Crack;Bottlehead OTL

[Todd R]

Glad it's working now. I sure love mine too.

 

[tdogzthmn]

What's everyone using with their crack?  Also we should get some pics up of our cracks!!!

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I've started the painting / staining process with my crack. Hope to move onto the actual soldering by next week.
 
I noticed the wood isn't staining too evenly, so other builders should be advised to use a pre-stain treatment. I'm just going to roll with it

 

[tdogzthmn]

Todd, I am giessing you mostly use your HD650 with the crack?  I think you should get some vintage AKGs, they really have a beautiful ring to them.

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Todd, I am giessing you mostly use your HD650 with the crack?  I think you should get some vintage AKGs, they really have a beautiful ring to them.

Yeah, just what I need, more headphones

 

[Doc B.]

 
Quote:

I noticed the wood isn't staining too evenly, so other builders should be advised to use a pre-stain treatment.

Usually alder takes stain very well, that's one reason we use it. What stain are you using? I get very good results with water base aniline dye, and the worst is probably the Minwax one step combo stain/varnish stuff. You may find that a second application of the stain evens out the color.

 

[tdogzthmn]

 
Quote:

 
Usually alder takes stain very well, that's one reason we use it. What stain are you using? I get very good results with water base aniline dye, and the worst is probably the Minwax one step combo stain/varnish stuff. You may find that a second application of the stain evens out the color.

Doc.  I am thinking about buying another base "just the wood" for my amp because I love to experiment with colors and finishes.  What is the price for just the wood?  By the way the amp has been running beautifully since I got it back and I have been most pleased.  I have been stuck using my NAD  player because my DAC is not good enough for the crack!  Let us know when the Bottlehead DAC is close!!!

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

 
Quote:

 
Usually alder takes stain very well, that's one reason we use it. What stain are you using? I get very good results with water base aniline dye, and the worst is probably the Minwax one step combo stain/varnish stuff. You may find that a second application of the stain evens out the color.

Doh, that's exactly what I'm using (Minwax one step seal and stain - Red Oak). I've put two applications on so far, and it looks like a third might help, but I don't think I'll be getting an even stain out of it no matter how many applications I put on. Live and learn, as they say.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Quote:

Let us know when the Bottlehead DAC is close!!!

Now that's something I'd be very interested in, there's a lack of tube DAC kits on the marketplace, or even affordable tube DACs in general (aside from a few Chinese designs), I think there would be quite a calling for it.

 

[tdogzthmn]

 
Quote:

 

Doh, that's exactly what I'm using (Minwax one step seal and stain - Red Oak). I've put two applications on so far, and it looks like a third might help, but I don't think I'll be getting an even stain out of it no matter how many applications I put on. Live and learn, as they say.

Regarding the stain did you sand the wood first?  Sometimes if you sand too hard or with too high a grit the wood can get burnished which prevents the pores in the wood from taking in stain.  

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I sanded with 180 and then 220, both pretty briefly with an electric sander.

 

[Doc B.]

I've never had good results with the one step stuff on any kind of wood. It's kind of surprising that it dominates the shelves at the home improvement stores. If you want to take another shot at it some day we do sell wood base kits by themselves. Around here we pretty much stick with premixed water based aniline dyes and Varathane Premium oil base polyurethane finish for dark colors and Varathane Diamond water base finish for the blond finish like you see on most of the web site photos. For a really amazing and astoundingly labor intensive old school finish I recommend aniline dye, a white shellac fill coat (Bullseye) and then several coats of hand rubbed Ace Hardware spray lacquer
 
Re the DAC, it's a pretty involved project and it will still be a while before it's ready. But it should be fairly versatile, capable of up to 192/24, and we're working to make it able to automatically adjust to different sample rates.
 
Looks like I may have some AKG1000s on the way, so I guess it's time to start planning a Paramount 300B headphone amp setup next...

 

[Canuck57]

 
I bought a used S.E.X. amplifier and didn't like the finish on the wood base so I sanded it down to bare wood and applied 3 coats of Danish Oil. It's VERY easy to work with, I've used it tons of times and highly recommend it. You just brush it on (or use an rag to apply it), wait about 20 minutes for it to sink in, then rub off the excess. Applying additional coats deepens the colour.
 
My Crack (pre-built my Bottlehead) came with the light blonde natural finish which is quite nice as well. Excellent amp.! T1s and 650s sound excellent with it!

 

[ironbut]

 
Quote:

 
 
 
Looks like I may have some AKG1000s on the way, so I guess it's time to start planning a Paramount 300B headphone amp setup next...

Sounds like you're hooked!
A Paramount K1000 amp is a natural. A nice sounding 300b amp with plenty of drive is just what those cans need IMHO.
If you can get one up and running by Oct., you should plan a trip to Denver to show off all your headphone offerings. John's running the Headfi end of that show again and I'm sure you'd be a very welcome addition to the headphone vendor list there.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/499107/canjam-at-rmaf-2010

 

[Doc B.]

Folks who were at the Bay Area Head-fi event last year may have heard a Paramount/K1000 setup that we were demoing. I'll check in with John.