Do Paper-In-Oil Capacitors REALLY Sound "Better"..?? (vs. Ceramic, Orange Drop, Tropical Fish, etc)

(Comparison starts at 10:19)
Welcome to Perky's Analog Gear Demos. Please subscribe for more demos of vintage & rare effects pedals!
There's a question that has long-plagued internet guitar forums and nerds such as myself....do the posh capacitors that some companies put out ACTUALLY make a difference to how our guitars sound??
In guitar amps, the type of capacitor is incredibly important for the likes of coupling capacitors...the entire signal passes through them, so every subtlety of their sound is vital. I'm a big fan of Dr Z amps, and you'll often hear Z talking about how they use Jupiter caps because they're the closest thing in sound to the old Astrons, etc.
But in a guitar tone circuit, the theory goes that everything passing through the tone cap is dumped to ground...and so we never actually hear anything going through the cap; only what's left. Assuming that capacitors are exactly the same in terms of capacitance value, the 'type' of capacitor shouldn't matter whatsoever. And yet, because Gibson used paper-in-oil Bumblebees back in the late 1950s, various companies charge £30+ for a single reissue Bumblebee capacitor. eBay is littered with capacitors for 'tone upgrades' and many boutique guitars ship with expensive PIO caps as standard. Couldn't they save a few pounds and just put a ceramic cap worth a few pennies in...??
Today, I wanted to compare seven different tone caps...ranging from a £31.95 Luxe Bumblebee Reissue down to a multi-layered ceramic cap worth about 3 pence. Are there any differences? And if so, are they worth bothering about? Perhaps most importantly, are any differences worth spending 1000x more on a capacitor?
What do you think? Any differences? Which was your favourite cap? Would you buy a Luxe? Comment below!
This is the thread from mylespaul.com with details of the 'actual' internals of Gibson's Historic Spec Reissue Bumblebees: www.mylespaul.com/threads/his...
Guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Custom with Monty's PAF pickups recorded through a Dr Z Z-Wreck (Celestion AlNiCo Gold; Aston Spirit Condenser) and a Dr Z DB4 (Celestion AlNiCo Cream; '70s Sennheiser MD441and sE RNR1 ribbon) with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.
0:00 Intro
10:20 Playing Comparison
20:08 Outro
joeperkinsmusic
[e-mail]
Vector images by freepik.com

[@charlesshaw9090]

At last! A demo that clearly shows what electronics engineers have been saying for years; The audio does not go through a tone cap in a guitar so the type of cap used can have no effect on the sound, only the actual value can. Great demo.

[@Yarach]

can we all just give some respect to this person playing so incredibly consistent! Like a machine haha.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

That person offers their thanks :P

[@gibsondcxpl85]

Must have been very labor intensive to satisfy the curiosity of us tone geeks, thank you for all your efforts! Your summary is spot on, thanks for saving me time and money. I’ll leave my caps alone 😁

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

This one was hell to make :P

[@jeffmurdock8321]

@@JoePerkinsMusic I hope you were using alligator clamps to switch out all those caps and not buckets of solder. That would be murder on your poor pot. Plus all that lead exposure. (wink) Cheers, M8!

[@kirabarsmith9353]

You make these comparison videos look easy, Joe. Thanks for the interesting content you consistently produce.

[@kirabarsmith9353]

And learning there's little difference to my ears is still helpful information, it's a privilege to be able to make the judgement myself. Cheers!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Glad it was useful :-) Thanks for the kind words!

[@musicman9418]

I'm glad you mentioned what you noticed at wide open, and at the upper end. I heard it too. As you roll down, it gets much harder to hear any difference. Thanks for all the effort you put into this!

[@marksieber8140]

Thank you for the work you put into your videos. Kudos on your work of swapping components, playing, recording and the care you take in editing. The seamless final presentation belies the amount of effort you have clearly expended. Not to mention the cost outlay for the Bumble Bee! A couple of years ago I tried various types of caps in a 2016 modern Tele. I heard small differences but settled on the original .047 Orange Drop.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Thanks Mark - much appreciated :-) I'm hoping (if funds allow!) to upgrade my camera shortly, so I'm hoping the video quality will improve...haven't been so happy with the graininess of late!

[@mikeroadblock]

I agree, I look Up to you and your vids. Your attitude it the best! Thank you again for all the hard work. !!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

@@mikeroadblock Thanks Mike - appreciate that :-)

[@JohnPArgueta]

Wow dude. I didn’t really notice a difference until you mentioned it and I can’t believe I watched this whole thing. Kudos to you for modding all those Caps, keeping track and adding the text in the video. All that work and your delivery of information obliges me to Sub to you and hope YT sends you some 💰. I’m off to watch your Pots video. 🤘🏼

[@edwinengelbrecht3377]

Great review and tech explanation. I now have a better understanding of what the caps function is.

[@BryanSmith66]

Thanks for all your work here. Cheers!

[@megarouge61]

Wow Joe! What an incredible amount of work to go through for your viewers, I hope they all appreciated it as much as I did! Thanks.

[@cementheed]

Thanks! Great explanation at the beginning, nice comparison.

[@heavymetal11]

Yup, i saw 3 bumblebees flew away with someone 30£...they flew loud. This video is awesome! Subscribed!

[@JC-11111]

I'm still LMAO at all of the ppl paying that much for caps you can buy for 1/10 the price if you buy them from a non-guitar store.

[@hiseminencetheholymacdiarmada]

Prove it, post a link.

[@fernandosilva6295]

@@hiseminencetheholymacdiarmada my brother in christ go to your local electronics store

[@stephendixon8575]

Hey Joe, thank you so, so much for putting together - clearly a lot of time and hard work went into making such a comprehensive comparison. Having listened carefully (on high quality headphones) I agree that there are some subtle tone differences between capacitors, but none that either sounded significantly ‘better’ than another, or that couldn’t easily be adjusted/compensated for by the position of the tone pot or some other tweak. When you consider how hard you have to listen to discern differences, and how unlikely you’d even spot that under normal playing conditions (let alone at a gig!) it clearly emphasises that there are much better ways to spend your money or other things you can do to improve your tone than spending ridiculous money on capacitors used in this way (especially compared to coupling capacitors in other circuits). Sadly marketing b@locks will never the less convince people to part with unnecessary money for this purpose, but some people will spend more money than the time they put in to practising playing technique or understanding how to get the best out of the equipment they already have - just sayin’ ...! Thanks for exploding this myth 😉

[@astrogerard2022]

Completely agree. If Gibson don't see any reason not to put hidden cheaper caps into their Bumble Bee's than that says it all. Don't waste your time and money.

[@georgemiguez7595]

The signal we hear does not pass through the capacitor, yes, but that does not mean the kind of capacitor could have no influence. The way a tone control works is, a portion of the signal is diverted to pass through the capacitor and by doing so it is SUBTRACTED from the signal we hear, so, theoretically, a different kind of capacitor COULD make a difference on the signal we hear. (Trust me, I am an EE). What matters is how the impedance of the capacitor varies in the range of frequencies of interest (the ones we hear). Electrically, a real capacitor we can buy is not just a capacitor, it is a combination of capacitor, resistor, and inductor, depending on the materials being used and the way it is built. The resistor and inductor part is called "parasitic". We cannot get rid of them. Bottom line: trust your ears.

[@gerardcousineau3478]

Thank you Joe for your excellent demonstration. 👍

[@billgaber4282]

Oh, this is nerdy and I thank you for it! I agree that the differences are very subtle. I've always wondered and now I've heard . Perhaps upgrading to the top of the line is simply a matter of skipping Massive Pizzas twice to save the money and gain bragging rights. Pizza and orange dots sound good to me!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I never skip massive pizzas ;-) Haha

[@maxtwentynine5968]

I actually prefer ceramic caps in my Les paul they have more sting and are less dark compared to paper and oils

[@ramencurry6672]

I installed an orange drop cap on my budget mid priced guitar. I love it. It probably does not improve the sound but it’s peace of mind that the tolerance measurement is within 10% and looks gorgeous.

[@kianhendrick3794]

NIce video ! Thanks for this,find the right capacitor is so important to sculpt your tone !

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Absolutely :-) Playing around with caps can make a big difference and can(!) be a cheap mod to do!

[@stavrose1834]

Brill content, thanks Joe! This video cuts through endless forum debate.

[@emsbroek1]

Thans for sharing your results of comparing different kind of capacitors. I am agree with you, there is a small difference indeed. The thing is, the quality of a coupling capacitor shall be noticed better, when it's used in series in the signal path. So, you mentioned also the capacitor in a guitar tone control is connected to ground and leads the higher frequencies to the ground when the tone pot is pulled anti clockwise. I think the small differences in tone, Will lead to ground and that's why we don't hear a big difference. Used in an amp as coupler capasitor makes a much bigger difference! I did like it to see your investigation 👍

[@benmtz]

Interesting demo! Thanks

[@benjaminaristotleboes3157]

Lot of work went into the making of this..... Great job!!!!! The orange drop and tropical fish sounded best to me! Subtle difference but it's there....

[@samueljr.castro7110]

Thanks for the comparison. I use CDE Orange Drops a lot, and more recently the yellow colored Mallory caps, and I can highly recommend them.

[@strumminronin]

Thanks for the very thorough video! I knew my eyes would make me hear what I want to hear so I looked away from the screen, and only looked up when I liked the sound more. Funnily enough it was the grey tiger and orange drop that I found myself being drawn to! Looks like I need to give the very old school tech a whirl and see for myself!

[@TheNickLavender]

Joe, thanks so much for this video. I was looking for something like this! I had a hard time telling the difference and I was listing with Sennheiser headphones through an SMSL SP200 interface. I just bought an Epiphone 59 reissue with the USA-made pickups and it comes with "Mallory" capacitors. I'd like to see a comparison of those vs the bumblebee caps and others. I will probably replace the Mallorys to have the bumblebees in there. Great video!

[@mikeroadblock]

Feel and sound are the most important. Thank you! ✌🏽🎸❤️

[@rokstar1112]

Great video and appreciate the work it must have taken. Respectfully suggest that any of the variances in caps could easily be equalized with slight adjustments on the amp. I'm currently installing caps on a guitar and this video has certainly put me at ease in my choice of capacitor. Sincere thanks!

[@PeterJRadomski]

Excellent job. I appreciate the objective review. I see far too many videos that tell people what they think they want to hear.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yeah, you hopefully won't get much of that here...I just like to make noise! :P

[@gordonshumway8030]

Joe thank you so very much for doing in the'' heavy lifting'' for us, and putting out this ''essential'' video......that's essential for any one like many of us has been ever searching for the "tone.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I spend the money so you don't have to :P

[@Krullmatic]

I really liked the sound of the orange drop. It sounded like it had more umph. Especially dirty. That's the one I would go for! Nice video, my man! Rock on 🙏❤🤘😝🤘

[@stephengjohnson9833]

Nice work! Amazing detailed video. I really enjoyed. Russian and PIO Reissue were slightly more smooth and less muddy but it’s like trying to see the difference in anything the engine will do either on 87,88,89,92,93 octane petrol or gasoline in your 4 cylinder sedan. I’ve tried, only a slight slight torque difference to me, barely noticeable but there. Not worth the extra $$.

[@vincenzolatona5263]

Fuel has an octane rating 87, 88etc, your vehicles engine has a compression ratio. The higher the compression warrants higher octane. Please refer to your manufacturers owners manual. Those numbers aren’t there for show. Prolonged use of incorrect fuel will damage the motor. Use the correct fuel, be safe!✌🏻 back to the capacitors, they all sounded different. I kind of favored the orange drop over a PIO or vintage style. They all sounded great and each has their place.

[@Kraatzman]

I agree with your summation. Great video.

[@mattster693]

ive just recently re wired my friends guitar to 50s style wiring and i love it! but thats partly because it seems that the type of cap used has a greater impact on the tone, like some how the cap being soldered to the output rather than the input of the volume pot seems to send a tiny bit of low end to ground even with the tone knob maxed creating a brighter tone overall! i even re wired my bass this way and it was night and day! ill have to experiment with different types of caps to see if i notice anything

[@EM-km8em]

So you mean basically 50s wiring and cap soldered to output ? Also what type of capacitor did you use

[@davemahan1993]

This is interesting. I’ve always believed it’s solely about the actual value of the cap. I still do, but I can’t say there aren’t any other variables at play. It’s interesting that you note that you heard the difference when it was wide open. I can certainly hear that too, but that shouldn’t make sense. You could credit that to slight differences when you are playing, but you seem to be playing very consistently here. I didn’t notice much of a difference down the dial until the tone pot was on zero. That’s where I started to hear the ceramic cap sound more muffled (not just dark). Most of the other options seemed more articulate with the tone pot on zero (with and without dirt). I have had Russian paper in oil caps in my Les Paul for 5 or 6 years at this point. When I put them in I liked the idea that they might drift with age and temperature change. It made things seem a little interesting. I don’t know if it has really made much difference over time, but I’ve been happy and that’s what this is really all about.

[@jerryjaystone9444]

The best presentation ever on this!!

[@fredvankalsbeek3065]

Thanks for all the effort you put in your videos. If there is any difference, in a live situation with drums and bass etc. you wil never hear it.

[@XrisChan]

thanks for the comparisons . One thing to consider with the bumblebee is that its polarized. the ceramics are not. could the punch and clarity from the bumblebee derive from this affect on an ac signal?

[@diekatze1781]

👍👍👍👍👍!!!Thank you for creating this video. My favorite in all positions is Orange Drop!!! Has the fullest sound.

[@chrisblue1515]

The clarity is defiantly the clincher. The upper prices had a complete and smooth top end and as you said note separation.

[@gilmanoel]

Joe, a comparison between Tele saddles, compensated vs uncompensated would be nice. I love the channel! Cheers!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Would be quite tricky to do - my strings are v. asymmetrical, so compensated saddles are still a bit of a way off for me!

[@johndeer4250]

I wonder how much would the tone change when the circuit is cooking because of the different on mf values when the heat was applied with the hair dryer would it change or stay consistent on tone? and how much would it matter ?

[@chocomalk]

They all seem to have a tone curve but by no means is the price worth it on the higher end caps.

[@johnny5.090]

I could tell a difference with the nod Russian military caps. But I believe the capacitance was a bit higher. I mean I definitely wouldn’t spend anymore than that. It is good to experiment around tho 💯 great video 👍

[@GIBKEL]

Finally subscribed....well you kept coming up and you weren’t offensive and always helpful. I know what that sounded like but I’ve only recently discovered that some of this YT content is purposely offensive...and that’s a good thing? Apologies....I don’t get out much and I’m getting to an age! I have old gear, mostly by accident and damn if the amp doesn’t sound great somedays, like angels....other days .....like dog doo ...what was I thinking when I bought that! I suppose all that matching and measuring makes up the differences in boutique amps, testing and in wood consistency, especially in picking maple necks for all of these fender clones they are getting so great at making. I’ve played identical models/setups in guitars and ones a dog, the other a beauty Queen. Pays to purchase in person. I think that some of these mass sale outfits get the ‘dogs’ as when I’ve gone to the store, played it in person, and found that there can be great differences in the same exact guitar. I’ve purchased online. What I’m saying is I’ve bought 3 dogs and one beauty Queen. Love Dr.Z -he’s one of the few folks that tells you like it is.Old school for old boys and girls. Thank you 🙏 -love this subject. All I will say, and nothing to do with cost, age ....., scratch that...different folks have qualitative differences in hearing sensitivity. Internet explodes! That’s why and how a ‘Kill Them All” will never be made by 50 years getting together and learning there instruments at the same time as crafting a classic. And then there is differences at the way a ‘hotter’ signal interacts with all of these materials. I think that’s why there is a great consistency with how those old danelectro guitars, cheaply as they were made, sound great. They priced themselves right into consistent consistency. And the new ones, don’t sound all that different, all things being equal...that is. Your not mad...I heard it too. The answer to all of this is how the ‘feel’ interacts with your, yes your own individual experience. All of our hands are different along with our ears. We live in 3 dimensions with all of these molecules interacting. That’s why a well set up neck can ‘feel’ and make you play so differently. I bought a Waterloo acoustic....brand new because you could feel the difference in wood selection and care in the attention to their neck setups. I love those old Kalamazoo necks and Bill Collings ‘got’ what made them feel so great. That’s where Eastman guitars have leaped ahead of many of the big legacy brands....they give a crap with wood selection; they make fewer guitars albeit, but they pay attention to detail. That alchemy of hands and necks. I’ve never played such a cheap, yet expensive feeling and sounding guitar. I’ve got to say though, manufacturing has never been better. These company’s don’t have the luxury of using 200 year old wood out of the box, -that’s why a cheap Harmony or Kay can sound great, if well set up and a proper neck angle(they often punted on neck sets) as they were buying the same old wood stocks that hadn’t gone into furniture making yet. There are factories manufacturing guitars in China that rival and surpass identical models in the states. My Squier J Mascis guitar is case in point, as is everyone I’ve ever picked up through the years....and always off of the floor...they usually don’t hang them on the wall. They always feel and sound great. It’s one example, but there it is. It’s not a matter of money anymore; great guitars can be had at low price points. Now, if we only had a culture that could move the needle on musical evolvement like what happened from the 1930’s to the 1990’...less than 60 years to go from the Carter Family to Nevermind and a medium for common purpose-a common cultural reference for jumping off of. Everyone lives in a comfortable nook, taillor made algorithms where the same follows more of the same. No matter your taste in music, I grew up listening to the radio that would play the top 40 where musical differences were night and day between the hits. You would have Donna Summers, Heart, The Police and Fleetwood Mac all competing for the same feet. I’m won’t go into what I heard on a local Boston radio station on my Uber to the airport,, suffice it to say, that the sound of jets was a relief to my ears. Kids these days! ....it’s not their fault, it’s ours.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Thanks pal :-) Yep, I too get very annoyed with channels that rely on being controversial and clickbaity to maintain relevance, so I try to avoid that approach completely and just try to be vaguely interesting! :P All my comparison videos are always billed as exactly that...fair comparisons; rather than "A vs. B...Who WINS the GRUDGE MATCH?!? 🤬" etc. Those channels have their place - and their audience - but I try to do things differently here. Thanks for all the kind words...couldn't agree more! Cheaper guitars can definitely give posh brands a run for their money; and I think I'm definitely in the 'old school for old boys and girls' camp! :P

[@EricMakingWaves]

I usually show up to videos like this saying there's no difference... But this is like the 6th capacitor test video I've seen and every time the paper-in-oil caps come on I hear a pleasing change in the mid range. The brand doesn't seem to matter, but there is definitely a bit of that vintage mid-range honk that I hear even when listening blind. It's not like they cost much more, so I think it's a worthy mod.

[@JustRockMySoul]

2nd video i see from you, both of them excellent!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Thanks! 😃

[@scientistq6121]

What I heard was a very slight edge in the clarity on the bottom end in both the Bumblebee and Orange Drop over the others just with the tone at 0 and the distortion on, other than that, while "noticeable" the differences were too subtle to actually matter.

[@johnr7303]

Good content. Would the same about these different capacitors hold true for treble bleed circuits?

[@Erlingha]

I believe things like this are determined in long term enjoyment - if there is a noticable difference short term, that will only grow with time, even after forgetting all about it. Which would be difficult to prove of course. But after seeing this I know what I’ll get, (and it’s unfortunately not the cheap one).

[@tonyhao9344]

I've got guitars with most of those capacitors in them. My $12k Gibson CS R9 has the Gibson Bumble Bee's (pisser that they are cheapies with a BB shell). I have some Custom harnesses with Black Beauties and a bunch with Orange Drops, and various PIO caps, and pots etc.. With your comparison, in my head phones. I liked the Orange Drops and PIO caps best. Very subtle differences but some of the cheaper caps sounded more trashy at mid & lower tone knob levels to me. Well Done! Several years ago I used a bread board with a switch into my Gibson Les Paul Traditional, and a USA Fender Strat and tested a bunch of Orange Drops with different values. That made more of a difference as they went through several uF values. I did this when I was updating the Caps in a bunch of my guitars. I have to admit, I like the look of the bigger caps and that is part of the pimping out my guitars objective. Pickups make a lot bigger impact on tone and output, then there are amps and processing that makes bigger to huge differences and probably colours any minute cap difference?

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Value will make way more of a difference than construction type. But I agree that I much prefer the look of the vintage-style caps :-)

[@gnoogie]

Great vid. it's honestly so interesting: every time I research a comparison of guitar components like this, the verdict is always "there is probably a subtle difference and no one will hear it except you. it's marginal" Like yeah, it doesn't matter in isolation on it's own, but consider all the other areas where there are subtle differences and really think about how much those differences add up in the final iteration of the sound you get: fretboard material makes a subtle difference, string gauge/material makes a subtle difference, fret material makes a subtle difference, capacitors make a subtle difference, pot value makes a subtle difference, pickups make a subtle difference, microphone type makes a subtle difference, speaker makes a subtle difference, the preamp you're recording into makes a subtle difference, how its eqed, how you play, etc. It's endless. I really do think all these factors add up and become a massive difference in terms of how your guitar sounds on a recording. Like 30 bucks might be steep for a tiny little part, but at the same time 30 bucks isn't a lot of money. if you aren't going for the sound of that particular capacitor that's one thing, but if you're aiming for max clarity and glassy-ness, it seems worth the price of a single ubereats order for a lifelong upgrade.

[@juanvaldez5422]

I recently discovered the Emerson pots/ bumblebee Les Paul set . There is DEFINITELY a difference. In particular, the middle position came alive!

[@johnsieff2921]

A fool and his money are soon separated!

[@OhBHayes]

Great video! To my ears, the Orange Drop cap was slightly brighter. Please do one with Bournes pots 🙏🏼

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

That's what I herd

[@silviopimentel7247]

Great work 👌

[@davebarone506]

Point we'll taken........I used the Russian pio caps, in a vintage wiring scheme with taper pots, 490r ,498 t pickups in a studio , what a great tone o get. I think the vintage wiring makes a huge difference. Everyone should try it.

[@gustavodieckmann8838]

If I'm not wrong, the only way to 100% bypass the capacitor is using a no-load tone potentiometer. Regular pots with linear or audio taper still run a small resistance even when they are set to 10 (max). However, the resistance is so small and that is why the difference in the tone is so subtle when using different types or different measured values capacitors.

[@uribaranesguitarstudio]

Hi joe your video is amazing! Where is it possible to find the Russian PIO capacitors? Thanks!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Hi mate - just have a look on eBay, that's where I got mine. A few manufacturers carry them too: www.montysguitars.com/collections/department-of-component/products/nos-pio-russian-capacitors

[@el34glo59]

PIO sounds great. It's smooth with bite. Russian or reissue. Really strange way of putting it but that's why I always liked them. They aren't ear pearicing, but have bite when you need it. Wimas also sound great for the money imo. Always underrated are the Wima caps but can get pearicing. Not brighter, but harsher. Granted I'm really talking about hifi vintage tube amps. But still, even here, in that position, you can slightly hear the difference which is surprising. But it's subtle

[@sempercompellis]

anything going though that cap is being shunted right to ground- you don't hear a bit of it...

[@cberge8]

What type of tester did you use? Would be interesting to see how these all spec out with a good lcr at various frequencies. Some styles may vary quit a bit when tested at different frequencies.

[@kabepan01]

Great Sound WIMA

[@johnarney2003]

Great display Joe. I think the only guy that could hear a difference would be Eric Johnson. He’s the only one that I know which would come up with out of this world guitar paradigm sound differences. All these darn capacitors sound basically the same. Put on a ceramic .015 on the bridge and a orange drop .022 on the middle and neck pickups. Should fill the Strat sound bill with the added steel plate to the custom shop Texas special bridge. Along with the addition of the Dave Gilmour on/off switch. The combinations are never ending......

[@Old_Sailor85]

Definitely. I heard it. I noticed right away on the first run through (listening on VG headphones) the tone was different with the pots "wide open" on 10. With the tone pot on 6 they all sounded the same to my ears.

[@timmiddleton6514]

Please can you help. I play a Fender/Roland Strat and a Line 6 mostly all accoustic sounds. Yes i have a Les Paul and a number of other guitars Taylor and Takamene electro accoustics. Could you please advise me of the best capacitors/modifications for my guitars. Kind regards Tim

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Hi Tim - my knowledge of acoustic electronics is less than minimal I'm afraid, so I have zero idea what the 'right' capacitor might be for that. If you're looking to play around with caps, I'd 100% focus on value rather than type - much better to buy twenty 5-pence caps and experiment than be spending big money on a few. Though I'd only go into the world of capacitor mods if you're looking to change something specific about how the tone control works on your guitar(s) currently...if you're happy with them as they are and they work for you, the only reason to change would be general curiosity rather than 'improving' things, I'd say :-)

[@theampromancer757]

Very well done and interesting. I agree that the bumble bee had more clarity than the ceramic and wima but I didnt hear much difference between the bumble bee and the orange drop. It was very noticable in the final clip with the od. The luxe, Russian, and orange drop where noticably clearer and more articulate. The wima and ceramic and tropical fish all sounded muddy and packed definition in the low end.

[@Gr-Ra5]

The trick is to back off the tone control until you like it.

[@rokrowl_diy_dad9543]

Thank you for this videos

[@markkoher3468]

Hi Joe,... great video as always... question though... were the controls wired with Gibson 50's wiring or modern? If im not mistaken , and somebody correct me if i am,... lol Modern wiring puts the tone cap in parallel to the pickup and 50's wiring is more of a series thing ... I could be wrong on that but i gave it a good hard look once upon a time and i think im remembering correctly... but someone else may know better ?? Lol... sooo the wiring style along with the cap material may help make a bigger distinction between all those cap materials .... not sure for sure, someone please fact check me.... :-)

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Hey Mark :-) 50's wiring on this one. Like you, I'm not 100% of the specific 'electronic' differences between the two - in 50's wiring, the tone cap goes from the output of the volume pot to the input of the tone pot; whereas on modern it goes from the input of the volume pot (same lug the pickup is connected to) and to the output of the tone pot....so I think you're probably right that 50s wiring is more series, and modern is more parallel...but couldn't swear to it! All I know is that 50s wiring tends to hold onto more high-end when you roll the guitar's volume down!

[@martinmeinfreund1892]

very good job! actually thought that the bumblebee had the sweetest tone of position six, wonder if that´s reproducable, in the other positions of the tone knob I didn´t care about the differences, but listening through different speakers surely makes much more of a difference

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I'd agree with you...there's 'something' about the Bees that the theory says shouldn't be there! Some of it is probably confirmation bias...but I swear they're just a little bit clearer overall. But - not £32's worth of clarity! :P

[@martinmeinfreund1892]

@@JoePerkinsMusic well actually it is, maybe it´s just a bit of reactance the bumblebees are missing but at a price of two jumbo pizzas I´d definitely consider it as a downgrade because I usually play my rhythm parts on 6 to 7 volumewise and have the tone just a bit down too

[@KeithJCarberry1]

great video. there's absolutely no difference in any capacitor here that couldnt at least be accounted for by margin of error, varying is playing, and tolerance differences. this helped save me 30 bucks on a set of caps for a tele

[@pjoliver182]

Couldn't have said it better myself 👍🏼 I'll bet if Jo played the same riff 10 times and then asked us to guess which caps were which clips...no one could tell. In fact he could just use the 3p ceramic for all 10 clips and reveal that in another video 😂

[@Gr-Ra5]

Bingo. Biggest waste of time and effort in the guitar kingdom. Mostly done to assert "pro ears" mythology. Exposed best when the people raging about the $60 Gibson bumblebee reissues found out they had cheap film caps inside them.

[@JustRockMySoul]

in case anyone wants to try that: pretty sure i've seen a stewmac video where they attach a 5way toggle switch to a makeshift board with a selection of different capacitors. pretty convenient for a test or comparison. although i do assume that's what Joe did here as well.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I didn't use a switch for this - I soldered the relevant capacitors in for each segment (and let them cool before shooting to let the temperatures go down, so that didn't affect anything!), then stitched all the footage together . Shooting and editing this one took forever!! :P

[@JustRockMySoul]

@@JoePerkinsMusic haha, yeah I saw another video of yours where you mentioned that, after leaving my comment. maybe a cool idea for another project somewhere down the line. I know I'll definitely try it out one day for an easier live comparison.

[@jahriffn]

The OD or the GT are my faves but most of the changes I hear are subtle. Totally not worth spending more that a few bucks. We love to romanticize gear, I love bang for the buck. Your videos are so very very rad. Thank you again for another good time. Infinite love & gratitude from Colorado!

[@whoismichaelmoschos]

I would love to see a comparison between a .022, .015 & .010 caps of the same brand on neck pickup

[@BadMotivator66]

I’ve done a couple of swaps (on my channel) and found the ones I used nipped off a fizzy high end the guitars had. Call me crazy!

[@gyrospace2]

Great video.

[@Kraklinger]

Great video, the actual effect is unfortunately difficult to depict with PC boxes. When I hear my guitars through a tube amp, I think I feel more musicality with the Bumblebees, but also with the Russian caps. As always with a relatively expensive guitar, on which I always put the same strings because of the good feeling, I don't save the few euros for the caps. According to Pareto, the last percent of perfection is the hardest to achieve and that's where we leave no stone unturned, right?

[@AskingForAFriend]

It’s a very hard choice between the bumblebee and the orange drop. I wonder if you mixed and matched what it would sound like?

[@JasonClute]

I also noticed more of a difference with tone on 10. The way a pickup, volume, & tone interact form a LCR circuit. So even with tone and volume on 10, those pots & capacitor are changing the resonant peak of the pickup. So the difference in capacitance might explain it. But also, different capacitor types may measure different capacitances at different frequencies. The way multimeters measure capacitance usually don’t take frequency into account like dedicated LCR meters do. Since the guitar even clean with a open chord is pretty complex with frequencies, the value of the cap at say higher frequencies could be different and this will interact with pup and pots differently which changed that resonance. This is about the extent I can explain it. The theory and math can get complicated and I just grasp some of it. Enjoyed the video!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Very interesting stuff - thanks for the info! :-)

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

@@e.thorsen1937 From the first 2 seconds, I get the impression that guy knows what he's talking about ;-) haha

[@JasonClute]

@@e.thorsen1937 that video he is really comparing using electrolytic caps, versus other cap types in the audio signal path. So yes, those are going to sound different due to the nature of their construction. Most electrolytic caps are polarized, meaning you typically use them with respect to the polarity of whats applied. In the case of ac signals (which is what audio signals are) polarity changes. You normally see electrolytic caps in power supply circuits that help filter rectified ac to a nice smooth dc. In a guitar tube amp, there are usually several of these in the rectifier part of the amp that is providing the dc voltage that powers the tubes. So, not really a good argument for saying some caps sound different as that is not a type of cap you would ever use in the signal path. In Joe’s video he is using different types but none of them are electrolytic. They are all caps that can be used in the signal path. Speaking of signal path, in Joe’s video, its important to note that the signal we hear through his amp is not being passed through the tone cap such as coupling of blocking caps in an audio amplifier or pedal. Even when you turn the tone or volume down, none of the signal that goes to the output jack, is passed through that cap. The tone cap is directing certain frequencies to ground. How much is based on position of the tone pot. However it’s a little more complicated because the tone cap is in series with the tone pot (depending on where the tone pot is set to) and these 2 components are in parallel with the pickup. That is why even when you have the tone or volume pot all the way up, they are still effecting the signal because they are providing a load that the pickup always sees. So the main pickup output does not pass through the tone cap and pot, but there will be a small of current that will go through this branch parallel part of the circuit which will interact with how the frequencies of the output will sound. All this is a long complicated way to say, that yes different tone cap types even is same value (roughly) could sound different because of this complex nature of how things interact. In Joe’s video, I would still say most is due to the fact that we don’t know the real cap values. Measuring capacitance with accuracy is particularly difficult. Even the leads to that multimeter will influence the values due to parasitic capacitance. Also as Joe pointed out, its difficult to play the same thing exactly the same. Plus, how long after the new pot was changed out did he record. Heat from the soldering, could influence the caps. Ultimately I do think there will be minor differences in a cap that uses paper and oil as a dialectic versus polypropylene with capacitance staying the same. Not sure if we could hear those differences.

[@JasonClute]

Haven't watched the other video Mr Carlson's lab, but I love that guy. He most definitely knows what he is talking about!

[@JasonClute]

@@e.thorsen1937 This is interesting. I have always wondered why guitars are unbalanced. I'll read this later and get into it more and see if I can provide some insight. I think the first issue that comes to mind and simpler than using an isolation transformer, is just to use 3 conductor cables. 2 conductors to carry the audio signal and 1 as a shield. If the shield is only connected at one end, it would provide really good noise immunity and not create an ground loops that would induce 50 or 60 cycle hum. Ideally the cable should be coxial which does complicate its construction. But for long runs from guitar, pedalboard to amp with effects loop using 4cm, it would quiet things done considerably in theory. Guitar and pedals are very weird things because some of things that are still industry standard are kind of well...backwards. They are just things that started that way many years ago and once the industry standardized it was hard to change.

[@MarceloAllendeMusic]

Hi! Joe, how are you? Does the voltage makes any difference? I'm looking for a Sprague Film/Foil Capacitor 0.22 600dc, but can only find in 200dc. Would it change anything? Thank you!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Hi Marcelo - I'm sure somebody might have a different opinion here, but I think the only real difference between capacitor voltages in an electric guitar context is the physical size. The capacitance is all that really matters. Higher voltage caps are more suited to amplifiers etc where higher voltages are found - but so long as the capacitance is the same, the tonal differences between 200v and 600v caps in a guitar tone circuit will be the same. I'm sure somebody with deep physics knowledge might say there'll be some tiny difference somewhere, but overall, you're fine to use caps of any voltage in a guitar :-)

[@MarceloAllendeMusic]

@@JoePerkinsMusic Thank you so much Joe! I could only find Sprague 192P 5% in 200v. I will buy it then. Great comparison video! Thanks again. Cheers!

[@spl1011]

Wonder what the leakage and voltage rating differences are. More importantly leakage and ESR all impact how a cap can perform in AC environments. Some dielectric materials are better than others for those characteristics.

[@tjsogmc]

Thank you! The ESR leakage and the voltage rating and tolerance will affect the outcome more than the brand. The only fair way to make the comparison is to get caps of all the same specs across the board, and do the test blind- ears only. I guarantee nobody will hear any difference at all.

[@orbitaljellyfish808]

Money For Nothing tone (other than the cocked wah eq) is due to the OG 59 burst PAF centralab and bumblebee goodness. It all matters. Just like engine parts and adding horsepower. So comparing just one thing also matters but is harder to showcase because it’s not synergizing. Great content thanks👏👏

[@eveningcharlatans9743]

If you close your eyes you can't tell what is what. The ONLY thing that matters here is the value.

[@looking_33]

That guitar was a gibson historic reissue from 1980. So, you're full of Sh$t!!!

[@mattrogers1946]

Mark recorded that song on a reissue 59 Les Paul, not a vintage Les Paul.

[@BlitzkriegGT]

i had some issues trying to listen the difference but was a nice way to example all the capacitors im a little disapointed not with your video but with my guitars from cheap to a little more expensive the factories install the same ceramic capacitor poliéster, 2A, 473J, CL11, 0.047UF, 100V, 47NF

[@JaySilva88]

For anyone upgrading their electronics, the money is better spend on good quality pickups.

[@gerardcousineau3478]

Yep better caps & better pickups. 🙂

[@AndreaAustoni]

@@gerardcousineau3478 Better caps in a guitar circuit doesn't make any sense. Read up on electronics before you waste your money.

[@qua7771]

The two aren't mutually exclusive. It's possible to select a pickup, and capacitor. Implying that you can only change one or the other is a fallacy. The cap is probably the cheapest part of a guitar.

[@HumanoidFX]

What about good quality pickups AND other vintage upgrades

[@patrickderp1044]

what made you settle on the pickups that you now use? because tone position zero is very stinky i like it

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Aha, I'm actually running different p'ups in this guitar nowadays! I generally stick to different flavours of PAFs in Gibson-style guitars - these Monty's sounded great but I wanted a tiny bit more power & weight, so I've now got the OX4 Hot Duanes in it instead :-)

[@flatsix666]

I've too climbed the highest tree to take a dive into this rabbit hole! lol K40Y-9 for me in the .022 & .015. Coiled guitar cable & quality buffer after drive pedals to just fine tune :):):)

[@FloridaManMatty]

It’s nice to see I’m not the only person who can hear the difference between straight and coiled cables! All of that extra length adds up. People like to say it’s a ridiculous claim because no one can hear that few percent difference (or however we choose to quantify these things). But 2% here and 3% there starts to add up as set ups get larger and more complicated. I WISH I could have the sort of amp that is awesome enough to just plug straight into, but Bludotone and Trainwreck ain’t exactly cheap... Plus there’s just too much fun to be had and too much time to waste “chasing tone” by arguing online instead of actually playing 😁

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

There might only be a 1% difference between all these caps; but there might be the same between strings, speakers, tubes, cables, pots, pickups, etc. So all those tiny differences all add up - especially into nice amps! I used two Dr Z amps for this video, and you can definitely hear any subtleties through those! (the Dr Z Z-Wreck was designed with Ken Fischer, who did the Trainwrecks!)

[@JohnShalamskas]

Coiled cable is a more effective antenna for radio and electromagnetic noise (and hum) signals, it's got more inductance for a given length. You probably need a longer length of coiled cable to reach the same distance as a straight cable, so there's going to be a higher distributed capacitance between shield and center conductor, which causes more rolloff of high frequencies, just like cranking in more tone knob on the guitar would. But if you like coiled cable, and you don't have issues with hum and other noise, or excessive high end rolloff, go for it!

[@spiraldrop4897]

I just installed K40Y-9 0,033uF in my PRS Custom 24 SE 2017 and at first the sound was wow. Playing is more enjoable, clean is sparkly on my Triamp mk2, crunch has more edge... but high gain was ruined (too loud hum). After recording session it seems that capacitor simply increased 3-4 db stronger signal which made guitar lively, but not in high gain... how to compensate this volume increase?

[@JohnShalamskas]

@@spiraldrop4897 Hum could be the result of a cold or dirty solder joint in the audio path. Rewarming the soldered connections and possibly adding a little bit of fresh solder once the joint is heated up could fix it. Clean and tin the tip of the iron, heat up the joint, and then apply solder to the joint and not the iron. It's important that the solder is applied to the joint and NOT the soldering iron. If the joint isn't hot enough to melt the solder, then dripping hot solder onto it will make a cold solder joint and lead to things like intermittent connection, noise, and even act like a crystal radio detector (diode) in some cases.

[@gsbguitarsgsb679]

I’ve been using orange drops for several years now with no complaints. Not all my guitars have O D s but the majority of em do.

[@jetshadowcrow]

I am most surprised on the NOS Russian than anything. And am now on the hunt to see what they sound like with my Seymour Duncan Dimebucker.

[@DoctorBastardo]

Confession. I watch on a 24inch monitor and youtubes usually play with the top 10% of the screen missing unless I scroll which I often forget. When it got to the music bit it was the "Orange dot" text that alerted me to part of the screen being missing. Therefore I did not see the caps name in the top right corner for the 1st "riffs". Instead I counted assuming you were keeping it secret doh. In other words I listened subjectively without bias, the first time round. When I realised I skipped back and listened again with the names visible. In all the tests , to my ears, the Russian one sounded the nicest. Admittedly thems ears with 4/5 decades of loud music abuse. (Or fine tuning!) I am listening through an Asus ST "audiohile" sound card into a vintage Brit built Citronic PPX450 PA amp powering B&W DM603S3 monitors at nearfield. Gonna go to outro now and see if you agree, yes the difference is noticeable but I was surprised by which sounded the best. Nerd-tastic. Thanks :O)

[@DoctorBastardo]

PS I was judging on clarity and if the sound pleased my ears.

[@thebeaner687]

Just by listening to your video I liked the ceramic capacitor, the polyester and polypropylene had a bit of background hiss and the foil sounded completely clear and transparent. I think the ceramic just sounds good, but most audiophiles use metal foil for stereo receivers, but guitar guys are weird. I’m weird

[@walterrizotto8668]

"the polyester and polypropylene had a bit of background hiss": It's just your imagination.

[@RdamplificationUk1]

Yep. As an engineer ...an amp builder... and guitar builder... I can confidently say the material that the tone cap is made from MAKES NO DIFFERENCE to your tone, since the hot audio signal does not pass through it. Just value of your tone pot + capacitor value have effect. Of course... you may choose a better grade capacitor because they are simply made better. They may also look better or be more in keeping with maybe the retro 'vibe' of your guitar.... or if its a vintage guitar it might be in keeping to install a vintage style cap. These things are valid considerations and may inspire you somehow to play better. But they will not have any impact on your actual tone or affect the response of your pickups. A better quality guitar cable would have much more impact.

[@jeffmurdock8321]

Yeah, if I had a vintage guitar I loved and had to mess with the wiring, I'd want to keep it period correct, mostly for the vibe. Otherwise, I'd go with a few dollar cap and not even touch oil & paper.

[@hiseminencetheholymacdiarmada]

8:44 I ordered some Emerson bumblebees, when I received them I tested them as I test all electronic components I buy. The .022uF tested at .022uF and .023uF however, the .015uF tested at .018uF and .019uF. Checking the specs on Emerson’s website I found that their tolerance is +/- 10%. That being said, a .015uF should fall between .0135uF and .0165uF.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yep, that's right...it's possible that your multimeter is calibrated differently to theirs, and temperature increases do raise the capacitance, so it's possible you're somewhere hotter than where they were manufactured. You likely won't hear too much difference overall, but it might be worth dropping them a line if it's something you're unhappy with.

[@tombez3638]

Nice comparison, difference is there definitely but is it worth it ? well every taste got different price imo.

[@alexandruc.5128]

There are slight differences, but I would chalk those down to the percentage of tolerance between specified value and actual measured value. Which is funny because while looking for parts recently I found that these "audiophile" caps usually have the highest tolerances, aka the least accuracy.

[@DamonMedekMusic]

I'm not a big fan of old school capacitors. My favorite was the orange drop. Felt very even while the vintage rolled off too much highs and the mullard was too bright. Great demo thanks.

[@antonioj4746]

I do find slightly differences in clarity and highs , but you can get the same changes just by using your guitar and amp pots. In fact, hearing this secuence of different caps tones is like hearing myself subtly - and in an obssesive way, ja,ja - tweaking my amp to get the "right tone"...

[@georg.camerone56]

I have 12-string electric I built with a tiny 0.002 ex-soviet on a 2-way switch to tame things without losing anything but super high end. No tone pot and 500K volume with 1 pickup - 'bucker - in bridge.

[@tjsogmc]

I restore old radios as well as play the bass. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the tolerance of those vintage capacitors back when they were new were +/- 20 to 40%. Generally speaking, a cap in a critical circuit would be silver mica, everything else was wax paper/oil in paper and as long as it "capacitated" to some degree, then it was considered to be in spec. They are just little filters after all. You're totally fooling yourself if you thing a boutique capacitor is fundamentally better than a 3 cent bin part.

[@Shadowban69]

the difference is so slight, it really is pointless to swap them. thanks MAN!

[@cerijohnedwards]

Brilliant demo. So, the ceramic sound cheaper, a bit muddier? but the differences are VERY subtle. I am not surprised that there are differences with the tone wide open - as you say it should NOT be any different BUT the capacitor is still acting on the circuit even with the tone ciontrol fully open. The differences therefore will be with capacitor value and tolerences. Assuming values are the same and assuming tolerences typically of + - 10% then a .022 cap could be .024 and the next could be .019 so a subtle difference. ALSO, and this is the point you could pay 50p for a capacitor thats going in a £2,000 Les Paul (such as yours) for life OR pay £60 for a pair that are going in for life? I know many perople who spend £30 on a pickguard cos its more authentic than the exact same plastic the can get from China for £2. IN THE GRAND SCALE OF THINGS GET THE ONES THAT SPEAK TO YOU AND IF THATS THE £30 ITEM ITS OK - Have been building guitars for over 45 years there are far more obviouse ways of loosing a lot more money on snake oil. ( Authentic aged plastic parts spring to mind. GREAT REVIEW.

[@davebarone506]

And where'd you get that awsome mega lava lamp?

[@patrickderp1044]

more experiments. fat wires, thin wires, copper wires, aluminum wires. this video went the extra mile thank you for making it

[@darwinsaye]

Great job of myth-busting!!