Do I need to “form” my new caps on a variac?
You never need to form new caps. The only caps that need forming are older electrolytics in amps that haven’t been played for some time, and NOS electrolytic caps that have been on the shelf a long time. These caps should be brought up slowly on a variac. If you have just bought an old amp you suspect hasn’t been played in a while, take it to a tech and have this done. If you expect to need to do this more than a couple of times in the next few years, do some research and get a variac, and learn how to do this. It’s not hard, but there are things to consider (such as filament voltage). • What are power attenuators? Power attenuators are devices used to reduce the amount of power going from the amplifier to the speaker. As opposed to a volume control on an amp, attenuators are almost always external, outboard devices. Some examples are the THD Hotplates, Scholz Power Soak, Marshall Power Brake, Altair units, and Rocktron Juice Extractors, among others. People use power attenuators becau
You never need to form new caps. The only caps that need forming are older electrolytics in amps that haven’t been played for some time, and NOS electrolytic caps that have been on the shelf a long time. These caps should be brought up slowly on a variac. If you have just bought an old amp you suspect hasn’t been played in a while, take it to a tech and have this done. If you expect to need to do this more than a couple of times in the next few years, do some research and get a variac, and learn how to do this. It’s not hard, but there are things to consider (such as filament voltage). [This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 21 February 2002 at 02:30 PM.
