What is a Bright Cap / Switch? Guitar Amps Explained

Рет қаралды 5,552

3 жыл бұрын

Almost all amps have a bright cap or switch somewhere in the circuit, so I explain what they are and give some tips on how to use them well.
Hit "Subscribe" for more videos!
kzfaq.info_c...
If you wish to support my videos please visit my patreon page at / kleydejong .

Пікірлер: 31

@brentduxbury5814 Жыл бұрын

Great explanation! Thank you. I have a vintage 1971 Vibrolux. For some reason I had it in my head that having the bright switch “on” provided the most pure unaffected signal path and that turning it off was when the capacitor was engaged and that it was simply bleeding highs to earth - like a guitar tone control. Therefore, my nature instinct was to run with the bright switch “on” to have the lease affect on my signal and just reduce highs with the Treble control. So this misconception of mine meant that when I first got my amp and played it at low volume at home, I setup a great clean sound with the bright switch on. Then I started adding gain pedals and couldn’t understand why they sounded like s#@t. This initially put me off the amp until I figured out that I needed to run the bright switch “off” and use the treble control in a higher position to get a good compromise between sparkly clean and nice overdrive. Your video has now made sense of what I experienced. Cheers.

@johnhoolihan9452 Ай бұрын

I have a Blues Junior III and I've always found it too bright especially when used with overdrive pedals which can give you a harsh sound. I'm planning to clip the C3 bright cap as you suggest. Thanks again for some useful and well explained information!

@pondochris 3 жыл бұрын

Nice Video! I never realized that the bright cap does less as you turn your volume up!

@soundscrazy 6 ай бұрын

I came here to reassure myself that i was about to mod my amp correctly! You hit on some good points and confirmed my assumptions!

@dyamariv3628 3 жыл бұрын

Very Cool Video Kley! We've all heard about the bright cap in amps but seeing it explained like this on a schematic really helps visualize it, keep these Tech vids coming brother! Love em, Peace!

@KleyDeJong 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, will do!

@greensceneBirds 3 жыл бұрын

best tube amp schematic explanations on ytube.

@Dang... 3 жыл бұрын

Very informative, clear, helpful. Thank you.

@jmormino5465 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this info. Just what I needed!

@mattg082 Жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot! Very informative. I’ve had a new Fender with a bright switch and turning it off on overdrives really played well with pedals. On very harsh sounding! On amps with it on, either has to turn up and attenuate, or run stack pedals…Like a Morning Glory always on, with the treble switch down. Then let my other overdrives run through that. I don’t think many want to do that, and not the most ideal if you like your amp tone to have to stack 3 pedals to get maybe 1 pedal you like to not sound shrill. But a lot of people do this, and honestly probably a bright switch mod would be cheaper. I fight with it, and my last amp had the switch. I actually got rid of the Fender with the bright switch for other reasons…and I just bought a Tone King Imperial MK2! I’m debating as it has one in it. But it does have an attenuator on the clean channel, and I put a Morning Glory with the treble switch down. It’s a work around, but might consider getting a push cap mod, vs drilling a hole. Just because of the lifetime warranty.

@kosmicwizard 2 жыл бұрын

great explanation, Kley! thanks.

@loggerfloggich 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your help !

@ofthetree 10 ай бұрын

Nice intro vignette.

@reverendg5937 6 ай бұрын

Nice

@loggerfloggich 3 жыл бұрын

Now i really understand how my Deluxe works..thank you ! I´m thinking about chaning the pullboost on my 79 Deluxe into a Bright Switch..do you think that could work easly ? Pulling the Boost and having the Bright Cap out of the way would be my ideal ! Best Regards

@KleyDeJong 3 жыл бұрын

Yes I think that would be quite doable. I believe this schematic shows the boost: vintagefenderamprepair.com/pages/library-schematics-layouts Looks like they take the reverb driver and instead of driving the reverb it just boosts back into the dry signal path. Simply disable that wire from the TR4 reverb driver going to the 220k and then 3m mixing resistors. Then use that switch to add a bright cap like you see in this video. Good luck!

@alejandromartinezsalar5212 3 жыл бұрын

Could you make a video explaining the supro amp circuit?

@KleyDeJong 3 жыл бұрын

Good idea, I will look into it!

@justinpaquette224 3 жыл бұрын

I never noticed it making my pedals sound harsh... But I'm only using boosts and low gain drive pedals (mostly). Does it have less of a negative effect on low gain drive pedals?

@KleyDeJong 3 жыл бұрын

It may work great! I think it is just good to be mindful that it may affect your drive sounds differently compared to clean sounds. If it sounds good, it is good!

@glguitarman 3 жыл бұрын

Nice video. I have a 1979 Marshall 2104, and it's pretty bright when the volume is set at lower (more practical) levels. My question is: suppose I remove it, then happen to have a gig outside where higher volume is now more practical, will that have the inverse effect of not allowing higher frequencies to pass as quickly as lower?

@KleyDeJong 3 жыл бұрын

At higher volumes the bright cap is less impactful, so the amp will perform similarly bright cap or not.

@glguitarman 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the reply, makes sense. I guess I’m a bit on the fence about it. I like the “cut through the mix” nature of it, but perhaps it does so a little too much at lower volume with a strat. Different story with a Les Paul.

@montag4516 3 жыл бұрын

Would directly on the guitar amp's input jack be a good place to install or experiment with a bright cap(s)? Or it does not work well there and should be placed elsewhere in the circuit? I have a somewhat midrange based tube amp that has no bright input option nor a presence control, and I would like to brighten up the amp's overall tone just slightly.

@KleyDeJong 3 жыл бұрын

It needs to interact with some resistance. The resistance slows down the signal as a whole. The capacitor allows highs to pass over that resistance. There is usually a grid stopping resistor between the input and the first tube. But I would not prefer to put this kind of attenuation there as you kind of need that resistance to tame potential oscillations. Also the signal coming from your guitar is low level and somewhat fragile. I would prefer to shape the tone after the first gain stage so you have more meat to cut away so to speak. So I would prefer to put it elsewhere. Does your amp have a volume control? Volume controls have an input, output on the middle terminal, and a ground terminal. Putting a capacitor on the volume control between the input and middle terminals = a bright cap that would help do what you want. Discharge the caps and solder away.

@montag4516 3 жыл бұрын

Ah, I got it. Yes, I will experiment with different cap values across the preamp volume pot, and if I like the results then maybe later on install a permanent switch for it. Thanks for the video and the reply.