Mullard vs Bianchi capacitors

[London John]

I've found conflicting information about whether Mullard "mustard" capacitors and Bianchi capacitors are one and the same, save for branding. I doubt it really matters in the long run, but it's interesting, at least to me.

I have a friend who's owned an electronics shop for 50 years or so, and he swears the C296 Mullard caps are different.

Can anybody provide any definitive information?

Many thanks,
John

[Cobaltblue]

Hi John

This is what the Radiomuseum has to say on the subject

http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_herst...mpany_id=17611

Look like they built Philips 311 series caps known as mustards and as Mullard was a part of Philips

Cheers

Mike T

[MotorBikeLes]

You learn something every day. So Bianchi, like Ducati before them made capacitors as well as very good motorcycles.
Les.

[stevehertz]

So now the price of Bianchi capacitors will rise astronomically in the vintage amps market where mustard caps are considered the holy grail of 'tone'.

[deliverance]

Ain't that the truth.

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by MotorBikeLes

You learn something every day. So Bianchi, like Ducati before them made capacitors as well as very good motorcycles.

Bianchi cars and motorcycles came from Italy, Bianchi capacitors from Spain. Not the same Bianchi. Even the Spanish resistor manufacturer Bianchi & Ibarrondo is not the same company.

I wrote part of the above linked text on Bianchi on radiomuseum.org for much the same reason as the topic starter: after I spotted some Bianchi mustard capacitors and having done some online research. They are basically identical to mustard capacitors (C296 / 2222 311), they were even sold under the same type designations and it was likely they were at the very least produced under Philips license since Bianchi carried some other Philips series capacitors as well. Bianchi may have even been acquired by Philips at some point in time but I haven't found out any details on that yet.