Latest Thread Images

Crack;Bottlehead OTL
Sep 2, 2015 at 11:18 PM Post #7,306 of 12,346
Quick question, I have a very small collection of tubes, about 10 total. How do you guys store your tubes? It doesn't make sense for me to buy a large amount of boxes when I don't plan on getting more than maybe 15 tubes total.
 
Sep 2, 2015 at 11:50 PM Post #7,307 of 12,346
step 1: Steal a couch cushion with soft squishy foam and remove from the covering
step 2: stab X's into the foam
step 3: insert tubes
 
Sep 3, 2015 at 12:15 AM Post #7,308 of 12,346
armaegis said:
  step 1: Steal a couch cushion with soft squishy foam and remove from the covering
step 2: stab X's into the foam
step 3: insert tubes
Click to expand...

Or get one of those "executive sandboxes" and arrange your tubes in it. It looks like a working amp and protects the pins from oxidizing.
 
Keep the kitty out of it.
 
Sep 3, 2015 at 7:11 AM Post #7,309 of 12,346
Wow, have I just been through an ordeal with my Crack,
It all started with my RCA jacks failing, I then got a replacement for them, which worked for about half a song and then it gave out.
I went through a long process to figure out what has gone wrong, I then assumed (Lets say made an educated guess) that the tubes gave out with the RCA kerfuffle.
I then ordered some tubes, a Tung-sol 5998 and an Amperex 12AU7 Bugle boy, which took 6 weeks to struggle its way through South African customs.
A couple of days before the tubes arrived I decided to listen to my HD 650's without the crack (I know blasphemy :p) I plugged them into my Asus essence ST, which wasn't working.
IT WAS THE SOUND CARD. I could have used my crack for the ENTIRE 6 weeks that I was patiently waiting for the tubes.
The problem with this is that now I have to plug my Crack straight into the back of my PC, which is really very noisy, but I have my crack back, with new tubes.
Besides the huge amount of noise that my PC puts onto the signal and that pretty awful quality of the on board DAC I have to say these tubes are unbelievable.
Before I heard them I though the tubes would make a small but noticeable difference, but it really makes a very big difference,
I understand what people mean about the HD650 "Veil" now.
They bring significantly more treble presence to the party. I am hugely impressed.
The next step is to get a new DAC, I was thinking an HRT music streamer ii, is this a good buddy for a Crack with HD 650's? I have only heard good things about it.
Enough of the long winded story, I think it is picture time, I took the 6 weeks to also "Restain" the box of my crack.

 

 

 
Sep 3, 2015 at 8:27 AM Post #7,310 of 12,346
EyuiOL-8ff.jpg
Akwpa-Skj2.jpg
mich4lle said:
  Wow, have I just been through an ordeal with my Crack,
It all started with my RCA jacks failing, I then got a replacement for them, which worked for about half a song and then it gave out.
I went through a long process to figure out what has gone wrong, I then assumed (Lets say made an educated guess) that the tubes gave out with the RCA kerfuffle.
I then ordered some tubes, a Tung-sol 5998 and an Amperex 12AU7 Bugle boy, which took 6 weeks to struggle its way through South African customs.
A couple of days before the tubes arrived I decided to listen to my HD 650's without the crack (I know blasphemy :p) I plugged them into my Asus essence ST, which wasn't working.
IT WAS THE SOUND CARD. I could have used my crack for the ENTIRE 6 weeks that I was patiently waiting for the tubes.
The problem with this is that now I have to plug my Crack straight into the back of my PC, which is really very noisy, but I have my crack back, with new tubes.
Besides the huge amount of noise that my PC puts onto the signal and that pretty awful quality of the on board DAC I have to say these tubes are unbelievable.
Before I heard them I though the tubes would make a small but noticeable difference, but it really makes a very big difference,
I understand what people mean about the HD650 "Veil" now.
They bring significantly more treble presence to the party. I am hugely impressed.
The next step is to get a new DAC, I was thinking an HRT music streamer ii, is this a good buddy for a Crack with HD 650's? I have only heard good things about it.
Enough of the long winded story, I think it is picture time, I took the 6 weeks to also "Restain" the box of my crack.

 

 
Click to expand...

Excellent work man!
 
Sep 3, 2015 at 12:00 PM Post #7,311 of 12,346
Those are among the favourite tubes out there - a nice upgrade for sure. Can't comment on the HRT Microstreamer, but at least you found the cause of your woes. There's a ton of good DACs out there now to choose from without breaking the bank.
 
Sep 4, 2015 at 6:55 AM Post #7,312 of 12,346
demoninja said:
  Quick question, I have a very small collection of tubes, about 10 total. How do you guys store your tubes? It doesn't make sense for me to buy a large amount of boxes when I don't plan on getting more than maybe 15 tubes total.
Click to expand...

I'm using an old tin from some peppermint bark for my small tubes and a large tin from a bottle of scotch and lined them with some foam I had laying around. More often than not, the boxes the tubes are shipped in aren't in great shape so this is a better solution for me. Plus I can easily move/carry them this way.

 

 
Sep 4, 2015 at 11:45 AM Post #7,313 of 12,346
Wow you guys really get into this storage stuff. I just have a stack of file boxes full of tubes in the basement, and odd tubes scattered here and there all over the shop, the basement, the office...
It's like "Oh look, an egg crate full of Telefunkens. Forgot I had those".
 
Sep 4, 2015 at 2:26 PM Post #7,315 of 12,346
Careful what you wish for. I had a storage unit about half full of tubes for many years, maybe 10,000?. A friend came over and drove away a jam packed Suburban full of them several years ago. He still has 'em, and his wife is still unhappy about it. Since that purge I'm down to 30 or so file boxes full. They get slowly consumed by various projects. 
 
Sep 4, 2015 at 4:18 PM Post #7,316 of 12,346
Time to build a brutish unsophisticated amp that uses a dozen tubes per side Doc
tongue.gif

 
Sep 4, 2015 at 5:31 PM Post #7,317 of 12,346
That was the plan years ago for the boxes full of 6080s I had. I was going to build a massive OTL amp with them. I even had some 6.3V 50A filament transformers to use. Then PB thought up the Crack, and they were all gone in a few weeks.
 
Sep 8, 2015 at 2:39 AM Post #7,318 of 12,346
Aha one last question for now. Didn't feel like starting new threads on the Bottlehead forum directly for all these small questions. Is there any concern of the top plate rusting or was that just the bell end. I didn't paint either one of them before I assembled and I'm hesitant to disassemble the amp because of how long it took me to get a completely silent amp and I rather like the finish of the top plate already. 
 
Sep 8, 2015 at 8:45 AM Post #7,319 of 12,346
demoninja said:
Aha one last question for now. Didn't feel like starting new threads on the Bottlehead forum directly for all these small questions. Is there any concern of the top plate rusting or was that just the bell end. I didn't paint either one of them before I assembled and I'm hesitant to disassemble the amp because of how long it took me to get a completely silent amp and I rather like the finish of the top plate already. 
Click to expand...


I believe the top plate is aluminum and will never rust.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 6 (members: 0, guests: 6)
Back
Top