FYI: RS Guitarworks weekend sale

[AutoBat]

Sort of like paying with 4 quarters, or 10 dimes, or a plain ol' dollar.  they're all worth the same when you get to the cashier.

 

[Superlizard]

Which begs the question; a very simple question:

if caps are supposedly all the same, then why do manufacturers offer several different kinds?

This reminds me of an argument put forth by a member a long time ago whereupon it was
posited that essentially, all wood sounds the same between species... as well as
there's no way to determine the tone of your yet-to-be-purchased pickups in your
guitar; simply impossible (due to the above wood sounding the same.. wait, what? hah)

It's as if the guys whose tone was right (typical famous player) just stumbled upon the "magic formula" overnight;
no doubt whispered into their ear by some brimstone-smelling little rock n' roll demon.

I myself know what ceramic does to the treble; as well as mica for that matter... but I didn't have to sell my soul for tone.   :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

if caps are supposedly all the same, then why do manufacturers offer several different kinds?

I'm not sure how any of this begs the question, but I think I know what you mean.

Manufacturers produce capacitors in a variety of form factors and physical construction in response to the needs circuit designers create. Sometimes, you need physical strength, different working voltages or physical sizes, greater or less capacity, ease of installation or handling, temperature resistance, low cost, mounting arrangements, immunity to external interference... the list is long. Not only is it long, but it requires a variety of materials to accomplish and each has its own cost as well as other considerations and/or trade-offs.

The fundamental question is always "what capacity do you need, and at what working voltage?" Everything follows from there. The reason you ask about capacity is that's what's going to create the desired effect - you need a certain reactance in the circuit. You ask about working voltage because you need to know how strong the dielectric needs to be. Then, you get into all the mechanical and environmental issues. Where's it gonna live, how you gonna install it, how much abuse will it take, how hot is its house, on and on.

If you get into very high frequency situations, then packaging gets more critical. Incredibly small amounts of resistance and inductance will make a difference in how the thing performs. But at audio frequencies? Fuhgeddaboudit. They're so low, relatively speaking, you may as well be talking about DC. And in a guitar? Voltages are so low you need instrumentation to even know they exist.

This reminds me of an argument put forth by a member a long time ago whereupon it was posited that essentially, all wood sounds the same between species... as well as there's no way to determine the tone of your yet-to-be-purchased pickups in your guitar; simply impossible (due to the above wood sounding the same.. wait, what? hah)

I don't know why. Totally different subject. Do 8 cylinder engines remind you of peaches? <grin>

It's as if the guys whose tone was right (typical famous player) just stumbled upon the "magic formula" overnight; no doubt whispered into their ear by some brimstone-smelling little rock n' roll demon.

I'm fairly confident there were no demons involved. Although, fairies wear boots and you gotta believe it... Yeah, I saw it, I saw it with my own two eyes... <grin>

Seriously, you can't equate great player's abilities with their equipment. That's just a common fantasy many lesser players have.

I myself know what ceramic does to the treble; as well as mica for that matter... but I didn't have to sell my soul for tone.  :laughing7:

Of course not. All you had to do was suspend disbelief and accept horsefeathers on faith.