TS9 10uf output cap question

[ubersam]

Hello all - I've been bit by the modding bug. After adding an indicator LED in my buddy's wah, he volunteered his RI TS9 to be my modding guineapig. I've read all I could find about all the possible mods to the TS9, and I have an idea of what I want to do to my buddy's TS9. One component I haven't been able to find info on is the 10uf alum. elect. cap in the output section of the TS9. I found a 10 uf poly fim cap @ mouser.com Mouser Part No. 5989-250V10.0-F and was wondering if anyone has swapped out the 10uf alum. elect. for a poly fime, and if there was any benefit to the swap. TIA.

[GibsonGM]

My thought is that a 10uF aluminum electrolytic cap can be replaced by pretty much anything having a high enough working voltage....electrolytics aren't known for their noiseless qualities by any means, LOL.  This is a distortion/gain pedal, so it won't be too quiet regardless.  In a phaser or chorus or something, using cherry caps has more benefit.    You're going to get max bass out of that baby...I've found no real benefit going larger than 2.2uF, myself, tho.  Gonna play with the input cap too? That will also affect bass response.

Anyway, the one you're looking to buy seems like total overkill. And the 250v working voltage is too much, try 16 volts.  WAYYYYY TOO EXPENSIVE, don't buy this one!!!!   Maybe get a pack of various caps at Small Bear Electronics, there's a link on the Links page here and will only cost what you'd pay for 1 of those.

Or, Radio Shack has 10 microfarad caps, why not try them?  Plain old garden variety electrolytics, non-polarized if you can get them or just be sure of which end is going where (mind the polarity).
Good luck!

[Ardric]

That 250V cap at Mouser is 31x27x16mm.  That's huge!  Are you sure you've got room to fit it in the box?

Changing the kind of cap without changing the value isn't likely to have an audible effect.

What do you hope to accomplish by the mods; what does it lack now?  More or less bass or treble?  More gain?  More knobs to tweek?

I built the El Griton from Tonepad to TS-808 specs, but I haven't made any mods to it yet except 3 sets of clippers on an on-off-on toggle switch (si/si, si/si+ge, si/si+ge+ge).  I was planning someday on trying out the ZW44 version that's been discussed here before.  Try searching for it.

[ubersam]

I read about swapping out the 1uf NP elect. caps with film so I was curious if whether there is any benefit (improvement or otherwise) from swapping out the 10uf elect. cap in the output section. But, I did not realize that the 10uf poly film cap was huge, I was just looking at the material and the uf value. For now, I am planning just the typical mods (TS808, more drive, more bass, asymm. clip, cap swaps and true bypass).

[theman]

Poly caps start to get unwieldy and large past 1 uF. Past 1 uF is the domain of tantalums and electrolytics. I've heard conflicting reports on tantalums vs electrolytics for sound. I think electrolytics are the standard for coupling when larger values are needed, and poly or better (polystyrene or polypropylene) for stuff like 100p to 1u, and silver mica for 100p or less.  I've also heard that it doesn't matter too much anyways unless you need specific values that are stable over time and temperature. And we're not talking about clean audio anyways ... highly distorted tones here in overdrives.

[MartyMart]

For 10uf, electro or tantalum caps should be fine, tantalum will be smaller, about 1cm high.

I used a 1uf poly for my 808 clone and Fooldrive, sounds great and is easily large enough value.
470n would also be fine here.

MM