Capacitor on its last legs?

[tehfunk]

A little while back, I had a question about what are bad signs when buying an amp. And, lots of people talked about the electrolytic caps. So the person selling this says the amp still sounds great. But, from your guys' descriptions, I was wondering if this is what you were referring to, is the 2nd from the right cap "on its last legs"? BTW, I am not buying this... just asking.



Thanks!

[superferrite]

My amp tech guy says the repair community is running about "70%/30%" on recapping just for the sake of doing it.  He is in the 30% minority in saying "if it ain't broke...", and always says the first thing anyone looks for in old crap is "original parts."
Take it with a grain of salt, but if the amp sounds alright, the cap is probably working at this point and can be changed later.

[tehfunk]

that's not what I am really trying to ask, since I don't own it and am not going to buy it I don't have to worry about deciding whether to leave it in or replace  . I am asking, if when people say a cap goes bad like by leaking or opening, is that what it looks like in the earlier stages??

Thanks!

[dxm1]

Caps can fail in a number of different ways,  not all of them visible from the outside.  The one you show is obviously begging to be retired.  Probably overvoltage from a shorted output tube.  The fact that the amp 'still works' and may 'sound great' is no reason to risk a fire.

To answer your question - you can't always tell a ready-to-fail capacitor by just looking.  However, if you see one blooming off the chassis, stretching the vinyl cover, you can safely add the replacement cost to your bargaining chips...

[Sir H C]

I usually don't view stuff at that end of the cap as an issue.  Could be a poorly put on top piece.  It is the bottom where the connections are that can be the problem.  There is a small "plug" that is used to vent the capacitor if it is ready to go.  Is that a 800?  To me the bigger worry is the rust on the transformer.

[R.G.]

ESR meter

[soulsonic]

When they look like this, you know for sure they're bad.