Mojotone Capacitor Shootout

[jonesy]

I made some videos with the same P-90 equipped guitar and amp settings and just swapped out 4 different capacitors from Mojo Supply. See what you think, I am interested to hear your comments on these different types and values of capacitors.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rURr53PGOl8]Mojo Dijon .022 Poly Pro Film P 90 50's wiring - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyZvQKrdZZM]Mojo Dijon .047 Poly Pro Film Cap P-90 50's wiring.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Roz8GnXT9c]Dog ear P-90 with 50's wiring & MOJO .022 Vitamin T Capacitor.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJ6bBqq63Y]Sheptone P-90 .047 MOJO Vitamin T paper in oil Capacitor.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

 

[GBLEV]

Jonsey this is actually a tough one to choose, because I herd different qualities in all of them that I liked. If I only had one to choose though, I would probably go with the .022 PIO vitamin T. I liked it's overall tone the best. But I really liked how the .022 Poly Pro Film sounded when rolled down all the way. I was also digging the .047 Poly Pro Film. I haven't herd many clips of film caps, and I have to say they are quite pleasing to the tone pallette. Nice comparison video's and good playing BTW.

 

[jonesy]

I agree, they all have slightly different Tonal qualities. The .022 Vitamin T pio was one of my favorites as well, but I also liked the Mojo Dijon .047 poly film as it added some nice thick mids. Thanks for taking time to check out the vids and I do appreciate your input.

 

[5F6-A]

in that guitar I liked the 22 PIO the best, without a doubt.

 

[thinkgreen]

i liked all of them to me the dijon .022 i like from tone 4 and up, below 4 i thought it sounded closed in a little. the vit q .022 below 5 i really like it but above 5 i sounded to open to me. so for me put both these together and they be perfect. i wasn't so keen on the dijon .047 not sure why just think the others sounded better. but my fav has to be the vit q 0.47 to me it wasn't better than the others, but sounded nice and even across all the tone settings.

thanks for doing them clips, it gives us an insight in to the differences we can expect from using different caps.

 

[jonesy]

Thanks for commenting!

 

[Mookakian]

When i get a chance ill have a listen, thanks for the clips Jonesy I have some mojotone caps on the way too

 

[jonesy]

Your welcome Mook, let me know what you think of the different caps after you have had time to listen to these vids. Always nice to hear your comments

 

[Phildog]

Wow, if I had to choose one, it'd be the Sheptones with the .047 Vitamin T PIO's. To me, that tone appealed to me the MOST. Don't get me wrong Jonesy, ALL of them sounded terrific. All unique, in their own ways, so none of them sounded bad. Some were a little fuller, some were a tad brighter, and so on. But all that said, the actual components added to their tonal qualities. I'm a firm believer in that. Thanks for this one Jonesy! That was some good listening.

 

[jonesy]

Your welcome bro, and to be honest I don't think any of those caps sounded bad with the P-90. I think it's more of a matter of which sound you liked better. If I was plugged into a different amp that may have changed things up a bit, or if I had run the Windsor into my Marshall 4 x 12" cab vs using the single 12" speaker in the open back cabinet.

It's nice though that most listeners can hear a difference between the .022/.047 paper in oil and poly film caps even over a Youtube video. If you are serious about tone I think it's good idea to try out a couple of different caps in your own guitars with your favorite amp and see what sounds best to your ears, that's what really matters the most.

 

[freddarl82]

Jonesy,
Here is a reply I posted in another thread last month. I've been a longtime fan of the Mojotone caps for their cost/quality ratio. Again, it's a minor difference, but I believe the Vitamin T's are technically foil in oil caps as opposed to paper in oil caps:

Lt.,
Great advice overall, but a word about the Mojotone caps (Dijons and Vitamin T's...I have some, I've used them, and I like them). It may be splitting hairs, but these caps are not paper in oil, but rather foil in oil. Here is a link to the FAQ about the Dijon caps from mojotone.com. Then, in the Product description of the Vitamin T's, it says, "Built just like our Mojo Dijons - but with a mineral oil dielectric in a hermetically sealed case. We worked with a manufacturer to produce affordable Oil filled caps that still live up to our exacting standards. MojoTone Vitamin Ts satisfy your thirst for detail and tone without emptying your bank account."

Again, I think they're a very nice cap given their price and easy availability, but often overlooked. Definitely a step up from the cheap ceramic disks, and even the Orangedrops, IMO.

Cliff Notes version: in the FAQ, they show a Dijon cut open (it's foil), then in the Vitamin T product description, they say "Built just like our Mojo Dijons..."

 

[jonesy]

I know from the specs they posted the Mojo Dijon are Poly film and foil, so maybe the Vitamin T's could have some similar type of oil & foil. They are listed as "Oil filled" Even the old Sprague paper in oil caps have a foil layer, and so did the Bees that I cut open, but they also had a oil soaked paper insulator. I had emailed Mojo Supply for some data sheets on these caps and am waiting for some more info. I will post up that once I get it. Either way the Vitamin T's have that nice warm tone without getting muddy. Maybe I need to cut one open for myself and see what's in there

 

[Pinkie]

Vid #3 is my choice tone wise.

 

[jonesy]

Ok freddarl82 got me curious with his post so I went down to my bench and decided to dissect 4 different capacitors. I had cut open a few of the Bees & Q's before but it had been a while so I broke open a .047 Sprague Bumble Bee, a .022 Sprague Vitamin Q, .022 Mojo Vitamin T and a .047 Mojo Dijon. Technically all 4 of these caps seem to use some type of foil as the plates.

The Vitamin T had a light oil (smelled like mineral oil?) with clear impregnated film as the dielectric, so "Oil filled" is probably the best way to describe them, the Bumble Bee and Vitamin Q did have an outer paper insulator but they both seemed to have a gold type oil impregnated foil (paper?) and silver foil layers and the Mojo Dijon was dry and had clear film and foil inside layered between the silver foil. (See pics below)

The oil in the Vitamin Q was really sticky feeling and didn't want to unroll very easily. I took a lot of pics and uploaded them to my jonesyblues Photobucket account if anyone wants to check them out here is the link...Dissecting Capacitors

 

[freddarl82]

Jonesy, you da man! Thanks for the informative post. That certainly clears it up!

We did a "Blind" capacitor shootout a few years ago. I rewired a friend's LP Classic with Burstbucker Pros and 500K CTS pots (50's style). We hooked up some alligator clip leads and went to work. My friend never knew which capacitor was going in. The four we considered were Orangdrop, Dijon, Vitamin T, and a Luxe Bumblebee repro (all .022). For this guitar and setup, the Orangedrop and Dijon were eliminated fairly quickly. The A-B'ing of the Vitamin T vs. the Luxe went on for awhile. I even got a little devious and at times would remove the capacitor, then place the SAME capacitor back in so as to remove any "alternating" A-B bias. My friend is a real tonehound and has a hell of an ear, so my scheme did not fool him. He chose the Vitamin T.

Vitamin T's: nice cap, nice price.

Here's a clip he recorded with that guitar (which also may give pause to some of the BB Pro haters out there):
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlvrav_evgo"]Moby Dick Cover[/ame]

 

[Michael Bolt-On]

Jonesy, this was exactly what i was looking for at the moment. Great comparison! As most others i did like the 0.22 Vitamin T the most, though all of them did sound very good on all levels of the toneknob. I will be wiring my Studio 50's style and try a set of Vitamins in it

 

[Hector Arcadius]

Oh, I GOTTA go home fast and give this a listen tonight.


BTW, @ freddarl82:

Since I have the BB Pros in my Studio I had been looking for this exact video for quite some time (I remember I saw that again, somewhere...) to give it a listen once again. Perhaps I should stop worrying about the pickups, for the moment, and go only for a guts upgrade. It seems that the new wiring will breath some new life into the BB Pros and help me decide what I need, pickup-wise, better. Thanks for that!

 

[copperheadroad]

Here's some info on the Dijon caps
Mojo Dijon FAQ

 

[GBLEV]

Jonsey,
I couldn't help but notice in your picture that the leads on these caps is gold, how much effect does the material of the leads have the on tone they give? I did a little tone cap testing this week myslef. I replaced the Jensens I have in my LP for the Russian PIO k40Y-9's. The k40Y-9's have a great sound to them, but I found that they did not roll off evenly on tone or volume.

On tone, anything below 2 was very dead sounding. On the volume, when turning it down, it dropped so much from 7 on down, by the time I was at 3 I could barely hear it. This is with the RS super pots, too.

So I ended up putting the Jensens back in, because they have a much more open and woody sound, with more bite when compared to the k40Y-9's. Along with a more even and smoother tapering on both tone and volume. Works like you expect it too. But I did like the thickness the Russians added and they were the same values.

One thing I really noticed was the differences in the leads on these two different caps. The k40Y-9's has a much thicker, darker metal looking lead, where as the Jensen's have a thinner, maybe tin, or silver type lead. This made me wonder if this might be one of the reasons for the thicker sound. What brought this to my attention, was when I was replacing one of the Jensen's, one of it's leads broke when I was trying to fit it back in place. I was tempted to sacrifice one of the k40Y-9's and use it's leads for the Jensen, to see if it would make a difference in the sound, but I was afraid of frying the cap, so I just resoldered the one side back on when i got it in place. Or I was going to be stuck with the k40Y-9's in the end.

Have you ever tried using different leads on different caps?

 

[jonesy]

Maybe it's the pics but the leads on the Mojo Vitamin T's are silver colored and they are really heavy duty which I like. Thin leads tend to break off at the cap if bent to sharply, but I don't think they effect the tone very much.

I know what you mean, I tested out those Russian K40Y-9's a few years ago and even though they are paper in oil they sound a little dark to me and just don't have the "sparkle" like some of the old USA Bees & Vitamin Q's do. It must be something to do with the Oil they use in those Russian caps or maybe the way they are constructed. To my ears these .022 Vitamin T Oil filled caps sound a lot more like the Vitamin Q's, that is one reason I chose to use them in my wiring harnesses.