Lately I've been thinking about the difference between vintage and modern (also super good/average sounding) guitars, amps and pedals. I've read/watched a lot about PRS, I love the sound of prs guitars and amps (although I don't own any), for some reason they just sound better/more vintage-y to me than most other modern gear. I've read that they obsess over every little detail (like putting a capacitor in the carlos santana model to make it sound like its plugged into a really long cable).
This begs the question: how can we replicate parasitic and component drift properties of components and things like pickups and cables to make them sound more vintage, and do we even want to?. I've heard of people putting caps in paralell with resistors and vice versa, does any of this work or is it just sake oil? Also, wouldn't that decrease the total impecance by a LOT?
My research reveals that over decades, component values drift up ad down and they aquire parasitic properties like capacitance and inductance (which may be why vintage gear sounds warmer, because the extra capacitance cuts treble). But I could not find out how much they change, how can we quantify this? i.e. How exactly (quantifyably) does age affect components?
For example: a vintage pickup sounds different now than when it was made (correct me if I'm wrong). What happened to the pickup in the 60+ since it was made, and how do we replicate it? My best ideas would be a cap in paralell and to weaken the polepieces' magnetic field somehow.
Another example: will putting caps in paralell with the resistors and resistors in paralell with the caps on a new amp, make it sound more like a vintage amp (or any circuit really)?
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to hearing different peoples' opinions on this 🙂
This begs the question: how can we replicate parasitic and component drift properties of components and things like pickups and cables to make them sound more vintage, and do we even want to?. I've heard of people putting caps in paralell with resistors and vice versa, does any of this work or is it just sake oil? Also, wouldn't that decrease the total impecance by a LOT?
My research reveals that over decades, component values drift up ad down and they aquire parasitic properties like capacitance and inductance (which may be why vintage gear sounds warmer, because the extra capacitance cuts treble). But I could not find out how much they change, how can we quantify this? i.e. How exactly (quantifyably) does age affect components?
For example: a vintage pickup sounds different now than when it was made (correct me if I'm wrong). What happened to the pickup in the 60+ since it was made, and how do we replicate it? My best ideas would be a cap in paralell and to weaken the polepieces' magnetic field somehow.
Another example: will putting caps in paralell with the resistors and resistors in paralell with the caps on a new amp, make it sound more like a vintage amp (or any circuit really)?
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to hearing different peoples' opinions on this 🙂
Stray capacitance and inductance are due to geometry, unlikely to change except for capacitors themselves, where the dielectric absorbs moisture, or the foil oxidizes/degrades.
Carbon comp resistors can change in value as they are cooked over time. I suspect tone stacks are principle in setting the response, as they are supposed to.
Old pickups will simply be different, so you need to clone them to get the same response - magnetic components are highly complex conpared to resistors and capacitors. If you can't clone them measure their response compared to modern ones and figure out the differences.
Then you'd have to design a filter to adapt the response.
Carbon comp resistors can change in value as they are cooked over time. I suspect tone stacks are principle in setting the response, as they are supposed to.
Old pickups will simply be different, so you need to clone them to get the same response - magnetic components are highly complex conpared to resistors and capacitors. If you can't clone them measure their response compared to modern ones and figure out the differences.
Then you'd have to design a filter to adapt the response.
The problem with this idea is first, what does "vintage" mean? And another is the implied idea that single components might be responsible. Caps can be added all over the signal path, sure. In series a cap adds brightness, in shunt it rolls off highs. Changing cathode bypass caps affects gain and low end response. A 100k plate resistor might drift to 110k. OK maybe that sounds "better" to some ears, maybe not.
When I closed my shop, I went through ALL my resistors. Every single one of them. Thousands. I have been collecting parts for over 60 years. I checked each resistor for value, and any out of spec I threw out. I was interested in my older parts especially. Recent ones - last 20 or more years - were all in range comfortably. Mostly 5% types. I found lots of ancient 20% types. Some were way off. But lots of them were still within 20%. I have a bunch of really nice CC resistors from the early 1960s. I think they are AB, but not sure. Greenish body with rounded ends. ANyway, every one of those was dead on value. Those are 5%. The CCs drift, the film resistors not so much. I don't see resistors drifting down.
These days we use film caps. Many years ago we had paper dielectrics in many caps. Those inevitably get leaky. Value it not the issue, but DC leakage is.
When we design a circuit, we don't slap caps across things just to make it vintagy. We add tone shaping to achieve a goal. Define what you need, then measure what you have. Then decide what to to to change it more to your goal.
Point being, there is no curve on a chart as to age versus "drift".
When I closed my shop, I went through ALL my resistors. Every single one of them. Thousands. I have been collecting parts for over 60 years. I checked each resistor for value, and any out of spec I threw out. I was interested in my older parts especially. Recent ones - last 20 or more years - were all in range comfortably. Mostly 5% types. I found lots of ancient 20% types. Some were way off. But lots of them were still within 20%. I have a bunch of really nice CC resistors from the early 1960s. I think they are AB, but not sure. Greenish body with rounded ends. ANyway, every one of those was dead on value. Those are 5%. The CCs drift, the film resistors not so much. I don't see resistors drifting down.
These days we use film caps. Many years ago we had paper dielectrics in many caps. Those inevitably get leaky. Value it not the issue, but DC leakage is.
When we design a circuit, we don't slap caps across things just to make it vintagy. We add tone shaping to achieve a goal. Define what you need, then measure what you have. Then decide what to to to change it more to your goal.
Point being, there is no curve on a chart as to age versus "drift".
Thanks. I guess that changing certain values to achieve a specific sound is probably the best way then.