Sozo's in a guitar

joshwilson3 · Post by **joshwilson3** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:24 am

Most tone pots in guitars use a .02 cap. I was wondering if you could put a Sozo .022 cap on the tone pot of a guitar? I know Sozo caps are rated at 400V, and I don't know what volts the caps are rated at that are used on the tone pot of guitars.

What do you guys think of this? I just figured, hell if you're gonna put them in your amp, you might as well put them in your guitar.

???

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:36 am

get out your soldering iron and let your ears tell you - cant hurt anything

joshwilson3 · Post by **joshwilson3** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:42 am

rockstah wrote:get out your soldering iron and let your ears tell you - cant hurt anything

Well, I don't have any. I just wanted to see if it could work before I bought some.

Are Sozo caps considered ceramic disks, metal films, or electrolytics?

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:44 am

ah hah!

saborthw · Post by **saborthw** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:43 am

SOZo's should work, many Guitar manufacturers use this these values

Ernie ball Axis Sport uses these values .22 400V this is also what was used in vintage Les Pauls. a more traditional choice may be Sprague Black Beauties or a Sprague Vitamin Q cap.
Allparts sells a Bumblebee reissue for around $ 60.00

I agree that your ears should tell you if a SoZo is right for your Guitar

Regards,

Scott

joshwilson3 · Post by **joshwilson3** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:14 am

saborthw wrote:SOZo's should work, many Guitar manufacturers use this these values

Ernie ball Axis Sport uses these values .22 400V this is also what was used in vintage Les Pauls. a more traditional choice may be Sprague Black Beauties or a Sprague Vitamin Q cap.
Allparts sells a Bumblebee reissue for around $ 60.00

I agree that your ears should tell you if a SoZo is right for your Guitar

Regards,

Scott

So, the caps they use on the tone pots in guitars are rated at 400V?

I just figured a Sozo cap would sound better than a cheap ceramic disc that has +/- 20% tolerance.

I just figured since everyone raves about the Sozos in their amps, then they should sound pretty good in the guitar.

So, if I went with Sozo, do you think it would be better to go with the "new" one or the "old" one?

I believe the common tone pot value for humbuckers is .02, right?

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:00 am

Yeah, .022uF.

I tried some SoZos in my guitars, and yes they sound much better than stock. But I didn't think they sounded as good as the Auricaps I'm using now, or even Mallories in that application -- I decided maybe they needed to push some juice to get kicking and sound their best. Maybe John has some comments on this application he could contribute? (At the very least, think of the break in time on a guitar, 100 hours in an amp = how many at guitar voltage/current levels?)

BrianH · Post by **BrianH** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:12 am

I found Sozos in a guitar were very muffled sounding. I have a # of generic tubular mylar caps that I use which sound better to me.

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:18 pm

Yeah I tried sozos and orange drops in my les paul before getting a hold of some sprague black beauties and I thought the orange drops sounded better than the sozos for the application.

sub · Post by **sub** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:42 pm

i read: (subject: tone cap)
SOZO: The only one alternative capacitor for Bumble Bee
I don't know.......i haven't Sozos
I tried Mallorys 150 then Orange Drops 716 (everybody said OD better)
........Hmmmmmm OD not bad, but i like better Mallory caps
and if Mallory better (like OD).......

I WANT SOZO caps

Sub

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:43 pm

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:56 pm

Flames, I was thinking about what you said about the break in time using Sozo caps in a guitar. Would breaking them in in an amp work or would the different voltages be incompatable? Interesting idea though.

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:07 pm

Necrovore wrote:Flames, I was thinking about what you said about the break in time using Sozo caps in a guitar. Would breaking them in in an amp work or would the different voltages be incompatable? Interesting idea though.

wow break in time for caps in a guitar?
seems like you could break them in faster if you just hooked a 9volt batter up to them and let em cook for a bit

sub · Post by **sub** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:08 pm

Necrovore wrote:Flames, I was thinking about what you said about the break in time using Sozo caps in a guitar. Would breaking them in in an amp work or would the different voltages be incompatable? Interesting idea though.

Good idea!

Sub

joshwilson3 · Post by **joshwilson3** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:32 pm

So, is the consensus that Sozo's don't sound as good in the guitar? I may have to try out one of those vintage one. Do you guys think that since it is rated at 400V, is why they don't sound as good? I don't think the voltage has to be that high. ???

What else do you guys recommend?