# WIMA capacitors are they worth the extra cost ?



## Bobbyd67 (Apr 20, 2020)

Hi guys ! I am making a shopping cart from tayda, and I got lots of boxed caps to refill. Eversince they have been selling WIMA caps I've been buying those, but to be honest I just never heard a difference between them and the old grey boxed one they still got of a 1/3 of the price.

I really am thinking of switching back to the grey ones ... I just wanted to hear you guys feedback on it, does it make a difference in guitar pedal ? Is there a advantage that I don't see ? Thanks !!!


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## zgrav (Apr 20, 2020)

I doubt if there is much audible difference for what we hear.


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## Barry (Apr 20, 2020)

That might be one or two in a hundred who could hear a difference, I'm not one of them


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## BurntFingers (Apr 20, 2020)

I like them because they're red.


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## Bobbyd67 (Apr 21, 2020)

BurntFingers said:


> I like them because they're red.



It's basically why I got them at first xD that and to test them out, but I don't remember them being 3x the price of the old ones


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## Bobbyd67 (Apr 21, 2020)

Think i am gonna go the Barry way and go back to the old grey ones :/


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## BurntFingers (Apr 21, 2020)

I switched back about 2 orders ago. I can't detect a difference anywhere along the line apart from the colour. But I put 15c caps in the Les Paul and sold the bumblebees.


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## HamishR (Apr 21, 2020)

It's odd because in an amplifier I definitely _can_ hear a difference between caps - or at least I'm sure I can! But in a pedal I don't know.  I haven't built two otherwise identical pedals (which is harder to do than you might think) and done the test.

If a pedal is something I think is worth pursuing, ie worth experimenting with to try to get the best for my particular use, I'll often build multiples. For example with the Gauss Drive I built one completely stock. I tried one mod on it and liked where it was heading so built another to try further tweaks on, all the time comparing it to the now stock again pedal.  Trouble is our ears have short memories so you need to have something to A/B against to ensure you don't go crazy.

Maybe one day I will do that - build a simple pedal with grey caps and one with red caps. I'll need to make sure that all the other components measure the same in both pedals. Then I'll see (hear?) if I can tell a difference.  But until then I would think that no, I struggle to hear any difference. As Burnt Fingers said I like Wimas because they're red.


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## ErickPulido (Apr 21, 2020)

I just build two pedals with same PCB, resistors but different caps, and I played them A/B can't find anything worth the extra money, I did this to start using cheaper caps, Wima look nice IMO don't make a better sounding pedal.


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## Nostradoomus (Apr 21, 2020)

I’ve measured lots of the Tayda grey box caps and never had one out of spec. They’re super solid for the price. I buy those and Kemet caps from DigiKey and am fully confident in them both. WIMA caps look nice and will give you that sunny feeling of audiophile superiority, but that’s more of a psychological question than a question of the parts integrity. I don’t fully doubt that in some cases they do sound better though, but even doing a double blind test isn’t conclusive for anything unless you have measured every single other part in your build and made sure they are the same as what you are hearing may just be slight differences elsewhere.

TL;DR. No.


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## MightySmallElectrons (Apr 21, 2020)

...but that red tho....


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## MightySmallElectrons (Apr 21, 2020)

Speaking of color, which brand is the sea-greenish color?


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## Nostradoomus (Apr 21, 2020)

MightySmallElectrons said:


> ...but that red tho....



For vanity’s sake, yes. Haha


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## Bobbyd67 (Apr 21, 2020)

Nostradoomus said:


> For vanity’s sake, yes. Haha



That's where I am hesitant !! I mainly build to sell nowadays... When I do listings I do include gutshots... And yeah it does look more professional to my eye but is it just because I know the hobby ? In the grand scheme if I sell just one pedal I pretty much recup the cost of WIMA caps so it's I guess I'll be going full on WIMA ???

Jesus... I gotta my crap together... The tayda code is probably just a couple of days away! XD

If it's just for personal builds I wout go grey caps with no hesitation!


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## Nostradoomus (Apr 21, 2020)

Buy red WIMA film caps and red Würth Elektronik electro caps and you’re golden.


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## zgrav (Apr 21, 2020)

plus you can add "WIMA caps" in your product description to attract your cork sniffing buyers!  even folks with no clue what that will mean will likely associate it with the red caps.


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## Bobbyd67 (Apr 21, 2020)

zgrav said:


> plus you can add "WIMA caps" in your product description to attract your cork sniffing buyers!  even folks with no clue what that will mean will likely associate it with the red caps.


Haha I ain't there yet  I do see it on other clones listing and it would probably help move of my inventory xD


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## Barry (Apr 21, 2020)

Bobbyd67 said:


> Haha I ain't there yet  I do see it on other clones listing and it would probably help move of my inventory xD


Yeah even if they have no clue what caps are, they'll think it's obliviously something


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## zgrav (Apr 21, 2020)

Barry said:


> Yeah even if they have no clue what caps are, they'll think it's obliviously something


... unless the person buys the pedal and starts looking in the shipping box for the Red WIMA hat....


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## chongmagic (Apr 22, 2020)

The red color makes them faster. Everybody knows that.


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## falzhobel (Apr 22, 2020)

I've got my first Tayda leaking cap this week. I'm at about 400 built and it was a grey one... I like the short legs of the Red one, when you're building a lot, it saves time to have clear space to solder. But I doubt it worth 3x$.


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## Nostradoomus (Apr 22, 2020)

1 out of the thousand you’ve probably used is very acceptable haha


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## Moltenmetalburn (Apr 23, 2020)

BurntFingers said:


> I like them because they're red.
> [/QUO


 I also like red.


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## falzhobel (Apr 23, 2020)

Nostradoomus said:


> 1 out of the thousand you’ve probably used is very acceptable haha



Exactly, I doubt I'd find less defective in any other lot.


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## Ratimus (Apr 23, 2020)

HamishR said:


> It's odd because in an amplifier I definitely _can_ hear a difference between caps - or at least I'm sure I can! But in a pedal I don't know.



That makes sense because both the temperature and the voltage are much higher in an amp, and one of the biggest differences between capacitor types is how they change value under those conditions.


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## HamishR (Apr 23, 2020)

I always worry about myself becoming a cork-sniffer when I can hear a difference in these things!  But I swear the Sozos I use in my amps sound better than orange drops or even Mallory 150s. The Sozos sound full and less brittle than ODs and brighter than Mallorys. Extremely subtle differences, and I couldn't tell you what the caps in an amp were just by listening, but I'm certain I can hear an improvement when I switch to Sozos. But then we are talking about hundreds of volts in these things, not 9V or less.


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