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Note: The following list of capacitors contain both high and low voltage for use in amplifiers and guitars. In general, bass guitars do not need high voltage capacitors and, while they will work in your bass, they're not necessary. For example, typical caps you'll see listed online for guitars are in the 630 volt range and are most likely being listed at a much higher charge money wise. The 100 volt series are all that you need for your bass or guitar even though high voltage caps were used in "the old days". You may have to use the high voltage capacitors if you're looking for a certain "vintage tone" because they used what was available back then, not because of choice. |
 | Black Bee Oil-Paper Capacitors - Taihan
• .022µF 1500 volt capacitor and 047µF 600 volt capacitor
• For vintage look and tone at about 1/2 the price of Vitamin Q capacitors. |
 | Black Ice Overdrive - Mini passive bass guitar overdrive circuit.
• Use with high-output (10K ohms or more) single-coil or humbucking pickups and a 250K control pot. Not for use in active pickup systems. |
 | Mallory 150 High Voltage Capacitors
• High Accuracy: ±5%, Tubular metalized polyester construction
• Wide Operating Temperature Range: -55°C to +125°C • Non-Inductive, Self Healing |
 | Metallised Polyester Film 100v Capacitors
I am eliminating these due to the suppliers NEVER sending what I have ordered~! Some of you have ordered these from me and I have sent them to you along with a better solution due to the supplier sending a unit that has very short wire ends, which are intended for a board. If you were looking for these and arrived from a search engine, here is why you can no longer access the page; I redirected that page to this note, which will self-destruct in about a year. |
 | Mylar Low Voltage Capacitors - 100v
• Stable Accuracy: ±10%. Inexpensive Mylar Capacitor
• Wide Operating Temperature Range: -40°C to +85°C
• Dielectric Withstand: 1.5x Rated Voltage |
MicrofaradThe microfarad (symbolized µF) is a unit of capacitance, equivalent to 0.000001 (10 to the -6th power) farad. The microfarad is a moderate unit of capacitance. In utility alternating-current ( AC ) and audio-frequency ( AF ) circuits, capacitors with values on the order of 1 µF or more are common. At radio frequencies ( RF ), a smaller unit, the picofarad (pF), is often used. This unit is equal to 0.000001 (10-6) µF.
In RF scenarios, capacitances range from about 1 pF to 1,000 pF in tuned circuits, and from about 0.001 µF to 0.1 µF for blocking and bypassing. At audio frequencies (AF), capacitances range from about 0.1 µF to 100 µF. In power-supply filters, capacitances can be as high as 10,000 µF.
Articles & Discussions
• Understanding Guitar Wiring - Stewart-MacDonald's Electronics Info
• What is a capacitor and how does it work?
• Sprague Orange Drop Capacitors - Worth it? - TalkBass Discussion
Is there any real reason to replace stock capacitors with Orange Drop caps or is it just hearsay?
• Sprague Orange Drop - 600V or 200V - The Gear Page Discussion
The voltage rating will not affect the primary capitance value, but it does affect the construction, which in turn affects all the second order elements that make caps sound different, IOW all the values shown
in this basic capacitor model below. So a 600V cap may sound different than a 200V cap for that reason, or it may be insignificant. You just have to listen.
• Ceramic disk Tone Caps vs. Sprague Orange drop tone caps
In a passive tone-cut circuit in a guitar, there will be absolutely zero perceptible sonic advantage to using an Orange Drop over the ten-cent green mylar caps that come OEM in everything.

• CAPACITOR VOODOO - Jack Hoagland
As of February 2011 it appears that link no longer is available, but alas poor tulip, I had absconded with it for that very reason a few years ago, so now you can read that article here
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