2 circuits, one box: should I double input/output caps?

[barret77]

Hello all

I have this potentially dumb question, given that my understanding of electronics is as big as an electron.
If I put two similar effect circuits together in a box (i.e., 2 compressors), should I put the input and output caps twice?
Are those caps relative to the individual circuit or to the box itself?

should it be

Input - > input cap -> circuit one - > circuit two -> output cap -> output

or

input - > input cap -> circuit one -> output cap -> input cap2 -> circuit 2 - > output cap2 - > output

Thanks a lot for any light, and sorry if it does not make any sense...

[Processaurus]

Hi, the answer would depend on if you wiring it so they can be used and bypassed individually, or if they are both going to be hard wired together.  In the first case you'd need all the input caps, in the second case you could possibly leave out the output cap of the first circuit in the series, if you put in the input cap of the second effect.  You'd still need one coupling cap between stages (or effects), the cap blocks the different stage's DC levels that are used for biasing your audio signals.  Another thing to keep in mind is sometimes designers make the input or output caps an intentionally small value to roll off low frequencies. 

Or you could just put both in and not worry about it.  Caps are cheap. 

[barret77]

nice, I'll leave both. Thanks for the explanation!