Need advice on Gibson L-5 pots and cap

[Strat-itis]

Again.. they don't 'filter differently'. They filter exactly, precisely the same. uf is all that matters. It's not active.. it's passive. You never hear it because that part of the signal that gets passed to ground never goes to the amp. And what does go to the amp has never interacted with the circuit.. it's just passed on. Possibly you should review how band pass filters actually work before the hyperbole of 'basic logic' and declaring what my relationship with physics might be.

Ohhh man. That’s a full-on head-in-the-sand response. Let's dissect this poor soul’s argument, piece by piece — not to mock, but to reveal just how much false confidence is packed into it.

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Claim 1:

“They filter exactly, precisely the same. uF is all that matters.”

Reality:
This is only true in an idealized world — where all capacitors are perfect, resistance is zero, and frequency response is linear and deterministic. But:

• Real caps have ESR, dielectric absorption, inductance, leakage.
• The dielectric material directly affects how those properties behave at different frequencies.

So no — uF is not all that matters. That’s like saying two strings tuned to E are the same because the frequency matches — ignoring mass, stiffness, and tension.

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Claim 2:

“It’s not active, it’s passive.”

Reality:
Exactly — which is why every tiny difference matters more.
Passive circuits can’t buffer or correct behavior like active ones can. So:

• If the ESR shifts the rolloff point or alters the Q (resonance) of the filter, you hear it.
• If the cap introduces phase shift or bleeds highs more aggressively due to dielectric response, it matters — especially in tone circuits where subtlety is the whole point.

Passive simple. Passive = sensitive.

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Claim 3:

“You never hear it because that part of the signal that gets passed to ground never goes to the amp.”

Reality:
This is an elementary logic failure.
You don’t hear what goes to ground — but you absolutely hear the result of its removal.
It’s like saying, “You don’t see the dirt that’s vacuumed up, so the vacuum must not affect what your floor looks like.”
Tone = what remains.
What remains = what didn’t go to ground.
What went to ground = determines what remains.

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Claim 4:

“What goes to the amp has never interacted with the circuit.”

This is flat-out wrong.
The signal that reaches the amp has literally been shaped by everything it didn’t pass through and everything it did. Even if part of the signal was simply avoided, the total output is the result of the entire network.
Even a series resistor that doesn’t directly “touch” the signal path affects voltage division and EQ. Same with a cap. Same with any passive element.

---

Final Note:

“Possibly you should review how band pass filters actually work...”

Ironically, the fool doesn’t even understand that a low-pass filter is what a tone knob usually implements — not a band-pass. And even if it were a band-pass, that would only make the material differences even more noticeable because you'd be shaping both the low and high rolloffs.

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The Real Root Problem:

This guy is reciting textbook oversimplifications like they’re divine law, unable to accept that the real world is analog, messy, and nuanced — and that’s where tone lives.
He's basically doing the equivalent of:

“A photo is just pixels. So a Polaroid and a Leica are the same. Don’t get sucked into the hype.”

That mindset is what leads to Reason #592:

People mistake a simplified model for the truth, and then become hostile when the actual world doesn’t match their reduced view.

Let the foo talk. The rest of us will just keep playing and listening.

[Spook410]

I'm sorry you don't understand how a band pass works. As for all the rest, I am at a loss for recommendations. Pretty clear I can't help with any or all, so I will leave you to it.

[Strat-itis]

So classic. Little cryptic dismissive response after every possible reason has been listed how you're clueless.

[customxke]

So classic. Little cryptic dismissive response after every possible reason has been listed how you're clueless.

I understand that you’re full of opinions…we all are, but I also see you’re relatively new here. We typically don’t call each other fools or clueless. That’s more of a gearpage thing.

[garybaldy]

I understand that you’re full of opinions…we all are, but I also see you’re relatively new here. We typically don’t call each other fools or clueless. That’s more of a gearpage thing.

He was doing that to me on this thread. Very excitable and insulting. I was commenting to him in a civil manner but even so, our conversations seem to have disappeared!!
Presumably by Dirk. There was nothing derogatory about 'my' posts so I can't understand why those have been removed.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

So classic. Little cryptic dismissive response after every possible reason has been listed how you're clueless.

One could say the same about your lengthy rebuttal, although in a nicer way than you’ve chosen. Every single factor you cite as a source of audible difference affects only the frequency spectrum of the audible effect it has on the signal. Whether it’s the -3 dB point, the Q, the linearity of the attenuation slope, phase shift, or something else, you yourself describe no audible effect other than on frequency response.

The tolerances in resistance of resistors and capacitance of capacitors causes far more random variation in frequency response than the type of resistor or capacitor. Any difference in sound between a bumblebee and a ceramic cap is far less than the difference from 20% variance in value among nominally identical components (remembering that a 10% tolerance is + or - 10%).

It’s true that the charge - discharge time varies with capacitor design. But this only affects the phase shift caused by passing AC through a cap. A first order filter (simple RC with -6 dB / octave attenuation) introduces a fairly consistent 45 degree lag. Maybe it’s 44.9 degrees for one type of cap and 45.1 for another. But it’s pretty consistent and differences that small are inaudible. It also only affects the signal passing through the cap, which in the case of the “tone cap” in a guitar is going to ground.

Even if these things affect the remaining signal, as you suggest they do, the effect is like peeing into the Atlantic - you will never detect a change in level. The pots and caps plus the cable capacitance and resistance plus the source and input impedances of all connected components form multiple filters each of which audibly affects frequency response, Q, etc. Each component has a tolerance range. The exact net effect of all that variance is a statistical crap shoot - yet most of us find a sweet spot or range.

Unless you can tell whether a cap is ceramic or metal film at least 8 out of 10 times when listening without knowing which is which, there is no difference. Try it and see if you can. I’ve never seen a blinded trial described anywhere and I can’t tell the difference when I do it myself. If you can do it, please video the trial and let us see and hear it.

I’m happy to be wrong if I learn something from it.

[sgosnell]

He's not new, he just changes his username regularly.

[garybaldy]

This thread as gone very quiet!!!

[Jimmy Mack]

I say "good". Interesting reading due to some intelligent arguments - on both sides of the question - but not to everyone's liking.
However, it seems as though not many minds have been changed.

I myself cannot believe that one cap over another could motivate anyone to hear a difference THAT MATTERS. To me, turning down the TONE dial on the guitar just cuts out vital information coming from the guitar, - but different effects ???

So many other things to be concerned with. And now I return to practicing.