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Replace large electrolytic capacitors with multiples smaller ones in parallel

Posted by jorisdallaire (A) on October 31, 2023 at 11:13:55

Hello all,

In the very near future I will have to replace large 22000uF/50V electrolytics in my vintage amp. These are the beasts labelled C4-x in the picture. Problem is, the amp being more than 30 years old these caps have gained unobtainum status and to add insult to injury, the amp case has so low of a profile that I can't find modern replacements that would fit in there height-wise.

So I was thinking of designing a PCB that would have a round footprint to fit in place of the large caps, and fit multiple parallel caps on it to get to the required value.

Now I value this amp and don't want it to blow because of this mod, so would like to hear from inmates that have replaced large caps with multiple smaller ones. Are there any precautions to take, perhaps fit a current limiting resistor on the bank? A concern I have is that modern caps with lower ESR once paralleled could present too much a load for the transformers and bridge rectifiers upstream. Bridge rectifiers can be replaced yes but these transformers are also low profile and potentially hard to replace if they fail.

Potential advantages I see are multiple, first by having better technology and much lower total ESR than the original caps, the ability to use a combination of caps with different sound characteristics, e.g. for example a couple large ones of good quality for the bulk of the capacitance combined with smaller ones of superior quality, perhaps fit a low value film cap in the mix for a faster transient response.

Thanks in advance for any insights.
-Joris

Edits: 10/31/23

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