[attmci]

Nice! That should helo a lot of new comers ...

This is what my crack looks like ...im in the process of moving this over to a 10x10 planel and a larger frame - https://imgur.com/a/EYi11

Nice job on the upgrades.

I am so glad I hadn't taken the same route. LOL

 

[bloodhawk]

Nice job on the upgrades.

I am so glad I hadn't taken the same route. LOL

Haha yeah, it was pretty tricky to get everything in there. And now since i dont use the Crack as much , rarely actually, wanted to move to a more spacious panel and clean things up.

 

[Kitchener]

Oh my god, I love you!
-both of you that is!
I love seeing how people mod their Cracks, it's such a great source of inspiration.
Those albums/guides are right up my alley, Bloodhawk and Allanmarcus.
Especially for someone like me who don't know s**t about circuitry; learning by doing/asking (monkey see, monkey do).

My plan right now is:

• Get the Speedball in, once it gets here (I've ordered both my BH kits over holidays; Crack before Christmas, Speedball before Easter, waiting can be torturous!)
• Then I'm fitting Mundorf Mcap MKPs (100uF, 250V) as outputs with 1uF Mundorf bypasses (I'm basically copying this guy)
• TKD 2CP-601 pot.
  
• Choke, Hammond 157M.
• And either a 100uF 250V cheapish film cap replacement or just a 2.2uF bypass on the last lytic cap in the PSU.

I've been thinking of doing the Cree mod, but I haven't done any research on it so I was a little apprehensive.
But that great photo you posted, Alanmarcus, has pushed me over the edge; I'm totally doing that!
Thanks a lot


By the way.
I'm going to fit the output caps with metal brackets/clamps, these.
But pretty much everyone else uses strips.
Can metal fastenings result in problems with grounding/noise/something? -I'm baring my ignorance here, so bear with me

 

[bloodhawk]

Oh my god, I love you!
-both of you that is!
I love seeing how people mod their Cracks, it's such a great source of inspiration.
Those albums/guides are right up my alley, Bloodhawk and Allanmarcus.
Especially for someone like me who don't know s**t about circuitry; learning by doing/asking (monkey see, monkey do).

My plan right now is:

• Get the Speedball in, once it gets here (I've ordered both my BH kits over holidays; Crack before Christmas, Speedball before Easter, waiting can be torturous!)
• Then I'm fitting Mundorf Mcap MKPs (100uF, 250V) as outputs with 1uF Mundorf bypasses (I'm basically copying this guy)
• TKD 2CP-601 pot.
  
• Choke, Hammond 157M.
• And either a 100uF 250V cheapish film cap replacement or just a 2.2uF bypass on the last lytic cap in the PSU.

I've been thinking of doing the Cree mod, but I haven't done any research on it so I was a little apprehensive.
But that great photo you posted, Alanmarcus, has pushed me over the edge; I'm totally doing that!
Thanks a lot


By the way.
I'm going to fit the output caps with metal brackets/clamps, these.
But pretty much everyone else uses strips.
Can metal fastenings result in problems with grounding/noise/something? -I'm baring my ignorance here, so bear with me

No problemo. Feel to shoot me a PM or post here if you need any help.
This is how i had my rectifier bridge setup before the actual tiny PCB got delivered xD - https://imgur.com/a/b2bgr

The brackets shouldn't be a problem, till the time they are not shorting or coming in contact with any active joints. That ones reason why a lot of people like to use zip ties .

Another cool way would be to use these - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GSXN45K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 or These - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HR9VS4I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Swap out the existing double sided tape with some Gorilla Double sided tape and then run zip ties through them.

That photo Alanmarcus posted with the proper pinouts should pretty much be made sticky lol.

 

[Allanmarcus]

That photo Alanmarcus posted with the proper pinouts should pretty much be made sticky lol

Sorry, this is the Crack thread, not the S.E.X. thread!

 

[attmci]

Haha yeah, it was pretty tricky to get everything in there. And now since i dont use the Crack as much , rarely actually, wanted to move to a more spacious panel and clean things up.

Man, you should tell the guy if the replacement of the Crack PSU cap has any impact on the sound quality. I doubt that.

If that's true, then, what's %? 1, 2, 3%?

But don't get me wrong. The Crack is a great $400-500 amp.

 

[bloodhawk]

Sorry, this is the Crack thread, not the S.E.X. thread!

Im confused? I dont see any S.E.X related post?

Man, you should tell the guy if the replacement of the Crack PSU cap has any impact on the sound quality. I doubt that.

If that's true, then, what's %? 1, 2, 3%?

But don't get me wrong. The Crack is a great $400-500 amp.

Well towards sound i dont think so. At least nothing major changed. The most difference i noticed with PSU mods was with the rectifier that really cleaned up the background. From what i remember, the only noticeable difference would be apparent if one replaces all the PSU caps with equivalent (or larger) film caps. But the problem is that film caps of those values are 1. too expensive and not worth it and 2. too large to fit in the stock chassis.

Sonically, as in therms of the sound signature the most difference is noticeable from the output caps and the TKD pot. Stock pot to Alps isnt all that noticeable other than the channel imbalance. But Alps to TKD is a pretty big change.

All in all, there was about a 10-15% change in sound signature after all the mods, if that even makes sense.

 

[Kitchener]

Man, you should tell the guy if the replacement of the Crack PSU cap has any impact on the sound quality. I doubt that.

Fact is, I don't expect to hear any difference from anything other than the Speedball.
Some people are probably going to look at me like I've just fallen out of a tree for saying this.
But I'm not much of an audiophile, frankly.
I had a hard time telling the difference between my phone and the Crack while listeningen through my Beyer DT770.
I haven't bothered trying my Senn HD6XX on my phone because I don't want to have the same experience.

Tube rolling?
Fuggedabboudit, can't tell a Mullard from a Clear Top from a Gold Lion, not a chance..
-hell, by the time the tubes have warmed up after switching, I can't even remember what the previous tubes sounded like.

Bottlehead clearly state that the Speedball will make a clear, noticable change in the Crack's sound.
So I'm looking forward to that.
But subtle changes, probably not gonna notice.
Film caps? Subtle.
PSU mods? Very subtle.

My point is, I'm just doing this for the fun of tinkering.
-I miss the smell of solder at 2 am.
And as far as I can tell, at least none of these mods will make the sound worse, so any noticeable improvement (imaginary or real) is just an added boon

I'm not saying modding and tube rolling doesn't alter the sound!
What I am saying is that I just don't have the ear for it and I envy those who do.

 

[attmci]

Fact is, I don't expect to hear any difference from anything other than the Speedball.
Some people are probably going to look at me like I've just fallen out of a tree for saying this.
But I'm not much of an audiophile, frankly.
I had a hard time telling the difference between my phone and the Crack while listeningen through my Beyer DT770.
I haven't bothered trying my Senn HD6XX on my phone because I don't want to have the same experience.

Tube rolling?
Fuggedabboudit, can't tell a Mullard from a Clear Top from a Gold Lion, not a chance..
-hell, by the time the tubes have warmed up after switching, I can't even remember what the previous tubes sounded like.

Bottlehead clearly state that the Speedball will make a clear, noticable change in the Crack's sound.
So I'm looking forward to that.
But subtle changes, probably not gonna notice.
Film caps? Subtle.
PSU mods? Very subtle.

My point is, I'm just doing this for the fun of tinkering.
-I miss the smell of solder at 2 am.
And as far as I can tell, at least none of these mods will make the sound worse, so any noticeable improvement (imaginary or real) is just an added boon

I'm not saying modding and tube rolling doesn't alter the sound!
What I am saying is that I just don't have the ear for it and I envy those who do.

Go for it! And be sure to posts pics.

Not sure if you have a DAC. Otherwise, you may need one.

 

[Kitchener]

Go for it! And be sure to posts pics.

You bet I will!
I’ve also got some neat new feet for the base coming, nothing like the amazing case mods some people around here do but I think they’ll look cool.

 

[bloodhawk]

Fact is, I don't expect to hear any difference from anything other than the Speedball.
Some people are probably going to look at me like I've just fallen out of a tree for saying this.
But I'm not much of an audiophile, frankly.
I had a hard time telling the difference between my phone and the Crack while listeningen through my Beyer DT770.
I haven't bothered trying my Senn HD6XX on my phone because I don't want to have the same experience.

Tube rolling?
Fuggedabboudit, can't tell a Mullard from a Clear Top from a Gold Lion, not a chance..
-hell, by the time the tubes have warmed up after switching, I can't even remember what the previous tubes sounded like.

Bottlehead clearly state that the Speedball will make a clear, noticable change in the Crack's sound.
So I'm looking forward to that.
But subtle changes, probably not gonna notice.
Film caps? Subtle.
PSU mods? Very subtle.

My point is, I'm just doing this for the fun of tinkering.
-I miss the smell of solder at 2 am.
And as far as I can tell, at least none of these mods will make the sound worse, so any noticeable improvement (imaginary or real) is just an added boon

I'm not saying modding and tube rolling doesn't alter the sound!
What I am saying is that I just don't have the ear for it and I envy those who do.

Thats a great mindset along with being the correct one, before going into these mods. A lot of feedback post mods is highly exaggerated, and the most difference you will ever notice is from tube rolling.

But as compared to the DT770 you will definitely notice more a difference with the HD6XX. Because of the output impedance of the amp.

 

[Paladin79]

I went more for looks myself and some of my changes were functional but most times just cosmetic. I did make larger cabinets to have room for future additions. It is probably human nature after paying a large amount of money for some caps or whatever that they should help out but that is another reason I built two stock and listened to them side by side as I started modifying things. Hearing a before and after is never easy.

 

[Kitchener]

Thats a great mindset along with being the correct one, before going into these mods.

I generally try to keep a level head about most things
I’ll just be happy if I still works when I’m done with it.

I went more for looks myself and some of my changes were functional but most times just cosmetic.

I’ve been eyeing your latest build with lustful eyes for a long time!
I especially love the VU meters, I don’t really understand what they do, but they look very, very cool.

If I’ve understood this correctly, you use them to visualise balance between channels?

Could I put a VU meter in my normal “one-potted” Crack?
And is it difficult?

 

[Paladin79]

I generally try to keep a level head about most things
I’ll just be happy if I still works when I’m done with it.



I’ve been eyeing your latest build with lustful eyes for a long time!
I especially love the VU meters, I don’t really understand what they do, but they look very, very cool.

If I’ve understood this correctly, you use them to visualise balance between channels?

Could I put a VU meter in my normal “one-potted” Crack?
And is it difficult?

The VU meters are a measure of volume units, power. They will show when the channels are balanced and I run separate volume controls so I can tweak the balance a bit anyway. They come as a set with a control board for as low as $20 on EBAY or $30-$40 on Amazon. You can get them with yellow or white bulbs as I recall. The circuit board has a left and right channel input and shared ground, I ran mine off of the last stage, the headphone jack. You can also use that as a preamp out of course. They have some adjustment but the power was a bit high for the meter deflection so I put a current limiting resistor in line with the signal to each meter until I got it measuring into the red portion of the meter at a level a bit higher than I would normally listen. They are fairly important in my case because I run most all of my amps off of the preamp out of other amps, or dacs and there is generally a master volume control involved. I can see the level before I ever plug my headphones into this crack. If you buy a set I can walk you through setup, I ran a separate 12 v 500ma ac to dc converter to the pc board to light the bulbs. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2Pcs-VU-Panel-Meter-Warm-Back-Light-Cables-Recording-Durable-Driver-Board-Module/232698469460?_trkparms=aid=555019&algo=PL.BANDIT&ao=1&asc=20150817211623&meid=fda087ad5ed84ec58a9c588fe02145fb&pid=100505&rk=1&rkt=1&&itm=232698469460&_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226

Personally I would run two meters in your case, they will always read the same and I prefer the look of two if you have room. I am also a Gemini so I tend to do things in twos anyway. Each meter has four solder lugs on the back, two for the meter and two for the bulbs. I should have a spare set laying around so I can figure out which is which pretty easily. The yellow meters match up very well with edison bulbs on color. I also used magic Eye tubes in one build but on those you best have a very good understanding of electronics, power supplies, and how much current might do you some damage. Oh I lucked into some 100k single gang ALPS pots that seem stepped like ladder pots, I believe they might use surface mount resistors but I am not positive since they are sealed.

I gave the black amp to my son, the other one has 1/8 inch copper plates on top, front and back. I have turned down some hefty offers for it but it is a keeper.

https://www.amazon.com/Panel-Meter-...UTF8&qid=1523036099&sr=8-1&keywords=vu+meters

At least Amazon gives you a diagram of how to hook them up and this price is a bit better than I have seen before. I can access plugs for the sockets if you decide to get some or you can pull the sockets and hardwire to the control board.

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-EM87-A...qid=1523038218&sr=8-1&keywords=magic+eye+tube

Here is the option I used on another project, the magic eye tube. In this case it has like a bar graph of green that goes up and down with the change of volume level, comes with its own circuit board.
Sounds easy right? Then you realize you have to use a 250v supply to power this baby. I built my own; unless you happen to have one or have a good plan, I would avoid this option. This is more of a cool effect rather than a calibrated meter. I incorporated it on an amp to win a bet.

 

[Paladin79]

I am working on setting up a set of those meters now for a friend, if you have specific questions I should be able to help. He is coming out of an extra preamp out so i will have RCA connectors wired to the board. Tomorrow I do the fine tuning.