2. amps-preamps
  3. 1140004109

Replacing caps in a Mesa Baron and need some help.

I'm on unfamiliar ground here and I hope you guys can help me out. I'm assuming bypass caps would be in the neighborhood of the tube sockets, and power supply caps would be in the area of the transformers? Mesa is sending me their recommended Wima caps, all are .1 uf. Are there better caps? And are caps actually designed to be bypass (amplifier) caps, rather than for instance, crossover caps? Just for reference, I have always felt that the Baron amp is a bit overstated in the bottom end, but liquid midrange and treble.
240zracer
himu's avatar
himu
6 posts
 
Hello,

The 8 signal caps were orginally sprague 715's
(red/orange color)and are located in line center of board close to the
rca input jacks. I did not like all 0.1 wima caps made
the sound to thin I put half wima and left the other
715's in there. You may have to use wire extensions to
connect the wima's. I am assuming you are using the 5881
tubes, tubes will change the sonic signature also.
Questions give me a call!
240zracer OP
121 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. What you say makes sense. I went a little crazy and ordered 8 V-Cap TFTF caps. They are soldered in and I am waiting for the Wimas from Mesa which should be ok for the power supply.....I hope.....cause the V-Caps are indeed expensive. I wonder if it makes any sense to bypass the Wimas with .01 Multicaps, which I have laying around?? I read the reviews on the V-Cap, and couldn't resist. Yes I am using 5881s, Himu. Are there other brands of 5881 that you have experience with, or other tubes entirely? If my senses are correct, my Mesa sound (in the past) has a tiny bit of grain in the treble, somewhat overstated and not completely controlled bass, and very sweet mids. I sure am hoping for some nice results, cause I sure am nervous soldering in the amp. Really close connections in there.
240zracer OP
121 posts
 
Stumbled on my old thread so here's an update. The old Baron has new life. The V-Caps are burned in by now. Threw those Wimas away....there is no way I could solder in a 1/8 inch long lead.....put Eton caps in there. Sold all my Nordost cable, and bought Syn Res Ref. Hardwired crossovers with Kimber hook-up and Cardas posts. Ran dedicated power. I now have sweet voice and violin with no edge or grain, and powerful, tight bass. Every change I made was a noticible improvement. I no longer think the old Baron is a weak link in any way. The only one thing I should probably address, is that I can't quite get the bias to where it should be. The hotter the amp gets, the closer the bias gets to it's proper setting, but not quite. But, this is the first time ever that I don't have a huge urge to change something......well....maybe a new Wadia :)
More to discover