So I had a REEEEEEEEEEEEEWORK amp project of my own...

[harddriver]

I have this little 1x12 5 watt single ended practice/late night jam amp which I used a 2203 preamp circuit in. I used the chassis of my old S/S marshall 5275. It was my first amp build that got me into building amps. So for years I was running the very first GEN1 Sozo coupling caps and cathode caps in it. It' kind of my test bed amp, it has a Jose master/diodes and a standard JCM800 master so it is like two different amps. So recently I decided to add a footswitchable solo boost and a rythym/lead option it it, as I had some of the stock extra holes open.

Some months back I had a pulled IC/MPW .68 uf from another amp so I then added an old IC MPW .68uf in place of the gen 1 Sozo and I liked it, it was a bit more aggressive and had more clarity. So then I picked up some more newer .022uf IC MPW metallized polypropylene caps to swap for the 15 year old gen1 Sozo'z which were warm sounding maybe a little fuzzy but they sounded more plexi IMHO. I used older MPW's back in 2009 in a high gain 2203/SLO build and i used the MPW's and they were perfect for that amp but it was a bit less vintage more modern sounding.

So I swapped all the Sozo for MPW's yesterday and I initially liked what I heard, the amp had more clarity and was more aggressive but now it seems to have lost it's plexi warmth for more modern tight and aggressive response( Almost Cameron/SLO'sh). I'm going to give it some time before I yank them out but........................

I guess it's not fair the compare 15 year old burned in polyester coupling caps to brand new polypropylenes but I think I'm going to order some GEN 2 Synergy Royal Mustard caps(SOZO) and give them a whirl and see if I can get my beloved plexi tone back. I knew this possibility existed as having used them before but I wanted to try them out....... as the French say.........Cest La Vie...

[PLX]

I don't see any gutshot pics..

[harddriver]

Are you trying to shame me into getting that IMGUR account?

[harddriver]

I thought I would give an update. I fired the ole girl up today to give it another listen. I think I was just so used to the smeared/fuzzy qualities of the old Gen 1 Sozo's that I felt the MPW's were too modern. I have begun to change my mind a bit now, with the Gen 1 Sozos the low end wasn't well defined almost smeared sounding/tubby in effect giving that greasy feeling under the fingers.

The new MPW's sound great have more clarity, the lows are tighter, smack harder and more defined(which I like) than the Gen 1 Sozo's but they clank like a NOS Mustard plexi the distortion is still raunchy but in a crispy unsmeared kind of way, the note separation is way better. I'm starting to warm up to the MPW's... I think I'll keep the in and really let them burn in and see where they end after burning in.

My OD808 SD-1 sounds great but the RAT seemed a little to much and tended to sound uber tight and clinical whereas the Rat into the warmer smeared Sozo's complimented one another almost like RAT was bringing some definition back into the smeared SOZO tone.

I'm still gonna pick up some GEN II Synergy Royal Mustards to have on hand, but past experience tells me the let them burn in more.

[lll]

[harddriver]

Alright I just made an IMGUR account. So I'll try posting a couple pics. Remember there is nothing fancy about this amp circa 2005 but it fired up the very first time and has run with no issues for 17 years.

[harddriver]

I auto sized these for MESSAGE BOARDS is this what I need to do. Is there a way to get rid of the imgur boarder?

[PLX]

I auto sized these for MESSAGE BOARDS is this what I need to do. Is there a way to get rid of the imgur boarder?

Grab your link from Imgur, then use this button.

Paste your link in between the [img] tags.

[harddriver]

Do you post the full link or just the image tag number?

I did and it no workeeeee....................

[PLX]