Old Emmons Tone Capacitor

Simon Stephenson · Post by **Simon Stephenson** » 22 Feb 2007 6:18 am

Anyone know what capacitor I should use to replace the one in the tone control for my 70s Emmons student model? The capacitor is quite literally "mashed" so I can't read the value.

John Bresler · Post by **John Bresler** » 22 Feb 2007 10:20 am

Here's a link to the same discussion in the old forum.

http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/007785.html

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 22 Feb 2007 10:54 am

The most common capacitor I have seen in tone control circuits is a .04 microfarad (mfd). .02 to .05 should work. The voltage rating is not important.

Simon Stephenson · Post by **Simon Stephenson** » 26 Feb 2007 1:06 am

Any suggestions or comments on the quality of component I should use? Does it make much difference if I use a cheap capacitor or a high end audiophile capacitor like the ones you get in good hifi amps?

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 26 Feb 2007 5:50 am

No, you can use just about anything, because the audio signal does not pass through the cap, frequencies are bled off through it to ground - it's a "subtractive" device.

As said, the value isn't critical either. All a value change does is alter the amount of treble that is removed...and how fast turning the knob makes it happen, to explain it simply.

In 6-strings the most-used for years were .047uf, and I'd save up discarded .047uf amp caps - brown "chocolate drops" that sound horrid in amps, but work fine in guitar circuits.

Try to find a .047 or .05 - that's usually the smoothest operating and gives the most useful lower limits. But a .022 (very common) will also work fine.