Why do some amps have small caps .....

[rockon1]

and oithers really big? My Lavey uses 6 50/50 500V chassis mounted caps-big cans. My Rivera chubster has a few relatively small caps on the board.
I realise one has 2 EL34's and the other 4 but it still seems like a big difference between them regardless.:confused: Bob

[Trout]

and oithers really big? My Lavey uses 6 50/50 500V chassis mounted caps-big cans. My Rivera chubster has a few relatively small caps on the board.
I realise one has 2 EL34's and the other 4 but it still seems like a big difference between them regardless.:confused: Bob


Just remember, the 50/50-500V are actually 2 caps in one package.

Those have actually gotten smaller in recent years as well.

[rockon1]

Just remember, the 50/50-500V are actually 2 caps in one package.

Those have actually gotten smaller in recent years as well.

I think I counted 4 main looking caps that were 45/450? volts in the rivera. By comparision the Laney would have 12 50/500 volt caps then. Hmmm I guess if the Laney puts out 3X the wattage that makes sense then. Bob

[Trout]

I think I counted 4 main looking caps that were 45/450? volts in the rivera. By comparision the Laney would have 12 50/500 volt caps then. Hmmm I guess if the Laney puts out 3X the wattage that makes sense then. Bob


I would think that perhaps one of the reason is 1 amp has better stage de-coupling as well as more stages or channels.

It would not necessarily be because of the higher wattage, though it is very common to double up caps to get higher voltage handling which could also be part of the reason.

[jay42]

The differences are business decisions by the capacitor manufacturers. The progress of technology tends towards equivalent capacitance in smaller packages. There was a gut shot of a new Vishay/Sprague Atom on the net a while back. About half of the can is just air. A replacement 50/50 from JJ or F&T is noticibly shorter than an LCR from the 80's. They need to conform to the outer diameter only.

[rockon1]

The differences are business decisions by the capacitor manufacturers. The progress of technology tends towards equivalent capacitance in smaller packages. There was a gut shot of a new Vishay/Sprague Atom on the net a while back. About half of the can is just air. A replacement 50/50 from JJ or F&T is noticibly shorter than an LCR from the 80's. They need to conform to the outer diameter only.


Yes Im aware of that. Just recapped the laney with F+T's. That said those caps are gigantic compared to the ones in my Rivera.

Hers a shot of the Laney with 4 of the F+T's installed and 2 of the LRC's still in place. Just struck me odd that some amps have caps about 1/6 th the size. Of coarse I didnt take into account that the 50/50 caps are two in one. Bob

http://i36.tinypic.com/ji1fmc.jpg