[R-390] Black beauties

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

Kenneth Crips wrote:

> I have a question about the so called black beauty, red stripes, etc.
> As I understand it these where made by Sprague. I have a bunch of these
> capacitors that are brand new unused.  Do these things deteriorate while
> in use over time, or by age regardless.  I would love to use them but
> if they are always bad I suppose it's a waste of time. 

Hi Ken -

I've read the responses to this and decided to add my 2� worth. My 
experience and understanding from other more knowledgeable than me is 
no, not all caps classified as 'Black Beauties' are bad, meaning of 
questionable design. Contrary to popular belief, there were several 
types and not just one. Some were black with red writing, some were 
black with yellow writing, some had a number of colored bands on them 
and so on. Having seen them in many applications over the years I've 
seen fewer of the obvious split and leaking than still intact examples. 
Not being an expert I won't try to tell you which ones are the types 
that almost always go bad because I don't remember. Instead my advice 
would be to at least test them and not dismiss them out-of-hand based on 
popular opinion.

Having said that, I'd also point out that even as NOS caps, they are 
probably 35+ years old at the very least. I'm not sure I'd want to 
install them into anything critical even if they check out okay. Might 
end up costing a lot. SBE Orange Drops are indeed inexpensive, they come 
in different types(not just one composition), and the company is located 
here in the USofA, not China. Recently a friend who works there told me 
that the vintage radio and guitar/audio crowd has pretty much been 
carrying the business through the slow time.

Roy had the best suggestion: sell 'em on epay. Consider that you're 
doing a service to some audiophile type by providing them with an 
original component not easily found these days. I saw someone post here 
once that this is 'wreckless and dangerous' or something to that effect, 
not sure why. Perhaps it was based on that general 'all of them are bad' 
statement. Regardless, where would we be if people refused to sell tubes 
to use because they could break and cut someone or because they use more 
energy than an IC chip? Or that old adage about "one man's trash.."

Someone sold a handful of them a few months ago for over $200. Doesn't 
take too many of those to make an R-390!

Good luck -

Boomer,  KA1KAQ