Crumar Musical Instruments User Group.

My Strat sounded fine, but the power supply ran hot. I O-scoped it,
and several of the outputs were oscilating, more so when cold...
I changed some output caps, and added some more around the regs (78XX
likes caps to gnd on in and out-there were none installed!!)
 It does not seem to sound any different, but the  supply outputs are
stable now+it is BARELY even warm to the touch. If anything is going
to go bad with time, it's caps!

> If anything is going to go bad with time, it's caps!

Electrolytic caps don't last forever, but they die much sooner
if they get hot.  Ones in power supplies, especially near heat
sinks, will generally die sooner.

Electrolytics are available in 85 deg C and 105 deg C temperature
versions - use the 105 degree ones in hot places.  They're not much
more expensive and will last longer.

An ESR meter is useful for checking electrolytic caps in circuit.


Steve