Capacitor lead + 4 pin socket question

[Neuronal]

Hi all -

I'm in the process of upgrading my Paramount, and bought some 4.7 uF Jupiter copper/paper/wax output caps. They are huge, but will just fit with some 3D printed adapters, I think.

The issue I'm having - which I suspect may be one that is common across many amps - is that the leads on these things are too short to make it to the terminals (if I bend them the leads barely extend beyond the barrel of the cap!). Any advice on ways to solder on extensions that will be minimally horrible to the signal? I think they are silver leads - should I match materials?

Before installing I want to replace my 4 pin socket for the 300B, since the stock one has cracked (still works at least for now). Paul, I read somewhere on the forum that you don't like to repair setups with non-stock 4 pin sockets in any amp since they can be finicky. Would it be ok to use one of these: https://www.partsconnexion.com/ANSOCKT-81911.html or should I just call the Queen and buy a 1:1 replacement?

As always, thanks to all for the advice!

[Paul Birkeland]

There are two different sockets that came with the Paramounts.  This is one:
https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/socket-4-pin-ceramic-chassis-mount
It's the same as your Audio Note socket, but it's $20 less.  Personally I would prefer whatever these are plated with over silver, as they seem to be quite resistant to corrosion over time.

The other socket wasn't around that long and it's tough to find photos of them.  It's basically two separate wafers of ceramic held together by the pin contacts themselves.  If you need one of these, I have a few sitting around.  On amps that took these sockets, the new ones won't drop into the hole and you end up having to do a little finagling to get something else to work well.

As far as the giant cap goes, there's a lot more room in a Kaiju! 

[Neuronal]

Thanks for the suggestion, Paul - I'll get a couple of those and go from there....