replacing big capacitors with smaller ones?, noob

Sem55 · Guest

I have an old effect box for a guitar that I am trying to turn into a stomp box. The unit is quite small and the circuit is relatively simple. In order to have enough room to fit the battery, switch, and a second 1/4" jack, I would need to replace two huge capacitors with smaller ones.

They are both the same value (0.5uf 50volts), and measure about 22x17x7mm. The thing is, I dont know if there is a reason why they used these huge things instead of smaller ones, if it was because of the technology at the time, or because they were cheaper, the properties of the materials, or anything else. Like I said, total noob here.

The other one is directly behind this one.

So what I would like to know is, could I replace these with much smaller ones? Would the properties of different materials change the sound? The effect is like an adjustable stecatto on/off, very rough and choppy. Any input would be appreciated as I've been googling for days and I'm kinda stuck here.

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