Can I use electrolytics caps in a Distortion +?

[Ell]

I'm building a very quick and dirty MXR Distortion Plus, no knobs, for onboard effect.

I've substituted R3 for 1K, and C3 for 220nF.

I don't have many caps lying around. Is there anything wrong with using 1uF electrolytic caps instead of non-polarized ones? Also, which way round would they go? I think I can see that the one in the power supply needs to be + to 4.5V, and - to ground. The one at the output of the opamp, should the + be going to the op amp, andthe - be going to the output jack?

Thanks for all the help over the years wonderful people.

[R.G.]

Yes you can use them, and yes, the polarity is as you've suspected.
Electros typically have worse tolerances and higher drift than film, so they're fine to use for power supply and noise bypassing, and for blocking DC on outputs. They're not so good any time you have to rely on their capacitance value for a filter frequency setting.

[Ell]

Yes you can use them, and yes, the polarity is as you've suspected.
Electros typically have worse tolerances and higher drift than film, so they're fine to use for power supply and noise bypassing, and for blocking DC on outputs. They're not so good any time you have to rely on their capacitance value for a filter frequency setting.

Thank you very much for your speedy reply R.G.! I really appreciate your help!

[Mark Hammer]

Tantalums were used in the original pedals, but my sense is that those types were used mostly because they were easy to bend over on their side, a characteristic that was typical of capacitors in most, if not all, early MXR pedals.  The pots, jacks, and stompswitch were big enough that there was just not enough room between the board and the back plate of the enclosure for caps that "stood up" in those pedals.

[antonis]

I'd make R6 and R7 100k..
(optionally, C6 up to 10μF..)