[Paladin79]

Unfortunately I am working seven days a week right now but I could get started on a few things when mine shows up, at least the metal plates and cabinet. I will need a low voltage ac source for my VU meters and I may go with a wall-wart and a decent grade of cable going into the box. It is easy enough to unplug it to insure there are no issues.

 

[LikeABell]

  Unfortunately I am working seven days a week right now but I could get started on a few things when mine shows up, at least the metal plates and cabinet. I will need a low voltage ac source for my VU meters and I may go with a wall-wart and a decent grade of cable going into the box. It is easy enough to unplug it to insure there are no issues.

I'm just wondering, won't a VU meter degrade the quality of the audio signal in any way?
 
Do note I have no knowledge of all this.

 

[Paladin79]

  I'm just wondering, won't a VU meter degrade the quality of the audio signal in any way?
 
Do note I have no knowledge of all this.

If properly done I doubt it would affect much. Such meters have been used for decades on audio equipment. No matter what, I own three oscilloscopes and various other equipment with which I can examine the signal. My biggest concern is shielding and grounds. Generally you have chassis ground, signal ground, and power supply ground. I have not looked over the pdf's much yet but if anything I will probably over shield parts of mine to be safe. Twisted pair is good, shielded twisted pair is even better but you only want to connect the shield to the source end in my experience. It has been a while since I studied tube theory but I am hoping some of it comes back to me lol.

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

  I'm just wondering, won't a VU meter degrade the quality of the audio signal in any way?
 
Do note I have no knowledge of all this.

If properly done I doubt it would affect much. Such meters have been used for decades on audio equipment. No matter what, I own three oscilloscopes and various other equipment with which I can examine the signal. My biggest concern is shielding and grounds. Generally you have chassis ground, signal ground, and power supply ground. I have not looked over the pdf's much yet but if anything I will probably over shield parts of mine to be safe. Twisted pair is good, shielded twisted pair is even better but you only want to connect the shield to the source end in my experience. It has been a while since I studied tube theory but I am hoping some of it comes back to me lol.

There is a ground that runs throughout the Crack's circuitry. My guess is that you want everything "ground" related to be in sync with the central ground that runs throughout the Crack. all the voltage checks assume it's the same ground.

 

[Paladin79]

 
There is a ground that runs throughout the Crack's circuitry. My guess is that you want everything "ground" related to be in sync with the central ground that runs throughout the Crack. all the voltage checks assume it's the same ground.

That would in essence be chassis ground but I will know more when I see it up close. Since I will have three different copper plates I will look at running a common ground. between the three. If I have any issues I will troubleshoot it. I am still toying with the idea of grabbing a second unit since I may not hear this one in its standard state. I would like to do my own and have a reference. The way they appear to be selling on Ebay I doubt I would get stuck if I built two. There is one there now with a guy asking $650 that is pretty much stock except he spray painted the top plate. His wiring is nice but not $300 worth of nice. I could also try to borrow one, send a UPS call tag and then ship it back in a few days. Having not heard one yet, I prefer to approach things this way.

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

 
There is a ground that runs throughout the Crack's circuitry. My guess is that you want everything "ground" related to be in sync with the central ground that runs throughout the Crack. all the voltage checks assume it's the same ground.

That would in essence be chassis ground but I will know more when I see it up close. Since I will have three different copper plates I will look at running a common ground. between the three. If I have any issues I will troubleshoot it. I am still toying with the idea of grabbing a second unit since I may not hear this one in its standard state. I would like to do my own and have a reference. The way they appear to be selling on Ebay I doubt I would get stuck if I built two. There is one there now with a guy asking $650 that is pretty much stock except he spray painted the top plate. His wiring is nice but not $300 worth of nice. I could also try to borrow one, send a UPS call tag and then ship it back in a few days. Having not heard one yet, I prefer to approach things this way.

Asking price is irrelevant on eBay. Click the 'Completed Listing' check box to see what stuff actually sold for. that said, an well mad stock unit should sell for what you paid, but remember that you lose money with eBay and paypal fees.

 

[Paladin79]

 
Asking price is irrelevant on eBay. Click the 'Completed Listing' check box to see what stuff actually sold for. that said, an well mad stock unit should sell for what you paid, but remember that you lose money with eBay and paypal fees.

Yeah I know this Allan, I have been dealing with ebay since its inception and with a similar company prior to that. I merely stated there was one on there asking that price. I am well aware of the fees as well, I have in excess of 1,000 sales and purchases there.
 
There was also one with an ASKING PRICE of $345 nonworking. Odd thing though it states it has speedball with it but I do not see that in the internal view lol.  The seller did add later that the speedball is new and uninstalled. It would not be a bad deal except I do not want to pay quite that much for a non-working one since there is a working unit with Speedball installed that could go for similar money or less.

 

[Paladin79]

 
Quote:

  I'm just wondering, won't a VU meter degrade the quality of the audio signal in any way?
 
Do note I have no knowledge of all this.

I did some research and I do believe I will be fine with the VU meters. It has been years since I studied D'arsonval meter movements in college but the old analog meters will add some style and substance to the amp in my humble opinion. I may have to vary a series resistance to get the deflection I am hoping for but that theory I know. The meters have a range of 100 to 500 micro amp and they are not hard to hook up. I will have more trouble mounting them onto the 1/8 inch copper plate but I do have a variety of metal hole saws on the way. I also have a Dremel tool and a three in one Dremel device that can do routing and can cut circular holes 
 
I just ordered a second bottlehead crack that I will build stock. I will then have a baseline with which to compare any changes I make to the second crack. When and if all goes well I already have all parts needed to build two Cracks using copper plate, quartered oak, VU meters, dual volume controls etc. I will then list one on Ebay so see what others feel it might be worth. (The value of an item often rests in what people are willing to pay for it.) This may not be the best approach but it is my approach. Worst case scenario is the second amp does not sell and I have one to use in my office at work
 
They are not mounted yet but here is the general idea for vu meters with dual volume controls to be centered on the front of the cabinet. The dials should give off a yellow glow and all you will see are two circles when mounted, possibly some brass headed rivets or bolts.
 
Tom

 

[deserat]

 
That would in essence be chassis ground but I will know more when I see it up close. Since I will have three different copper plates I will look at running a common ground. between the three. If I have any issues I will troubleshoot it. I am still toying with the idea of grabbing a second unit since I may not hear this one in its standard state. I would like to do my own and have a reference. The way they appear to be selling on Ebay I doubt I would get stuck if I built two. There is one there now with a guy asking $650 that is pretty much stock except he spray painted the top plate. His wiring is nice but not $300 worth of nice. I could also try to borrow one, send a UPS call tag and then ship it back in a few days. Having not heard one yet, I prefer to approach things this way.

I dunno. Crack with Speedball is about 414 + tax.  So $250. Given it takes about 8 hours to build... that's roughly $30 an hour. Seems fair to me for a quality job built to sell. My auto mechanic certainly charges more.  I think people undervalue the time put into building the thing. For some of us it's a labor of love, but for most people it's why they don't own one. I'm always blown away when I see a Bottlehead build go for at  or just above it's kit value unless it's been used for a few years. But to each his own... 

 

[Paladin79]

 

I dunno. Crack with Speedball is about 414 + tax.  So $250. Given it takes about 8 hours to build... that's roughly $30 an hour. Seems fair to me for a quality job built to sell. My auto mechanic certainly charges more.  I think people undervalue the time put into building the thing. For some of us it's a labor of love, but for most people it's why they don't own one. I'm always blown away when I see a Bottlehead build go for at  or just above it's kit value unless it's been used for a few years. But to each his own... 

This guy does a nice job with the build but Bottlehead certainly makes it easy enough for anyone to build one if they take their time and read the directions. I think he said he got $650 for one on another site so more power to him. My labor of love will be in the cabinet and appearance, I have built some of my own electronics and designed some test equipment so it will not be overly difficult but it has been ages since I messed with tube circuitry so I am looking forward to that. I can recall hot and cold bias and a few choice things but my memory is a little rusty on some of the theory. Too long in solid state for me lol.  It is not life or death to me if I do not sell the second one and I will probably have $600 in materials on each when done, (kit plus upgrades). I am not concerned about the labor, I am guessing it will take me six hours to do a stock build but I may install some connectors to make the changeover easy once my testing is done. 

 

[DavidA]

 

I dunno. Crack with Speedball is about 414 + tax.  So $250. Given it takes about 8 hours to build... that's roughly $30 an hour. Seems fair to me for a quality job built to sell. My auto mechanic certainly charges more.  I think people undervalue the time put into building the thing. For some of us it's a labor of love, but for most people it's why they don't own one. I'm always blown away when I see a Bottlehead build go for at  or just above it's kit value unless it's been used for a few years. But to each his own... 

I was like you a few years ago and decided to take the plunge and build my own.  The cost of kit + speedball and the tools needed (multi-meter, soldering station, solder, flux, etc) was about $450 since the kit + speedball were on sale at the time.  It took me about 14 hours to build, started at 5pm and finished at 7am, granted my GF helped and we enjoyed a few bottles of wine along the way but the skills gained have remained and have enhanced my love of audio and saved me more than enough to pay for the equipment I purchased a few times over.  I've built new cables for almost all my headphones, done mods for removable cables on a few Grados, Beyer T1/DT-990, MDR-7506, ATH-M50, K553, TH-600, TH-900, and build a few headphones along the way. 
 
I can understand that its not for everyone but if you have ever considered building your own cables or even to repair broken cables, and other simple house hold task building the Crack is a great learning tool and the knowledge you gain will be useful for years to come.

 

[Paladin79]

  I was like you a few years ago and decided to take the plunge and build my own.  The cost of kit + speedball and the tools needed (multi-meter, soldering station, solder, flux, etc) was about $450 since the kit + speedball were on sale at the time.  It took me about 14 hours to build, started at 5pm and finished at 7am, granted my GF helped and we enjoyed a few bottles of wine along the way but the skills gained have remained and have enhanced my love of audio and saved me more than enough to pay for the equipment I purchased a few times over.  I've built new cables for almost all my headphones, done mods for removable cables on a few Grados, Beyer T1/DT-990, MDR-7506, ATH-M50, K553, TH-600, TH-900, and build a few headphones along the way. 
 
I can understand that its not for everyone but if you have ever considered building your own cables or even to repair broken cables, and other simple house hold task building the Crack is a great learning tool and the knowledge you gain will be useful for years to come.

Well said David.I taught my son some electronics starting when he was four and he was able to repair his own plasma tv not too long ago with me shipping him a few parts. All knowledge is good. Just making a few measurements inside the amp with a voltmeter will help a few people down the road. I bought a kit from an individual knowing my kit has not shipped yet from Bottlehead, I am anxious to get going with both of the amps I will build. My son may end up wanting one of the two after he sees the outcome, or he will hate it, generally there is no in between.

 

[Timoteo80]

Getting back to Crack discussion, hopefully the amps ordered during the sale will ship soon. I check shipping status but nothing as yet.

Took 6 weeks to get my SB upgrade as well & that was just before the sale. I hope yours ships soon. Plan on 4-6 weeks from order date. They are pretty good at that time frame & im sure they were somewhat prepared for the larger than normal order volume during the sale. BTW I STILL haven't installed the SB hahaha. Stock Crack is just mesmerizing & I haven't wanted to mess with it yet

 

[Paladin79]

Took 6 weeks to get my SB upgrade as well & that was just before the sale. I hope yours ships soon. Plan on 4-6 weeks from order date. They are pretty good at that time frame & im sure they were somewhat prepared for the larger than normal order volume during the sale. BTW I STILL haven't installed the SB hahaha. Stock Crack is just mesmerizing & I haven't wanted to mess with it yet

I finally bought a second kit from an individual that should be here in a couple days. Still waiting on Bottlehead to ship but I have not checked them lately. I am building one stock, so I will know how my modified one compares. I am lacking two brown bakelite octal sockets if anyone out there has a couple they want to unload. Gold or brass plated preferred. I bought some from a photo on ebay from off shore and they turned out to be black bakelite with silver housings.

 

[TeeReQs]

Looks like they are still on orders from 2/28. I'm sure there was a ton from the sale.