All Ceramic Caps for Mods and Fuzz Build

Total noob here. I get a bit, but not too much. Big respect for you guys who can figure out your own mods. I'm not there. I'm what you call a "swaptronics" guy. I have just ordered some supplies and have three projects in mind:

SD1 -> OCD mod

Danelectro Mod - replace 2 leds with caps.

One Knob Fuzz Build


All I have is ceramic and electrolytic caps. I plan on getting some kind of film caps eventually but is it ok to do any of these mods/builds with just ceramic caps?

not in my universe!

use them all you want if you don't care about the sound quality

I guess if I were playing "would you rather" between ceramic and electrolytic I'd go with electrolytic

Got a grab bag of caps from Futurlec. Hope they're ok.

Now just gonna try to get some metal film resistors. I'd like to find a nice grab bag of them as well. I know they're not always necessary, but why mess around for something that is so cheap?

Got a grab bag of caps from Futurlec. Hope they're ok.

Now just gonna try to get some metal film resistors. I'd like to find a nice grab bag of them as well. I know they're not always necessary, but why mess around for something that is so cheap?

Exactly! You'll hear earfulls of controversy over the "sound of caps" but they do affect sound quality. Open up a good modulation or delay pedal and you'll find no ceramic caps... When I have a pile of old mojo ceramics I want to use I'll build a lofi fuzz pedal. Anything else is film or poly.

Some mods are nothing more than changing low quality capacitors to capacitors of a higher quality.IMHO they often "overshoot" and sell capacitors that are unnecessary expensive
Building the One Knob Fuzz using ceramic capacitors (except for the two electrolytic ones) shouldn´t pose any problems .

Ah, the age old capacitor debate. Ceramic capacitors will work just fine, just like the cheapo greenies from Radio Shack. Don't let anyone tell you differently. The signals are so small that there is a negligible difference between the various types. Terry Downs proved that.

Electrolytics are used because they can be much larger in capacitance, and they are cheap. Tantalums could be used as well, but they are pricey. The whole "mojo" thing is not about quality of sound, it is about cheap parts. MXR bought really cheap pots and caps by the box full when they started out. So did Leo Fender. LM308 ICs work great for Rat distortion because they have a horrible slew rate that makes them useless for anything else. Bottom line, just because they are cheap doesn't mean they won't work.

I've done the SD-1> OCD a couple of times and would recommend ceramic for the pf range, electrolytic for 1uf and above, and film for in between (.022, .047, etc). Pay close attention to the size of the leads. It's easy to damage the PCB trying to cram a thick lead through a small hole.

Ceramic caps are nasty. They leave little dropping of nast wherever they travel.

In an article (Audio Magazine, 1980) by Walter Jung and Richard Marsh, it is said: "One thing seems quite clear, however, and that is the simple fact that you cannot "work around" the distortion problem in ceramics. Our feeling is that they should simply be avoided anywhere near an audio signal path and probably just avoided altogether for audio."

They add distortion. Plain and simple. People that like them simply like the type of distortion they provide. Good for them! (It ain't for me!)

ive found that for something like a fuzzrite, or a fy-2-
you know, nasty sounding fuzzes, ceramic caps add some sizzle,
some raspiness to the sound.
i call that a good thing in those circuits.
ive tried all kinds of caps in the fuzzrite, and big old ceramics are my choice.

i tried some in a one knob fuzz, but prefered its sound with poly caps.
smoother it seemed to me.

ive found ceramic in/out caps on a rangemaster to be pleasing as well-
bit more sizzle and bite to it.
but in a rangemaster, its not necessarily better, just different.

Capacitor composition makes an audible difference, but not greatly at low voltages. I've seen the bench data.

Ceramic is the most "different," but there's no discernible difference between various types of plastic caps in a 9V stomp. Much bubba lore on this is due to the actual values being different between the original and "upgraded" caps. In a 10% tolerance cap, that means that there's a possible 20% difference between any two.

If there's an actual overlap in values with a nonpolarized plastic cap and an electrolytic (there usually isn't), go nonpolarized.

One of the major "upgrades" in microphone circuits is replacing 1mFd electrolytics with 1mFd mylars if you can find ones small enough to fit in the housing.