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Hello all. My kit has arrived (insert choir of angels here)!!!

I'd like to skip ahead to Questions 67 and 68 if I might and ask if there was ever any conclusion to the Sozo cap orientation discussion. I found this in the forum from a while ago...

viewtopic.php?t=760&highlight=sozo

...but it never seemed to be determined if this orientation really makes any difference from a noise prospective. From what I can see from all of the build pictures I've found, everyone seems to have these caps orientated differently. So, q.67 is there an "optimal" orientation for these caps and q.68 could this be added to the documentation??

Thanks everyone!

Joe G

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Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

There is a theoretical optimal orientation that was discussed in the forum.

I'd be quite happy to add it to the layout/documentation but havent as yet. If you want to provide your input, great.

I can say I've never noticed a difference so I line them up so they are all the same way for aesthetics only.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Check this out if you want to test caps: http://www.soundgaragetales.com/amp-bui ... -capacitor

We did the o'scope test and found there was a difference on the scope anyway.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Thanks for the info Stephen.
I did attempt to orient my Sozo's as suggested here:
http://www.aikenamps.com/OutsideFoil.htm

Wether or not I was successful remains to be seen (or heard!)... I'm much better at building than theory

Joe G

_________________
Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

Most Sozos are marked which makes it easier to orient them. As Phil said

"Once you've figured out which is the outer foil connection of a cap, that one needs to go the lower impedance side to provide shielding. In the case of a typical inter-stage coupling cap that means the outer foil goes to the plate load resistor of the first stage, and the inner foil to the grid side of the following stage. In the case of a tone stack, the outer foil goes to the side which points towards ground or has the least resistance path to ground."

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Is the side of the Sozo's with the line running around the circumference the foil side? i.e., the side that goes to ground (toward the tone pots)? I must admit, I haven't read the articles yet - and hear nothing in my present orientation that would motivate me to change it.

I tried to check some caps yesterday for outer foil and I'm damned if I could see any difference on my scope. How are you supposed to set up the scope to test them?

Read this, it explains the process for testing on a scope http://www.soundgaragetales.com/amp-bui ... -capacitor

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

That's correct Jim. I actually went through the schematic at the time I originally asked this question and tried to orient the caps as suggested. I was unsure in a few of the locations, but you can see what I did in my V6 pictures. Stephen said he usually lines them all up the same way for "looks" more than anything. As it turns out the layout is so well done that most caps ended up the same way anyway ... or at least that's how I read it. It may be a moot point anyway if there's no difference in noise

Joe G

_________________
Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

I was working over at Stephen's place on Saturday, and tested a bunch of caps we were using for a build. They weren't Sozos, but some other kind of yellow polywhateveritis caps. Anyway, I was fascinated to find that the difference in inner/outer foil orientation had a much more dramatic effect, as seen on the 'scope, with the smaller values than larger ones. I also came across an instance of two apparently identical caps, where one seemed to be much more sensitive to foil orientation than the other one - to my great surprise.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Metalized polyester film from ETR Electronics Co., Ltd

The readings were quite interesting, and unexpected, I have to say.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Inconsistent parts in a vacuum tube guitar amplifier??? NO WAY!!!
Some things will never change I guess

Joe G

_________________
Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

(snicker) Yeah - it always amuses me how people claim to "nail" a certain tone using vintage parts. In reality it just can't be done (or at least not easily). Those components were so inconsistent that no two vintage amps sounded exactly the same! I like that though. It makes each amp unique in it's own weird way.

I'm doing a re-build of my Valve Junior with a turret board from Ken Watts using some of those "yellow polywhateveritis caps".