[sdiy] lowpass gate etc - the sounds of capacitors

[Peter Grenader]

That was me, about 3 years ago or close to. Flattered you remember.

Like anything else, polystyrenes will give you the most warmth, especially
for the .0047  But play around with others, even cheapo dipped disk
ceramics.  The thing with LPGs, the grit is fat, so you may just like it.
I've even used polyprop's for the .047's, but it wasn't worth the cost.

hope this helps,

- P

anthony wrote:

> I'm in the middle of making a dual lowpass gate like the Buchla 292C. I
> remember reading someone saying they'd made some each with different types
> of capacitors for different sounding filters. Before I finish them up and
> can listen for myself I was wondering just what different capacitors can be
> expected to sound like in different audio circuits. I think the impact of
> each different type might be different for the different uses for capacitors
> in audio circuits - like feedback networks or coupling caps or caps in a
> filter. In my circuits I'm using all polystyrene in one and a combo of
> polystyrene and silver/mica in the other. I had thought about using NP0's
> because I had this funny idea that they probably sound better than most any
> other ceramic. But then I decided that this was probably silliness and
> decided to not use any ceramics at all. Do ceramics really sound all that
> bad? I've never actually taking the time to compare the sounds of variosu
> capacitors. What would be the best kinds of circuits to use to test how
> capacitors sound? I've been wanting to make a headphone amp out of some
> medium-mu twin-triodes - maybe that'd be good.
> 
>