# Building your ultimate Boo-tique Amp?



## J-75 (Jul 29, 2010)

These $25 caps will make it sound like a million for only half the cost !

Sprague Vitamin Q & Russian K40Y-9 Tone capacitors for guitars,+ - Mississauga / Peel Region Musical Instruments For Sale - Kijiji Mississauga / Peel Region Canada.

Wild Bill, you're invited to comment.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

J-75 said:


> These $25 caps will make it sound like a million for only half the cost !
> 
> Sprague Vitamin Q & Russian K40Y-9 Tone capacitors for guitars,+ - Mississauga / Peel Region Musical Instruments For Sale - Kijiji Mississauga / Peel Region Canada.
> 
> Wild Bill, you're invited to comment.


Well, he really wants someone to buy those things from him, doesn't he?3dgrw

This idea that different types of caps sound dramatically different is one found only in modern audiophile circles. All the great manufacturers in the Golden Years didn't seem to subscribe to the idea. If you open up a Fisher or a MacIntosh receiver from the 50's you won't see any of these fancy caps inside. Guess all those engineers were just stupid, eh?

As I have ranted many times, audiophiles today seem to have almost zero electronics background. I swear virtually none have ever opened a book. Yet they all claim to be able to hear differences in the sound. Unfortunately, they also always seem to be just too busy or simply unavailable for any blindfold, scientific test.

When you don't know anything the only thing you CAN talk about is how much something cost! After all, if it cost a lot of money it must be good, right?kkjuw

One of my favorite stories about audiophiles concerns a firm that used to be in Oakville, Ontario that made amplifiers and sold parts. They had lots of huge caps, often oil-filled. They also sold 12AX7 preamp tubes for $50 U$. The tube would come with a "testing certificate" that the audiophile customer could frame and hang behind his hifi installation. When his audiophile friends came to visit he could point the certificates out and beam proudly!

I sold some electronic parts to this firm in those days and they showed me one of their certificates. I would have been a poor salesman indeed if I had said anything negative at the time but when I was back in my vehicle and driving to my next call I used to chuckle for at least 10 miles.

You see, if you HAD some electronics education you would understand what all the test parameters on those certificates actually meant! There was nothing on them saying other than that it was a perfectly good 12AX7, the same as you could have bought from anybody else for about $10 at that time, like thetubestore.com here in Hamilton.

BS baffles brains, as they say! Especially when someone is selling something!

As a final note, nobody ever seems to consider why on earth you would want your guitar to sound like it was plugged into a superb HIGH FIDELITY amplifier anyway! An electric guitar amp is SUPPOSED to have distortion! That's what makes it sound like a guitar amp!

Who do you want to sound like? Rory Buchanan or Mantovani?

Wild Bill/Busen Amps


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Love that story Bill. Of course, not much has changed, they do pretty much the same thing today with Monster cable and gold plated audio plugs.


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## Guest (Feb 10, 2013)

love his other ad for guitar boxes.

.......Fender guitar cardboard shipping boxes in great condition,...a great solution 
if you have to ship a guitar or guitar case! $10.00 each, and I have 2 available. 
Pick-up for cash only, in Mississauga, by Square-1 plaza/the Paladium. Thanks for reading! 

View attachment 2321


i think someone mentioned this on another thread
that guitar shops are throwing away money if this
guy can sell shipping boxes for $10.


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## J-75 (Jul 29, 2010)

laristotle said:


> love his other ad for guitar boxes.
> 
> .......Fender guitar cardboard shipping boxes in great condition,...a great solution
> if you have to ship a guitar or guitar case! $10.00 each, and I have 2 available.
> ...


Yikes! I never knew it was the same guy with the boxes!
(I was the one that posted _that_ thread too.)


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Some very interesting and in depth info on capacitors; for those who want to wade through and expand their knowledge base on the physical and audible differences. 
http://wduk.worldomain.net/pdf/ClarityCap_Technical_Report.pdf
AUDIO MODIFICATIONS
http://www.hificritic.com/downloads/APassiveRole.pdf
Going the Extra Mile With Coupling Capacitors Article By Clive Meakins
Humble Homemade Hifi
Tech Info
My Capacitor comparisons: Mundorfs, VCap, Sonicap Platinum, Auricap, etc


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

I put these up for free on Craigslist to get rid of them....what a cheapskate.

BTW, fully agree with Wild Bill on the boutique caps....utter rubbish in the same league as $100.00 HDMI cables



laristotle said:


> love his other ad for guitar boxes.
> 
> .......Fender guitar cardboard shipping boxes in great condition,...a great solution
> if you have to ship a guitar or guitar case! $10.00 each, and I have 2 available.
> ...


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

I hear quite a difference among some capacitors, especially in coupling positions. I let players who commission amps come over and pick the ones they like, them not knowing which is which as I sub them in and out.
Some players have incredible ears, which I don't, but I do listen.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

I see people referring to higher priced caps as "boutique" which I believe is a realitively new buzz word as time goes. 
Caps of various quality, composition and tolerences have been produced for years. 
I would be curious to hear some reaction to the articles posted above.
Cheers, D


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

I read all the articles posted (not in their entirety) by loudtubeamps and wasn't surprised to find that in double-blind testing, recognition was around 70% between capacitors and about the same in preference for "better" capacitors. Vive la difference.


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

I do a lot of cap replacement in high end hi-fi gear. There is definitely differences among certain types of caps. However some of it borders on the ridiculous. Those caps for sale in the ad are very popular among the vintage hifi crowd. Speaking from experience I wouldn’t touch them. The k40 caps in particular have a high failure rate.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

That's good to know. I almost bought these on the recommendation of a supplier in the US for an older stereo amp that I'm rebuilding. Hopefully the new production ones I bought will be better. They certainly were more expensive and I know what you mean about ridiculous, especially the prices.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

I really would like to find out how much it actually costs to manufacture the most expensive caps! Sure , supply an demand and R&D but really
$300.00 - $400.000 a pop? What's that all about?


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