Bottlehead crack and speedball vs woo audio wa7 hey guys, ive got a bottlehead crack plus speedball with upgraded tubes and have an opportunity to get a second hand wa7. Upgrading the bottlehead crack headphone amplifier. The base crack was always been a bit too soft, polite, and sweet for me when ive auditioned in the past, while the darkvoice gave a more. Tube expansion issues and methods compiled by mark bloodworth hydroswage product manager haskel international inc.
Bottlehead mainline diy amplifier passion for sound. In this build, i found the treble could range from more laid back to more snappy depending on tubes. I wont really venture into any upgrades i also cantt see how you can inprove the crack. A 12au7 input tube serving as a voltage amplifier, directly coupled to a 6080 power tube as a cathode follower output. Compared to the bottlehead crack, the otl crack is the faster amp of the two, it it clearer sounding and focuses more on the treble. You basically receive a bunch of parts and wires, along with four pieces of wood, a aluminium chassis and a couple of tubes. I bought the crack and its speedball upgrade after i got my hands on a pair of massdrop x sennheiser hd 6xx headphones. Overall, the mainline clearly holds its place as the flagship bottlehead amp and is currently the best amplifier i have ever heard. Im going though phases of getting different types of tube amp pp, set, hybrid, otl and comparing them to one anoher. Jan 05, 2017 two amps that will have more of a tube sound than the valhalla would be the bottlehead crack or woo wa3.
Bottlehead crackatwoa otl tube headphone amplifier build audio. At this moment in time ive only changed the output tube. Here is my impression of the t90 after listening through then crack. When i tried the t90 with the crack, it was jawdropping i also tried the hd700 with the crack, but it didnt have the same improvement effect. Live from the turntable club kingston 1975 jah bottlehead aka alexander portious who plays love is overdue using a comb and bottle. Wasnt expecting anything from the listed raytheon jrp6080wb since i had that one with my crack originally and the 6hs that replaced it was way better. Crackatwoa is a premium version of the direct coupled crack circuit with the c4s active loads of the speedball incorporated, and also shunt voltage regulation in the form of two 6aq5 tubes along with a bigger power transformer. Right now im having too much fun tube rolling with my new bottlehead crack, so heres the quick rundown.
Today i got the ecc82 in the mail and now my crack has a bunch of popping and a low but rather loud hum. The bottlehead crack is a tube amplifier in kit form. To assure a proper tube joint, the tube wall must be reduced by a predetermined percentage. I have a crack and think a tung sol 5998 is the best ive tried so far. Bottlehead actually offers a premium version of the crack called the crack atwo. Bottlehead forums are a spectacular resource, go to the crack subforum for questions and assistance building this amp. Ive had the chance to try out another power tube a russian 6hc 6as7. There are people who will build it for you at an extra cost. Bottlehead crack headphone amplifier tube mazetube maze. Review by headfonia the headphone enthusiasts website.
In addition to the cost of the amps you also need to factor in the cost for tube rolling to get the sound qualities you. Too much love, as ive showered it with affection in the form of output and driver tube rolling. I understood this is a very expensive jurney, and not everyone appreciate it. Tube rolling with the bottlehead crack, any advice or. Also, what is the best tube combination on the original crack you find in tube rolling. I rotate the output tube between gec 6as7g and 6080, bendix solid. Bottlehead crack wspeedball 4 tubes amplifier tube audiogon. Logged xonar essence stx schiit bifrost bottlehead crack ts 7236rca 5963 hd800s. Lots of tube rolling for flavoring but at the end of the day, i think you can do better. Now i got a box of a few 6080s from different brands. There are three pairs of rca input jacks and a volume and balance control. The marvelously addictive bottlehead crack page 2 innerfidelity. Dc rectify 12au7 check valvewizard for proper procedure killed all the hum i had use low noise diodesgets rid of hum to driver tube if there are problems things that have crossed my mind that i believe are unneccessary elevated heaters check valvewizard for how to do this rightlowers heater hum in theory, ime does nothing on the crack. I dont really want to roll any tubes, the stock sound perfect.
The bottlehead crack is an outstanding first project for the novice audio diyer. Doc and queen have been in the business of selling tube based kits for quite some time and have earned an excellent reputation for. Did anyone notice the a2293 is only 0,95a more driver options. The crack arrived, and to my surprise they had included a user building guide that includes stepbystep with pictures. The woo audio wa7 fireflies ampdac is a combination of high performance vacuum tube headphone amplifier with a builtin usb digitaltoanalog converter. Sep 18, 2012 resources bottlehead web site and crack product page. Although there are still benefits to be had by rolling tubes after. 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. Power tubes tung sol 6080 came as stock tung sol 6080wb solid graphite plates w copper grid post chatham 6as7g bendix 6080wb slotted plate w copper grid. Bottlehead has some really great forums for the crack, including information on tube rolling, speedball, capacitor and potentiometer upgrades, and just general wisdom. Sub1500 x 4 jbl lsr 308 for economy operation pioneer sx780.
The final finish turned out much better as a roller spread the paint out evenly. Tube rolling is a fun and easy way to tweak the sound to your preferences. This is what i decided to do as my first foray into tube rolling. So now you have assembled your stock bottlehead crack otl. 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. A new chapter in my own tube rolling adventures going from 3 to 4 tubes on my crack. Yaqin mcs stereo tube amplifier setup, tube change, and howto bias the amp. I took the speedball back out since it hurt my ears and tube rolling seemed to make less of a difference. Also just like the crack, the first step for the s. Two amps that will have more of a tube sound than the valhalla would be the bottlehead crack or woo wa3. Superlative performance with crack upgrade but is again aimed at the 800 650 600 phones 300 and 600 ohm types. The basic circuit is the same but also includes ccs loads and high voltage shunt.
Hi asr, wanted to share my build of my bottlehead crackatwoa headphone. Just finished the bottlehead crack build, which was a ton of fun and it sounds great. So please share with us, what tubes you have rolled and enjoyed. Amplifier if youve read my other posts, youd know that i enjoy building bottlehead gear. Cyanide bottle roll leach test leaching procedures. Tube expanding is based on engineering principles, involving elasticity and plasticity, to compress the od of the tube against a fixed container, such as rolling tubes into tube sheets, drums, ferrules or flanges. The included tubes are of decent quality and can be expected to provide years of great sound. After that, itll be game on for further upgrades, tweaks, and tube rolling. The performs well outside of its price but again is an otl diy. 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. This is just a simple case of following the instructions and wielding a screw driver and pair of long nose pliers from timetotime.
Very likely you enjoyed the build process and now are wondering whats next. My best recommendation priceperformance for crack output tubes for those who wish to do tube rolling would be 1. Hi all, as an avid tube roller and owner of a bottlehead crack speedball, i wanted to start a dedicated thread for tube rolling. Keep an eye out until you find a deal if you are really interested in the 5998.
Although thats my first post here, what i said is based on my many years tube rolling experience using the 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. The only modifications to the amp so far are an alps blue velvet potentiometer and input and output tube upgrades. Or you can find a used one so you dont have to build it yourself. Have you tried planar magnetic headphone on bottlehead crack. Nov 19, 20 ive built two bottlehead kits and will receive my third in a few days. Jul 23, 20 and bottlehead crack i mention earlier with the ember. From the crack, it was onward and upward to my 600. Im not going to start with the normal list of specifications for the crack because its so variable due to the. My crack is almost complete, still cant find a matching volume knob. Tube rolling is a very worthwhile activity with this amp. The 7236 is an ok tube but its not as good as a real nos 5998.
Bottlehead stereomour kit thinking about building a 2a345. The 5 calibers to claim the most powerful handgun in the world title reupload duration. Bass with the crack is punchier but not as deep and it doesnt quite have the same rumble. 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. 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. There are many highly average 12au7s tube sidegradepurgatory but a few that are very good worthy upgrade siemens silver plate ecc82 worthy upgrade. The supplied sylvanias were changed with philips ecc81 1957 tk1s d foil getter, telefunken ecc81s and gec a2900s. I believe the 6sn7 is the same as a 6080 the same as the output tube on a bottlehead crack.
The bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier is widelya praised a for its smooth, but neutral and detailed sound. My first was a bottlehead foreplay 2 that had been my preamp at home for a long time, over 10 years. List equipment required to perform of a standard bottle leach test winchester bottles, with tops plastic tape to seal tops of bottles flexible air lines for possible aeration requirements magnetic or mechanical stirrer for agitation timer, ph meter, thermometer and weighing device leachants, i. The amp sounds a bit warmer now, with a bigger soundstage, plenty of bass, and maybe a hair less vivid treble. The t90 just pairs really well with the bottlehead crack, and i recommend anyone who gets this headphone to get the crack. Only needing one power tube and one input tube, tube rolling is one of the most fun things to do with the crack, and you can easily tune the sound to your liking. The signal darted along my connexdhlabs blag silver interconnects to my crack. 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.
I had had occasional popping before, but nothing that lasted. Hifiman he with bottlehead crack otl audiobot 9000. The bottlehead crack is a superb introduction into the world of diy audio. Current tubes are a tung sol 5998 in place of the 6080 and an rca.
Thanks very much for the practical method to id 12a. Use hifi shark to monitor pricing and global availability. I thought i knew this disc like the back of my hand. Completely purchased diy and builtpainted on my own. The bottlehead crack otl headphone amplifier bottlehead has been known to me many years before i purchased my first kit from them. I am a big fan of tapes and own two external tape preamps. I dont think any other diy project comes with stepbystep pictures, and it makes such a big difference especially for less experienced diyer. The new pt10 power transformer has a single high voltage secondary that feeds a pseudo dual mono supply, and an. Tube rolling with bottlehead crack steve hoffman music. 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. Review of bottlehead crack for wiki this post is just for the wiki. If you plug that tube into the crack, it will glow very brightly and live a very short life. The two stage zero feedback rc coupled circuit uses parallel feed a. One can go to the bottlehead forum and the crack tube rolling thread, has all the acceptable tubes listed.
I waited until black friday to grab it from their website for 15% off. Im planning to post a build write up on the base as i have a bunch of pictures of the process and final product. Apr 25, 2012 i had my eyes on crack for quite some time. Driver tubes are readily available and cheap to try with a good influence on the sonic character of the amp.
Svetlana 6hc comes with otk stamp, winged c, blabla from russia large soundstage, mellow everything, good tone. The foreplay finally gave up the ghost this year so i ordered a beepre preamp to replace it. Probably should go digging in some tube rolling threads now xp tube addiction. Fwiw, tube rolling can indeed make a difference in your crack. The question is why someone criticized me without trying at least some of the tubes i suggested. This is a quick build log of bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier with. 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. Ive been exploring different output tubes for the crack over the last few months and. It is perhaps the best bargain of the group but cannot drive a lcd3 as well as other here. This is a quick build log of bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier with some pictures and little stories. 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.
Its a great tube choice for a clear sound with a bump up in bass. Every tube amp ive tried that isnt a hybrid has been the same with the q. I have both a bottlehead crack high impedance headphone amp and seduction phono preamp, both with the obligatory c4s upgrades. Compared to the bottlehead crack, ive always enjoyed the darkvoice more. 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. 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.
All three lived up to the expectation to be an upgrade from. Bottlehead claims on its website btw that over 90% of those parts are sourced in the usa. The 9au7 is the same as a 12au7 except its expecting either 9v or 4. Im looking to start tube rolling now as the tube store has a 40% off sale for black friday. The bottlehead crack otl headphone amplifier diy audio. Im wondering what the sound differences would be between these amps. The marvelously addictive bottlehead crack innerfidelity. Sounds great, no background hiss whatsoever because. Tube rolling with the bottlehead crack general dacampdap. 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 parts quality is very good, the documentation is truly excellent, the bottlehead forums provide fantastic peertopeer assistance, and construction is very easy. 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. A bottlehead forum threads on suitable tubes for rolling and output cap upgrades.
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