Update on one of the vintage amps.
In the past I had posted of two failed Duelund capacitors leaking and a few Jupiter caps very fragile leads breaking.
Now in one of the amps in for service one of the Jensen capacitors has gone bad and was arching inside the cap.
I live in the same town as tube amp builder who does excellent work! He changed the amp from cathode biased to fixed bias. The amp although sounding GREAT was unstable. (he is not a fan of cathode bias?)
So this is his opinion (on the cap) not mine and I heard it and seen it on his test equipment. The cap had gone bad inside.
He is not a fan of "exotic" caps as he calls them. (To me they are great sounding to him exotic) From his point of view of having amps come in from all over North America for repair I can see why. He simply could not have the failure rate I have had. He has seen 3 of my exotic caps go bad out of 15 to 20 caps of mine he has seen. (3 or 4 others he has not seen) I am sure he could not have a failure rate this high!
All that being said parts connection did make it right.
I will have the amp back soon and with now 4 cheap (reliable) poly caps installed.
I am am going to listen and see about leaving the poly caps in or replacing them.
I suspect they will be replaced...
The only exotic so far with no problems has been VCap's. Although I suspect their are more machine made? Jensen, Duelund and Jupiter more hand made?
Not it exactly sure of the process?
This is not a rip on the exotic caps. I am for sure hooked! Even with the problems the sound difference is just way to big to ignore!
In the past I had posted of two failed Duelund capacitors leaking and a few Jupiter caps very fragile leads breaking.
Now in one of the amps in for service one of the Jensen capacitors has gone bad and was arching inside the cap.
I live in the same town as tube amp builder who does excellent work! He changed the amp from cathode biased to fixed bias. The amp although sounding GREAT was unstable. (he is not a fan of cathode bias?)
So this is his opinion (on the cap) not mine and I heard it and seen it on his test equipment. The cap had gone bad inside.
He is not a fan of "exotic" caps as he calls them. (To me they are great sounding to him exotic) From his point of view of having amps come in from all over North America for repair I can see why. He simply could not have the failure rate I have had. He has seen 3 of my exotic caps go bad out of 15 to 20 caps of mine he has seen. (3 or 4 others he has not seen) I am sure he could not have a failure rate this high!
All that being said parts connection did make it right.
I will have the amp back soon and with now 4 cheap (reliable) poly caps installed.
I am am going to listen and see about leaving the poly caps in or replacing them.
I suspect they will be replaced...
The only exotic so far with no problems has been VCap's. Although I suspect their are more machine made? Jensen, Duelund and Jupiter more hand made?
Not it exactly sure of the process?
This is not a rip on the exotic caps. I am for sure hooked! Even with the problems the sound difference is just way to big to ignore!