Cap for your tube amp

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Cap for your tube amp

Postby johnnyrocket » Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:27 pm

There is quite a selection of capacitors out there. PIO, aluminum, copper, silver. I've also seen a ton of the Russian caps listed on ebay, but not sure if I should trust those listings.

If you had to choose a coupling cap for your tube amp right now, which brand would you go with?
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Re: Cap for your tube amp

Postby Geek » Tue Nov 24, 2015 3:00 am

Panasonic ECW(F).
Available in production at Digikey or Mouser.
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Re: Cap for your tube amp

Postby azazello » Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:13 am

Russian coupling caps FT /ФТ/.
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Re: Cap for your tube amp

Postby tomlang » Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:22 am

Geek wrote:Panasonic ECW(F).
Available in production at Digikey or Mouser.


Without a doubt!
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Re: Cap for your tube amp

Postby DeathRex » Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:44 am

I have the Russian K42Y and the Panasonic ECWF. For paper in oil, I would get the Russian, for polypropylene, I would get the Panasonic ECWF. The Panasonics are a lot smaller than the Russians.
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Re: Cap for your tube amp

Postby johnnyrocket » Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:20 pm

I'm looking into those Panasonic caps. Thank you all for that suggestion.

In most circuits you might have 2 or 3 small value caps before you get to the main output coupling cap and its supporting electrolytic. Did I say that right?

So for those small value caps, .01uF and such, most of the time I see Wima's. Does it make much difference if these small value caps are ceramic, polyester or polypropylene? Are these new panasonic's a good fit in this area?
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Re: Cap for your tube amp

Postby DeathRex » Tue Nov 24, 2015 5:28 pm

johnnyrocket wrote:I'm looking into those Panasonic caps. Thank you all for that suggestion.

In most circuits you might have 2 or 3 small value caps before you get to the main output coupling cap and its supporting electrolytic. Did I say that right?

So for those small value caps, .01uF and such, most of the time I see Wima's. Does it make much difference if these small value caps are ceramic, polyester or polypropylene? Are these new panasonic's a good fit in this area?


You would have a electrolytic in the power supply for filtering, or they are used for bypassing cathode resistors for small signal or output tubes.
For almost all audio coupling caps I would use polypropylene over polyester, and absolutely not ceramic. Most Wimas I've seen are used for PCB installation, where the cap is installed in a red plastic box with short leads. The Panasonic cap has long leads and much more friendly to point to point installations.

http://conradhoffman.com/cap_measurements_100606.html
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