Does Changing the Tone Capacitor Change the Tone?

00:00 – Intro
00:24 – Test Layout
05:29 – Tone Setting = 10 – Clean
06:26 – Tone Setting = 5 – Clean
07:24 – Tone Setting = 1 – Clean
08:24 – Tone Setting = 10 – Distortion
09:22 – Tone Setting = 5 – Distortion
10:22 – Tone Setting = 1 – Distortion

The Not-So-Scientific Tone Capacitor Experiment
This isn’t a scientific experiment—let’s be clear about that. The results you hear are totally subjective. My goal here is simple: to satisfy my own curiosity. I’ve built hundreds of wiring harnesses, some of them so often I could do ’em in my sleep. It’s kind of crazy that I’ve only ever done some minor tinkering with swapping out capacitors to see how they’d affect my tone.
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The Setup
For this video, I’ve got my guitar wired up with two wires coming out of the control cavity. The red one’s soldered to the third lug of the tone pot, where one leg of a capacitor would normally go. The black wire’s soldered to the back of the pot, to ground, which is where the other leg would be. At the ends of both wires, I’ve got alligator clips soldered on.
These clips will let me quickly swap out the five capacitors I’ve lined up for this test. I’ve taken five capacitors that are commonly used in guitar circuits and glued them to small, labeled cards for easy handling.
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The Capacitors
The values of the caps I’m testing are:
• 0.01 µF
• 0.022 µF
• 0.033 µF
• 0.047 µF
• 0.05 µF
The 0.05 µF isn’t super common. I actually thought it was a 0.1 µF at first, but when I finally got a good look at the values printed on the tiny disc, I realized its true value. I decided to keep it in the test anyway.

I’ve also marked my tone knob with a simple line so I can easily see where it’s at positions 1, 5, and 10. I’ll get more into why that’s important later.
— The Science of the Tone Circuit
So, how does this all work? The capacitor and the tone pot form what’s known as a low-pass filter. Here’s the deal: when you turn the tone knob all the way down to its lowest setting (let’s say 0 or 1), the potentiometer’s resistance is at its minimum. This routes the most high-frequency signal to the capacitor. The capacitor then does its job, filtering these high frequencies to ground. What’s left is a darker, warmer sound.
The capacitor’s value is what really defines the filter’s range. A higher-value capacitor (like a 0.047µF) will roll off more high-frequency content and reach further into the midrange, giving you a darker tone. A lower-value capacitor (like a 0.022µF) will only roll off the very highest frequencies, leaving a brighter tone even when the knob is fully down.
When the tone knob is cranked all the way up to 10, the potentiometer’s resistance is at its maximum. This means almost no signal is being sent to the capacitor. In this position, the capacitor has a minimal effect, and any tonal differences will be very subtle.
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The Testing Process
To really hear what each capacitor does, I’m gonna follow a specific process.
Setup
First, I’m using the same guitar for the whole test.
• Same pickups
• Same strings
• Same everything except for the capacitor value.
I’ll be playing the same chord progression every time, with the same cadence and pick attack. My amp and any pedals I’m using will stay on the exact same settings throughout the entire process.
The guitar is a Telecaster Partscaster with an MJT body and Fender Maple Neck.

The pickups are from Guitar Brain, their “Legendary 50s” Custom Shop set, which are hand-wound to replicate the original vintage pickups from 1952.

The specs on these pickups are:
• AlNi3 magnets in the bridge pickup.
• AlNiCo5 magnets in the neck pickup.
• Custom-made Plain Enamel wire.
• Scatter-wound coil.
• Neck – 7.55 K
• Bridge – 7.72 K

The Test Steps
Here’s how I’ll compare them:
1. First, I’ll listen carefully with the tone knob fully open at position 10.
2. Then, I’ll roll the knob to the midway position at 5. I’ll turn it exactly halfway and listen for the difference.
3. Next, I’ll roll it all the way down to 1 to hear how the tone changes as you sweep the entire range. This is where you’ll really hear the unique effect of each capacitor.
4. I’ll play a clean chord progression at each of these three positions (10, 5, and 1).
5. Finally, I’ll repeat the whole process again, playing the same chord progression at all three positions, but this time, with distortion.

I will play the chords in the guitar’s middle position using both pickups. I am sorry – if I were to play each (pickup) position, I would have 99 samples, and the video would be just too much.
I decided to group the samples at the end of the video by tone knob value. This way you can compare each capacitor at the same tone knob settings.

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Originally posted by UCRvDWHLh1q7WA3qMlKlTt2w at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY3A-T6a0Eo