Bottlehead crack tube rolling process

Ive tried most of the the usual suspect and im currently running a tungsol 5998 and a cbshytron 5814a in mine and lovin every minute of it. Or you can find a used one so you dont have to build it yourself. I have the sonic euphoria passive as well, along with diy speakers. Tube rolling with bottlehead crack steve hoffman music. Mar 27, 2014 the 5 calibers to claim the most powerful handgun in the world title reupload duration. Oct 15, 2016 recently completed my second bottlehead kit. There are a few tube rolling posts on that other site and the bottlehead forum. A 12au7 input tube serving as a voltage amplifier, directly coupled to a 6080 power tube as a cathode follower output.

The bottlehead crack is a fully do it yourself project, which is perfect for getting your feet wet. This is especially true if you ask the question on the headfi forums. Welcome to headphone heights, the place for all your ear bud discussion follow ups post followup thread. Mar 09, 2010 im planning to post a build write up on the base as i have a bunch of pictures of the process and final product. I had had occasional popping before, but nothing that lasted. Discussion in audio hardware started by john storey, nov 22, 2017. This is what i decided to do as my first foray into tube rolling. Bottleheads basic headphone amplifier kit, the crack, is probably the most well known, and best regarded, kitbaseddiy headphone amplifier there is. Probably should go digging in some tube rolling threads now xp tube addiction.

I hope youve come away with some newfound insight on tube amp vs solid state, and have a better idea of the differences in each. I just purchased a bottlehead seduction phono preamp. Upgrading the bottlehead crack headphone amplifier. The current tubes are some kind of made in holland generic tube. Jan 05, 2017 two amps that will have more of a tube sound than the valhalla would be the bottlehead crack or woo wa3. It pairs perfectly with high impedance headphone amps like the sennheiser hd 600 or hd 650.

Dualmono setup with alps pots and film output caps. I see theyve brought out a new crackatwoa kit now hard to imagine that much could be improved really. You have to combine the parts and solder them to get a working amplifier made and you also have to sand and paintapply varnish to the. Stereo pot still in place, can be rewired for single volume control jj ecc802s g. The crack remains an astounding achievement in terms of pricetoperformance ratio and its the only bottlehead amp to provide the fun option of tube rolling to tune the sound. Im going to guess that the crack is bottleheads all time most popular kit. I really like it, but have barely used it for the last little while. Ive been wanting to build the bottlehead extended foreplay iii, its good to know how much you enjoy it. Sounds great, no background hiss whatsoever because of speedball upgrade. Review by headfonia the headphone enthusiasts website. This is a quick build log of bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier with some pictures and little stories.

What ive read, the bottlehead crack is a very good match for the high impedance senns. After completing the base build, jameson added the speedball upgrade kit to integrate a c4s board into the circuit and has rolled in. In this build, i found the treble could range from more laid back to more snappy depending on tubes. The bottlehead crack is an outstanding first project for the novice audio diyer. Dec 04, 2018 bottleheads basic headphone amplifier kit, the crack, is probably the most well known, and best regarded, kitbaseddiy headphone amplifier there is. It typically takes four weeks to get the parts made for your kit. My crack at this point is far from stocktung sol 5998 output tube nos mullard cv4003 input tube.

I pretty much agree about the 6080 tube, ive tried a few different brands and not much to talk about. Sand up to 400 grit then apply mohawk precatalyzed sanding sealer. Overall, the mainline clearly holds its place as the flagship bottlehead amp and is currently the best amplifier i have ever heard. I built several kits and my own projects before i built those amps.

Tube rolling is a fun and easy way to tweak the sound to your preferences. Bottlehead crack the stupendously good diy headphone amplifier. The only modifications to the amp so far are an alps blue velvet potentiometer and input and output tube upgrades. This one was built with audioquest perfect surface copper wiring, and includes an alps blue velvet volume control. Hi all, as an avid tube roller and owner of a bottlehead crack speedball, i wanted to start a dedicated thread for tube rolling. Of course the design needs to be simple enough for point to point, otherwise it would be quite a nightmare to build. Step by step one is walked through the process in language that any layperson can understand.

I purchased this pair after bottlehead incorporated the soft start feature which also changed the driver to a 5670 tube from whatever it was before. Hello mingles, i also admire your approach to building a system, diy is much more fun than plugnplay. While id certainly play around with various tubes on the woo, i wouldnt be nearly so apt to start hacking into the circuit with capacitor, resistor, and potentiometer. Works well with highimpedance headphones like sennheiser hd6xx650600800, beyers, and high end zmf. In addition to the expert build, he chose a beautiful color for the powder coat, and made the wooden base look very nice. So ive been looking forward to stepping my game up, and after a month of research, i found that the 650s are exactly what i want. We ordered a couple of cracks right before the price increase was announced more on that later so that probably. Theres a good bit of info regarding all kinds of tube rollingmods etc on the bottleheadcrack forum. And of course you can tweak to your hearts content tube rolling different 12au7 and 60806as7 variants. You basically receive a bunch of parts and wires, along with four pieces of wood, a aluminium chassis and a couple of tubes. Doc and queen have been in the business of selling tubebased kits for quite some time and have earned an excellent reputation for. Bottlehead forums are a spectacular resource, go to the crack subforum for questions and assistance building this amp. Doc and queen have been in the business of selling tube based kits for quite some time and have earned an excellent reputation for providing easily accessible and excellent sounding kits. The marvelously addictive bottlehead crack innerfidelity.

The 9au7 is the same as a 12au7 except its expecting either 9v or 4. So now you have assembled your stock bottlehead crack otl. There was only 1 output tube i rolled that i thought may have sometimes been too hot in the treble the russian 6hc. Sep 18, 2012 resources bottlehead web site and crack product page.

The crack has gone up in price a little bit since its. Originally announced in 2010, the crack is an affordable tube based headphone amplifier kit offered by the bottlehead corporation located in poulsbo, washington state, usa. The bottlehead crack diy tube headphone amp kit youtube. I took the speedball back out since it hurt my ears and tube rolling seemed to make less of a difference. The kit went together very well even after i fluffed one of the soft start boards and required a replacement which was fulfilled in a very timely fashion. Just finished the bottlehead crack build, which was a ton of fun and it sounds great. The imposing 6080 dualtriode power tube did not light up. Yes, you can use all the 6080 subs as well as the gazillion 12au7 subs in the crack. I finished it last weekend and i didnt have one issue.

Here you will find vacuum tube based amplifier, preamplifier and headphone amplifier kits, speaker kits, finished high end tube audio products, reel to reel tape machine upgrades, parts, and one of the finest support communities on the web. The bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier is widelya praised a for its smooth, but neutral and detailed sound. Tube rolling with the bottlehead crack general dacampdap. The included tubes are of decent quality and can be expected to provide years of great sound. I bought this bottlehead crack off another cam user about 6 months ago hoping to get some use out of it i have next to 0 experience with tube amps and thought it would be a good start. The bottlehead crack is a superb introduction into the world of diy audio. Today i got the ecc82 in the mail and now my crack has a bunch of popping and a low but rather loud hum. I received this in exchange for some work i did for him. Display all email headphone heights alert moderator bottlehead crack.

Bottlehead actually offers a premium version of the crack called the crackatwo. A cdrom containing a 30page illustrated instruction manual is your guide. Bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier professionally built. The parts quality is very good, the documentation is truly excellent, the bottlehead forums provide fantastic peertopeer assistance, and construction is very easy. Ive had the chance to try out another power tube a russian 6hc 6as7. When my wife asked what the risks were in checking those, i said there was virtually no chance of death by electrocution but a slim chance of a high voltage shock. Ive looked through their selection, and decided on a 6080 replacement, the winged c 6hc 6as7g and narrowed my choices for the 12au7 down to three choices.

The crack maintains its warm sound regardless of tweaks and tube rolling. Crack would need a 6sn7 and an enlarged chassis hole to accomodate the octal socket. After that, itll be game on for further upgrades, tweaks, and tube rolling. The amp sounds a bit warmer now, with a bigger soundstage, plenty of bass, and maybe a hair less vivid treble. Fwiw, though it doesnt really mean anything useful for the crack, there is also an 8sn7.

There are people who will build it for you at an extra cost. Im not going to start with the normal list of specifications for the crack because its so variable due to the. And do check out the on line community for the crack. Right now im having too much fun tube rolling with my new bottlehead crack, so heres the quick rundown. The bottlehead crack otl headphone amplifier diy audio. The bottlehead crack otl headphone amplifier bottlehead has been known to me many years before i purchased my first kit from them. Custom crack includes crackheadphones with 12 mogami cable. Ive been exploring different output tubes for the crack over the last few months and.

Bottlehead crack with extra tubes for sale canuck audio mart. Apr 11, 2015 one very strong suggestions build it without the speedball first. This beautiful tube headphone amplifier was built by one of my friends who is one of bottleheads lead engineers. I can tell you that the build process was truly enjoyable in and above itself. Bottlehead chassis, wood bases and speaker cabinets, transformers, pc boards and even that nifty little bottlehead badge are all made to order in the usa. The audibility of colouration introduced by a tube amp is massively overstated and if any often. Bottlehead mainline diy amplifier passion for sound.

The bottlehead crack is a tube amplifier in kit form. Have you tried planar magnetic headphone on bottlehead crack. If you own a pair of sennheiser hd600, hd650 or even the hd800 flagship model, this is what many will recommend you to buy. A bottlehead forum threads on suitable tubes for rolling and output cap upgrades. Although there are still benefits to be had by rolling tubes after.

Bottlehead crack wspeedball 4 tubes amplifier tube audiogon. All in all i had waited two months to listen to the music since i had received a 5keys box of crack in february filled with over 100 parts. The only danger is in getting a bit carried away with rolling different valves to see what difference they make to the sound. Also just like the crack, the first step for the s. Aug 06, 2010 there are a few tube rolling posts on that other site and the bottlehead forum. Current tubes are a tung sol 5998 in place of the 6080 and an rca.

I have little bit over two years old bottlehead paramount monoblocks built by me. If you plug that tube into the crack, it will glow very brightly and live a very short life. I dont think any other diy project comes with stepbystep pictures, and it makes such a big difference especially for less experienced diyer. I see theyve brought out a new crack atwoa kit now hard to imagine that much could be improved really. Bottlehead has a thread on rolling tubes in the crack 79 pages to date. Is hard to troubleshoot a problem build if you do the crack and speedball all at once. A tung sol 5998 output tube got a deal, they are expensive with bin on ebay and a 1952 6sn7gta chrome dome tube with a garage1217 adapter. I have rather a lot of 12au7 and equivalents here, and 6080s.

Bottlehead crack tube headphone amp with speedball upgrade. Personally, i think it is the best bang for your buck headphone amp that you can get. First the challenge and fun of building has been a truly invigorating experience. Those big sprague lytics insert an unknown into the equation since im not sure what the sonic qualities of those might be. Im planning to post a build write up on the base as i have a bunch of pictures of the process and final product. Quicksand battery powered solid state amplifier read more. The crack is designed to hook you on your first try. Currently, i find the tubes to be not very detailed or transparent.

The marvelously addictive bottlehead crack page 2 innerfidelity. Most of the well documented experimentation has been with 100uf film caps or the stock panasonics. A few people said that the crack was more responsive to tuberolls presb so i decided to do all my rolling first. After thoroughly enjoying the crack for over a year, i decided it was time to enjoy the next step up in the bottlehead range for both a challenge and a new step towards audio nirvana. I bought some of the tubes even before it was finished and in the process. I bought the crack and its speedball upgrade after i got my hands on a pair of massdrop x sennheiser hd 6xx headphones. I waited until black friday to grab it from their website for 15% off. The company was created by the president for life dan doc b schmalle in the mid1990s, and primarily offers diy tube audio kits for both headphones and home stereos. Bottlehead claims on its website btw that over 90% of those parts are sourced in the usa. The 5 calibers to claim the most powerful handgun in the world title reupload duration. The parts quality is very good, the documentation is truly excellent, the bottlehead forums provide fantastic peertopeer assistance, and construction is very. The thing about tube amps, though, is that all the characteristics i noted could easily change with a little tube rolling. This is just a simple case of following the instructions and wielding a screw driver and pair of long nose pliers from timetotime. Ordered a bottlehead crack headphone amp last night, steve.

Before the crack, ive built a tube amp with point to point wiring before and i think its a lot more fun than soldering components into plain pcbs. It is an alltube outputtransformerless otl design, intended to. The basic circuit is the same but also includes ccs loads and high voltage shunt. Im looking to start tube rolling now as the tube store has a 40% off sale for black friday. Originally announced in 2010, the crack is an affordable tubebased headphone amplifier kit offered by the bottlehead corporation located in poulsbo, washington state, usa. I think that the amp is fine but that i need to do some tube rolling before things start to work for me in my system.

Oct 03, 2015 dont care enough about tube rolling to investigate further. The crack comes with the most userfriendly instruction manual i have ever seen for any product. I will be interested in tube rolling and i believe these three amps are all pure tube amps, and not hybrids, if i am wrong. A great little tube headphone amplifier at a pricepoint nearly anyone can afford that sounds very good for the money, its really hard to go wrong here. Very likely you enjoyed the build process and now are wondering whats next. Completely purchased diy and builtpainted on my own. The chassis plate is finished in a translucent blue powder coat. Bottlehead seduction and tube rolling help audiogon. Apr 03, 2019 the bottlehead crack is a superb introduction into the world of diy audio. Offering custom bottlehead crack with speedball tube amps, built by one of their lead engineers.