capacitor question

[rspst14]

Hey guys, other than certain distortion pedals, are there any effects that benefit from ceramic disc capacitors as opposed to higher quality film or silver mica caps?  I've had good results swapping out cheap capacitors for better ones in my Boss BD-2 and older block logo Phase 90.  Would this type of mod improve the sound of a flanger or an analog delay?  Do manufacturers of non-boutique pedals typically use ceramic disc caps for cost reasons rather than tone?  I'm wondering if it's worth it to upgrade the caps in my other two pedals, so any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Ryan

[Peter Snowberg]

Hello Ryan,

My feeling is that there is no reason to use ceramic caps in any clean circuit if you can get an alternate technology. Big makers use ceramic for cost or availability. You can only get film caps so small in value and silver mica caps get big and expensive quickly. In some cases the cap won't ever touch the audio (say in a Boss pedal switch flip-flop circuit) so any type will work there just fine.

Keep in mind that there are three major types of ceramic. NPO (best), X7R (pretty good), and Y5V (absolute garbage). If you see caps marked Y5V in any pedal, you may get a HUGE increase in tone by switching to film or mica. The difference will be less with the other types, but still quite big.

That's my $.02

Take care,
-Peter

[rspst14]

Hey Peter, thanks a lot for the information, I'll keep that in mind.

Ryan

[bwanasonic]

For distortion circuits, a ceramic can add a certain *grit* you may find appealing. The only time I've picked a ceramic for it's "audio" properties is for the input cap of  my rangemaster clone. I don't know if the original used a ceramic, but I socketed the input cap and tried a bunch. Also, I have both an original DOD 201 phasor and the reissue. The original used all ceramics, the reissue *greenies*. I much prefer the sound of the original, but there are other differences between them that may account for that.

Kerry M

[nightingale]

i like the ceramics for clean boost too~
lbp, gus's npn boost, and fuzz faces... i guess it's all personal taste.
best,
~ryanS