Crack;Bottlehead OTL - Page 90

Bottlehead customers learn patience.   You are ordering from a small business, not Amazon.com.

 

I waited for 2.5 months. It'll be worth it guys, be patient ;)

Hey guys im new here and looking for a first audiophile set-up. I'm just wondering what degree of electronic knowledge one needs for this DIY kit? I have the basics at soldering but thats pretty much it...

None is required. The circuit is set, and the instructions are very complete, even walking you through voltage checks. A basic knowledge of soldering is all that is required.

BASIC knowledge of soldering, emphasized.  As in: I've never soldered anything before, went to Home Depot, bought a soldering iron and solder, watched a 5 minute YouTube video on how to solder, then built the Crack amp in two evenings by myself.
 

No need for practice really... Just start off with the instruction manual that Doc & team has put together.  Not too much can be damaged from overheating in the first few pages I believe, so there's your practice.  Again, I reiterate, I've never soldered before;  the Bottlehead Crack amp was my first time soldering ever, and I've since completed the Crack, installed a different potentiometer, speedball upgrade (well worth it), and new capacitors.

 

Thanks for the information, I'm interested to know why you would replace the potentiometer and new capacitors? How long did the speedball upgrade take you?

Just a quick update - we have been hammering on our parts suppliers to get us the parts we need for the gigantic number of orders we got on cyber Monday. Parts are coming in, our kids are on winter break from college and stepping up to help pack, and Queenie says we will begin shipping those orders this week. It may take a week or two to get them all out as some more parts are due to arrive over the next several days, but be assured we have the packing pedal to the metal at Bottleheadquarters.

Glad to see business is good, Doc! Congrats.....I hope it keeps going for you.

Looks like plenty of Crack addicts will be joining the family over the holidays. I spent most of last weekend listening to 650s on Crack. A truly magical experience!
Edited by Draygonn - 12/10/12 at 10:50pm

Thanks doc for the update!!

Can't wait to start on it, I think it would really be great if we could have a condensed FAQ thread about the crack amps.

Don't know if it is really any easier to plow through than this 90 page thread, but you might peruse the Crack category on the Bottlehead Forum. 5400 posts, 435 topics - at least the different Crack related topics have subject headers. We also have a fair coverage of FAQs on the Crack product page and a separate page that discusses good headphone matches for Crack.

A friend/co-worker suggested the potentiometer upgrade.  I don't know if I've heard an audible difference, but it looks cool and it's a little smoother back and forth... (That's me admittedly not understanding the full science of a potentiometer and quality).  The capacitors did make a difference, in addition to the speedball upgrade.

 

If you're looking for more info as to how the upgrades work and differences, as Doc said, check out the Bottlehead forums under the "Crack" category and there are pages and pages and pages of people's crack builds and input/feedback.

Does anyone have in-line attenuator recommendations? I'm running from a SBT at 100% and want more volume play without dealing with the channel imbalance at the low end

Anyone have experience with these? What's a good db to use?
http://www.amazon.com/Harrison-Labs-Line-Level-Attenuator/dp/B0006N41B0/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=A385A0XNQBW8HY

Edited by Draygonn - 12/14/12 at 7:33pm

Just use an alps potentiometer.

Double post