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Is a tantulum different from a microfarad tantulum cap?

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riffwraith

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Or are they the same?

BTW - thanks for the help in my other thread! :thumbsup:

I am experimenting with modding my old school Marshall amp. I threw a cap in an otherwise unused slot. Why? B/c a very well-known and highly respected mod guy/amp builder did just that in one of his mod videos. So I figured, well if he did, I can do it! ;-)

Turns out that with the cap in place, I am having a slight problem with some noise, and some sound artifacts - neither of which were there before I added the cap, and neither are there after I removed it.

The cap I added was a .68k tantulum cap @35 volts. I went back and re-watched that portion of the vid, and I now hear him say that he added a .68k microferet tantulum cap @35 volts.

So, the Q is - are they the same thing, or is there a diff when you add microferet into the mix?

Thanks in advance.
 

Re: Is a tantulum different from a microferet tantulum cap?

I think you misheard. MICROFARAD, not “microferret”. And, there’s no such thing as a .68k cap. .68 microfarad, maybe? 68 microfarad?
 

Re: Is a tantulum different from a microferet tantulum cap?

I think you misheard. MICROFARAD, not “microferret”.

Quite possibly!

And, there’s no such thing as a .68k cap.

Ok, should have typed .68uf - sorry!
 

Most likely you have a defective tantalum cap.
Where did you purchase it?

I am sure that you are aware that there are many sub-standard or counterfeit components out there, specially in places like Ebay or Alibaba
 

Tantalum is a type of electrolytic capacitor.
Microfarad is 1 millionth of a farad, which states the charge storage capacity of the capacitor.
 

From Mouser. Ordered three caps; tried two with the same result.
 

When an oriental capacitor is marked with "k" then it means its value is +/- 10% tolerance.
A tantalum capacitor has polarity. If you connected it backwards then it might be damaged and not work correctly.
Did Mouser send you capacitors or tiny little animals?
 

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Is a tantulum different from a microfarad tantulum cap?

Yes. Tantalum is a metal, like Aluminium or Titanium. Tanatalum capacitor is a special kind of electrolytic (mostly solid; unlike aluminium electrolytic ones) capacitor that uses Ta (it is symbol of the element; like Al is the symbol for Aluminium).

The capacitor has two important specifications: max working voltage (35V in this case) and capacity (likely 68 microfarads) in your case.

- - - Updated - - -

Did Mouser send you capacitors or tiny little animals?

Thanks for the nice visual. I have never met him before.
 

Did Mouser send you capacitors or tiny little animals?

Both! I tried hooking up the ferrets first, but I found the sound too furry.

When an oriental capacitor is marked with "k" then it means its value is +/- 10% tolerance. A tantalum capacitor has polarity. If you connected it backwards then it might be damaged and not work correctly.

Thanks for that.

So, I have no idea where the cap was manu'd, but it does indeed have a 'k'; switching the polarity makes no difference. I have two; they both have given me the same result.


Yes. Tantalum is a metal, like Aluminium or Titanium. Tanatalum capacitor is a special kind of electrolytic (mostly solid; unlike aluminium electrolytic ones) capacitor that uses Ta (it is symbol of the element; like Al is the symbol for Aluminium).

The capacitor has two important specifications: max working voltage (35V in this case) and capacity (likely 68 microfarads) in your case.


Thanks!
 

0.68uF is well within the range of 35V ceramic caps. But you
should never apply a capacitor at (or even near) its rated
voltage.

In an audio application where this cap might see a reversing
polarity, the asymmetric nature of most tantalum and electrolytic
caps could add some rectification, which makes distortion. Try
a nonpolar (like ceramic) if you know this to be the case, or
do not know what the case is.

If you had a manufacturer's schematic (or one with total attention
to detail) it might have said whether the cap was polarized or to
be a nonpolar type.

Spiral wound capacitors can have a lot of inductance, which might
affect the frequency flatness. A cap made for filtering 120Hz ripple
is not necessarily up to snuff for a >kHz audio application.
 

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