Beware Cheap Unbranded filter capacitors Tube guitar amplifier Ham radio repair service note 

Those remind me of the high-dollar Gibson "bumble bee" caps that supposedly gimmick the original bumble bee caps. They sell for over $100 a set nowadays and they still have the tiny. .50 cent caps inside if some plastic that looks cool.

What's MORE insidious are *counterfeits* !

D-Lab, you are a dying breed of skilled techs and good people, living in a sea of grifters and fools. It quite a shame that my Sears washing machine, that is over 40 years old, has high voltage caps that have never been changed. Ones that live a harder life than the filter caps in my 2012 Fender Deluxe Reverb, that needed them replaced last year. American corporations used to be about building a better product, and paying their workforce right. Now it's silver spoon born investors, demanding the worst product/lowest employee pay they can get away with, for the highest profit. Thank you, fine sir, for not joining the latter.

Also be aware of phony caps that appear to be "brand name" labeled, but the lettering is a bit off. I saw one opened up marked 220 mfd 150V and inside was a used 47@35V. Buy from legit companies that back what they sell. When I was contract servicing full time I refused to put in cheaper parts. The time on your call back costs more than the ten or fifteen cents per part more than the good quality ones.

Wow, that's a eye opener for sure...thank you!

Any good multisection e- cap won't come in cheap cardboard tubes. You can make your own from quality capacitors ( buy from Mouser, Newark, etc) anyway especially if you need caps with a higher WVDC rating. That was done here but with cheap no name e caps inside a tube as part of a deal with a custom service seller making one up for your particular transmitter and or receiver. Saw his site Terry and no mention of whose brand of capacitor was put into the cardboard tube! Very sad because that guy has a lot of good stuff to sell otherwise. I won't mention the name. Thanks Terry.

1000% right. I only buy new dated high end caps from the big companies like Mouser that source to manufacturers. Its too much work and chance to do other damage, like destroying a power transformer, to use anything else. The big companies will date their stock so its more likely electrolytics wont be un- formed. I test each before installing it.

"Pitch em!" Sounds like somebody tried to throw you a curve ball there Terry. LOL 73 OM

Good advice, I get my parts from one of the major parts suppliers. I just recapped a Drake 2B, left the original can in place disconnected & wired in replacement caps on a small terminal strp mounted to one of the many through chassis bolts. Looks & works great.

just got some spragues for my audio chain in my browning mk3..now for some hot glass in it.

Found the blade fuses for bench and automotive are way off spec . 3a opens around 5a, 10 a opens around 13 to 15. Etc etc . Watch out when buying discount bulk

Thank you. The fact that this needs to be said is a sad sign of the time. Whatever their prices, just think that there's some poor person being paid even less to make them, and some other person making their living by the profit margin of them. What a world we live in.

Excellent point, Terry. It's worth the extra cost in the long run for longevity and safety. Side note: Even name brand parts can have issues. Back in the '70s I repaired a lot of solid-state CB radios. Usually I used ECG/Sylvania parts to replace failed final output transistors, and had good luck. But for a while I had to use RCA's SK line of replacements because that's what the local dealer carried. I had a noticeable number of poor functioning or early failing SKs, and was glad when I was able to stock up on ECG again. What I saw may have been related to a bad batch of SK parts, or just the specifications of the ECG replacement better matching the old part during cross-referencing. Other parts I replaced with SKs worked fine. Knowledge like that came from experience. Thank you, Terry, for always sharing yours! 🫡

Top tips Terry. Learn from the master..😄 Stay safe..Ed..UK..🙂

Lets see some videos on that Phase Linear in the background!!!

1:01 - Those 'toilet-paper-roll' caps look like the wax-caps from the 1940s and 1950s used in All-American Five radios!

Good advice Terry.

I know a guy who charged 1k to restore consoles from the 20's and used ChongX caps and he said he never had problems. But they failed.

You talkin' electrolytics in the PSU, right. AFAIK, the cap brand doesn't matter much in the signal path. People may have preferences, but some types are more linear or temp stable, and ceramics can resonate.

Terry that why I only buy name brand Capacitors from places like Mouser and Digit-Key !

Great advice.

Cornell Dubilier for me. I have in my repair contract that I will only use quality parts.

Amen to that!

Pitch 'em.

Hey there, I just bought a 1941 Zenith floor standing radio and I live in Wasilla Alaska. My father is a ham radio operator Kl7ILA and we have never worked on this type of old radio. Do you know of anyone in Alaska who works on these type of units?

Only the best caps for me.. I never cheap out on those. 👍

I will be installing Jupiter caps in my Fender "clone" 6G15 reverb unit . . . i will take out what I installed three (3) years ago . . . these are a little more expensive than others BUT worth the extra $ . . . PS - I installed the mod that you did to the Fender Vibro-Champ to my "clone" 5F2 Champ as it was a tad "anemic" . . . mucho better 😎

Hey Terry. Thanks for that. I bought a 2-capacitor can cap for my Silvertone "champ" from Tube Depot -- haven't installed it yet. Do you think it will do a good job? Anybody else know if Tube Depot cans are worth it?

But, sometimes this rubbish capacitors are very expensive! So price is not the best criteria. And - my friend has bought „Elna” capacitors and after tests stated, that these are well fake parts

What a scam, that little generic capacitor in a big paper tube. Made to look like an real can cap

it's never a good idea to cheap out on electrolytic capacitors i mostly only use good main brand caps or good quality generic caps with good reviews from reputable electronic sellers . a lot of garbage knock offs/ fakes out there