more noticeable is on high gain builds. The use of silver mica or polystyrene in the tone stack, or any pf value caps will generally give you a smoother sound. Ceramic caps can make a pedal gritty in a nice way too. Just depends.

John

[oldschoolanalog]

Being "old-school", I prefer regular old mylar or ceramic disc......

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Is there an audio difference between "metal box film" caps and the "polyester chicklet" style of caps?

Not in my experience.

[brett]

Hi
we've had a few posts about microphonic ceramic caps over the years, so it might be best to keep them away from the input stages to high-gain pedals driving loud amps.  One case that seemed very bad was found to be due to a monolythic type.  They are probably the worst sounding, biggest drifting and most likely to be microphonic.  The only positive characteristics of monolythics that I can think of are size and price.
cheers

[petemoore]

  See if I can't start something here.
  Put a ceramic disc cap in a FF to rolloff HF harshness, in a B/C position.
  See if you noticed the fizzyness [actually who was it mentioned this and got me started..] that we did, I time again swapped material there to make sure, opting for the big difference a Poly made there.
  I forget the really small values sampled, just comments on the materials used.
 

[mattpocket]

I used box film caps in my lofomofo and it screams like a bitch when the volume knob is turned past the first quarter of a turn... could that be because of microphonic feedback from the caps?

Matt

[railhead]

What guitar does it do this with? I can't use the Lofo with my hollowbodies...

[Pedal love]

There was a rumor years ago that these dipped(mylar) capacitors you mention, have a higher risk of humidity getting in between the shell and wire leads. I think that myth is highly exaggerated.

[bumblebee]

i replaced all panasonics with box caps in my FTM and heard a huge difference,not good or bad but different.

I'll be changing it around abit,i find its good to use a few mixed with ceramics or greenies.
i've also found in some circuits it makes an unnoticable difference.
i do use them for all the caps in one of my fuzzes tho, so its circuit Dependant................

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I used box film caps in my lofomofo and it screams like a bitch when the volume knob is turned past the first quarter of a turn... could that be because of microphonic feedback from the caps?

I doubt it Matt, the only caps that i know to be microphonic are ceramic, in particular those "small for their value" little bypass caps that you get out of wrecked computer stuff.
In fact, those are SO microphonic, that one magazine had an article on an "automobile stethoscope" that used a bypass cap epoxied to the point of a screwdriver, as a pickup for listening to motor noises!!!

[bonkdav]

my lofo mofo is microphonic too, you can tap on the box and hear it and even yell into it with the back off and the sound comes through.

[$uperpuma]

I use both the small panasonic brownies and the yellow AVX's. Little or no audible differences in the distortion circuits I've used both in.