from the audio path and replacing them with equivalent-sized film caps . “ Modding a pedal for more bass ” also typically involves replacing one or more capacitors in the signal path with highervalue parts . Capacitors are subject to the same tolerance rating as resistors .
Because capacitors can come in so many different sizes , cases and types , identifying them may be best left to the process of elimination , but a quick and dirty field guide looks like this : round discs are ceramics , electrolytics are barrel shaped , and film is everything else , but most commonly green or brown in color and relatively amorphous , or grey , yellow or white in color and shaped like miniature boxes .
Now , we reach the meat and potatoes of analog circuitry . Circuits that don ’ t include transistors are called “ passive ” and anything passive will eat your tone alive , with the “ tone loss ” happening logarithmically in relation to the number of components added . “ Active ” implies
the circuit requires voltage in order to function , and that ’ s on account of the transistors .
Transistors come in just two types — and we ’ ve all heard these two words — silicon and germanium . A small amount of silicon transistors are made in metal can packaging , but generally speaking ,
FIG . C germanium parts can be identified by a metal or glass cylindrical package . Each device carries a whole slew of attributes that people in industries other than ours care about . We ’ re concerned with just four : The aforementioned material , polarity , hFe and leakage .
The structure of a transistor is three layers of material put together like a wafer . Each “ wafer piece ” is positively or negatively charged , and the resulting semiconductor is either “ NPN ” or
from the audio path and replacing them with equivalent-sized film caps . “ Modding a pedal for more bass ” also typically involves replacing one or more capacitors in the signal path with highervalue parts . Capacitors are subject to the same tolerance rating as resistors .
“ BECAUSE CAPACITORS CAN COME IN SO MANY DIFFERENT SIZES , CASES AND TYPES , IDENTIFYING THEM MAY BE BEST LEFT TO THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION ...”
Because capacitors can come in so many different sizes , cases and types , identifying them may be best left to the process of elimination , but a quick and dirty field guide looks like this : round discs are ceramics , electrolytics are barrel shaped , and film is everything else , but most commonly green or brown in color and relatively amorphous , or grey , yellow or white in color and shaped like miniature boxes .
TRANSISTORS
Now , we reach the meat and potatoes of analog circuitry . Circuits that don ’ t include transistors are called “ passive ” and anything passive will eat your tone alive , with the “ tone loss ” happening logarithmically in relation to the number of components added . “ Active ” implies
the circuit requires voltage in order to function , and that ’ s on account of the transistors .
Transistors come in just two types — and we ’ ve all heard these two words — silicon and germanium . A small amount of silicon transistors are made in metal can packaging , but generally speaking ,
FIG . C germanium parts can be identified by a metal or glass cylindrical package . Each device carries a whole slew of attributes that people in industries other than ours care about . We ’ re concerned with just four : The aforementioned material , polarity , hFe and leakage .
The structure of a transistor is three layers of material put together like a wafer . Each “ wafer piece ” is positively or negatively charged , and the resulting semiconductor is either “ NPN ” or