Who made these Caps?

[carboncomp]

Who made these Chunky Caps with the Z logo, and more importantly where can I find them!!!!

[iccaros]

does it have to be that brand or will any ceramic disk .1uf 50v cap work.. If so Radio Shack has them http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062365&CAWELAID=107592442
but they are too much money, only if you need them now, mouser http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Xicon/140-50U9-104Z-RC/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuMW9TJLBQkXmRckPHCL8SfCmY5SyJ7v%252bs%3d

[carboncomp]

Yep, has to be this brand as its for a Muff Repair. 

[FastJunkie]

Any particular reason why it has to be the same brand?

[R.G.]

A better question might be "How are these particular parts still being made?  If so, where can I get some? If not, where can I find some? If not, how can I fake them?"

The generic answer is that those are very generic 0.1uF 50V ceramic disk caps. The Circle-Z logo reminds me of Texas ranch brands, but finding the actual manufacturer may be tough, and they may not be in business.

I suspect you have to have it for "originality" or making it not easily visible that the pedal has been fixed.

[carboncomp]

Any particular reason why it has to be the same brand?

Same reason you would want original parts for a vintage car!

[iccaros]

I guess that is a good reason. But here is something to put in the cap, as the original were hand built on perf board, and came as do it yourself kits, people changed out the parts all the time. They changed parts between runs and there was no official build even when they went to PCB.
" V1 circuits are seen with mostly ceramic type capacitors, but occasionally you will see early V1 Big Muffs with polymer caps, electrolytic caps, or box type film caps. The very first V1's made on perf board had electrolytic, ceramic, and film caps. Sometimes you will see caps that appear more modern in these old circuits, an indication they may be after market replacements for the original caps, though not always. Resistors were always carbon composition, and the painted codes were not necessarily reliable indicators of the actual value."
"Some electronics manufacturers from that time made certain components, such as capacitors, in large runs. They would then switch to a large run of a different component or value. If one component supplier was out of a certain cap at the time you needed to make a component order, you had to buy a similar part to what you needed, or source a similar component from another supplier to keep your production steady. This may be the reason why you see many different resistor and cap types of varying values on these Big Muffs. If stock was not available for the exact component type and value needed, the closest component available was used."


big Muff history
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html

[Rick899]

I have some very similar looking caps  that I took out of an old Harmon Kardon stereo.  Mine says  "RMC .01  10% Z5F".   Are these caps desirable for for use in pedals?  I was planning to use a  .01 along with a 33k resistor that looks like the resistors in the pic in a fuzz face.

[iccaros]

I have some very similar looking caps  that I took out of an old Harmon Kardon stereo.  Mine says  "RMC .01  10% Z5F".   Are these caps desirable for for use in pedals?  I was planning to use a  .01 along with a 33k resistor that looks like the resistors in the pic in a fuzz face.

short answer.. They will work
Long answer.. Well needs a better question, what is the circuit you want to use them in?

[Rick899]

In a fuzz face ....

[iccaros]

they will work as well as any other non-polarized cap  as a DC block (decouple cap) as they are used in the Fuzz Face.
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fftech.htm