# Paragon Mini: May have modded wrong cap value



## markuus (Jun 29, 2022)

I am putting together a Paragon Mini, and decided to try the Paragon mods documented by @ckaudioeffects in this very helpful thread. Here's the Google Drive link they included in that post, laying out the mods on the "standard" Paragon PCB.

I compared the schematics and identified the relevant capacitors to swap values for, but I realized I just made a mistake. On the Paragon board, C4 and C15 are modded from 10n to 22n, which would be C4 and C17 on the Paragon Mini.

However, looks like I accidentally put a 22nf cap in C3 on my Paragon Mini, and kept C4 at 10n. On the PCB, the two channels appear to be laid out pretty much identically, except I just realized C3-C4 and corresponding C16-C17 are in opposite orders between the two channels on the PCB.

My question: is this going to matter? Should I bother trying to desolder and correct? I'm terrible at desoldering, so a bit reluctant to try.

It seems weird just these two values are swapped when other components such as all the resistors are laid out the same way between the two channels otherwise. Could it be a mistake? Not sure how I can check now that I've populated the components.

I guess I know this won’t make much of a difference but I’m a bit perplexed. I wish I had noticed before populating these.


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## markuus (Jun 30, 2022)

Okay so I tried testing continuity and do get continuity to ground from C4 and C17, but don't get a beep from my DMM between C16 or C3 to ground. Looks like everything is accurate and the caps are in fact in slightly different places between the channels.

Probably not a huge deal with the 22n vs 10n, but I've been meaning to practice my desoldering and maybe this is my opportunity. I've got an old semi-populated board I don't need, so think I'll practice a bit and then give it a go so I can correct the values. Fingers crossed.


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## ckaudioeffects (Jul 1, 2022)

It’s no big deal! This one is a subtle difference and changing either cap value to 22n is going to have the effect of adding more bass. I’d leave it as is!

No sense desoldering and risking damage to the board because it will still sound awesome!


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## markuus (Jul 1, 2022)

@ckaudioeffects Already made the change. Honestly it mostly just bothered me knowing it was “wrong”, you know? Might have been interesting to compare and see if I could discern a difference (maybe doubtful) but was too anal not to fix it.

I haven’t finished assembling yet but I was able to desolder and “correct” the values, so hopefully all is good. I’ll find out soon enough but I poked around with my DMM after the operation and all seems fine. Fingers crossed.

Appreciate the detailed documentation of the mods!


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## ckaudioeffects (Jul 1, 2022)

Right on, I understand because tend to be the same way lol 

I am glad you used the mods and found it useful! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts when it’s all finished!


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## markuus (Jul 2, 2022)

@ckaudioeffects Put it together today and all worked. This thing sounds fantastic! I haven’t played any other KoT circuits so don’t have a baseline to compare in person but it does sound really warm and full. I might need to build a full size one with all the external switches…


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## apc42069 (Jul 3, 2022)

markuus said:


> @ckaudioeffects Put it together today and all worked. This thing sounds fantastic! I haven’t played any other KoT circuits so don’t have a baseline to compare in person but it does sound really warm and full. I might need to build a full size one with all the external switches…


Dude I was in a V similar situation & built the full up - super worth it!!


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## ckaudioeffects (Jul 19, 2022)

markuus said:


> @ckaudioeffects Put it together today and all worked. This thing sounds fantastic! I haven’t played any other KoT circuits so don’t have a baseline to compare in person but it does sound really warm and full. I might need to build a full size one with all the external switches…


Sweet! Glad you liked the tone! I think the gain level and external clipping switches are the most useful!


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