Silver Mica in Egghead and others?

[Pedro Fontacos]

Hi All,

Just finished my first Madbean build, the Egghead.  I love this darn thing, it's got everything I'm looking for in an overdrive; slight compression, no mid-hump, dynamic response to pick attack, and the most useful tone knob I've ever used.  A full build report with photos will come shortly.

Anyway, I notice that Brian takes a no mojo bs approach to his builds and I really appreciate that.  What I can't understand is why a silver mica is required in the Egghead in the feedback loop along with other designs where it's clearly stated that "a silver mica is recommended for Cx".  Can someone explain why this is and how it could affect the tone to use a cheapie or better quality dipped ceramic in its place?  Just curious!

-Pete

[BassXtreme]

Hi All,

Just finished my first Madbean build, the Egghead.  I love this darn thing, it's got everything I'm looking for in an overdrive; slight compression, no mid-hump, dynamic response to pick attack, and the most useful tone knob I've ever used.  A full build report with photos will come shortly.

Anyway, I notice that Brian takes a no mojo bs approach to his builds and I really appreciate that.  What I can't understand is why a silver mica is required in the Egghead in the feedback loop along with other designs where it's clearly stated that "a silver mica is recommended for Cx".  Can someone explain why this is and how it could affect the tone to use a cheapie or better quality dipped ceramic in its place?  Just curious!

-Pete

any cap at or below 1000pf in the signal path I always use a silver mica. to me they sound clearer and have a unique "shine" to them. they are fairly cheap on ebay. I would avoid the china sellers because of counterfeiting

[Guitarmageddon]

If C2 sets the slew rate, silver mica are tighter tolerance than ceramics (the other pf value caps you'll likely have) so that'll be why it's recommended there.
The old "shine from shinola conundrum..."
Beware of online BS about one cap sounding "better" than the other, the only real (measureable) differences are physical size, tolerance and noise...oh, yeah, price too.
One cap will sound different to another if off spec, but two different caps, say a .047uf PIO and a .047uf mylar, that measure the same, must sound the same. They are the same, it's what's measureable that matters.
As for "Chinese Counterfeits", never heard of cap counterfeiting, me thinks this is (racist) BS too. I find it disappointing how often I hear people spouting this.