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Crack;Bottlehead OTL

Jun 18, 2019 at 10:37 AM Post #9,601 of 12,435
Jun 18, 2019 at 6:59 PM Post #9,602 of 12,435
I know this gets asked a lot of times, but for the people who built it, is it too difficult for someone that had pretty much 0 experience with electronics? How long does it take to assemble it?

Edit: oh my god, someone revived this really old post and I commented here too, sorry mods :S
 
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Jun 18, 2019 at 7:21 PM Post #9,603 of 12,435
isitaheadset said:
I know this gets asked a lot of times, but for the people who built it, is it too difficult for someone that had pretty much 0 experience with electronics? How long does it take to assemble it?

Edit: oh my god, someone revived this really old post and I commented here too, sorry mods :S
Click to expand...

As long as you have the necessary tools and follow the directions carefully, anyone can do it. I would not recommend it someone who is impatient though, as it is possible to make a mistake and can be frustrating to go back and fix it. I would say it can be done in three sessions for the circuit, plus another for finishing the wood base and top plate. Maybe four evenings during a single week. Keep in mind you want to do the finishing of the base and top plate before assembling the circuit. You can always leave them as is though if you don't care about aesthetics.

Need to haves:
Soldering iron
Solder
Multimeter
Soldering wick or solder sucker (for solder removal)
Wood glue
Tape
Wire strippers

Nice to haves:
Wood finishing supplies (stain, top coat, foam brush, sand paper)
Top plate finishing supplies (spray paint is the most common method)
Bent nose pliers (these will make the whole process 100x easier, I like these ones: https://xuron.com/index.php/main/consumer_products/5/34)

The nice thing about building yourself is you can reuse these tools for other projects. For example, you have just about everything you would need to build your own headphones cables, besides the raw materials of course.
 
Jun 18, 2019 at 7:28 PM Post #9,604 of 12,435
L0rdGwyn said:
As long as you have the necessary tools and follow the directions carefully, anyone can do it. I would not recommend it someone who is impatient though, as it is possible to make a mistake and can be frustrating to go back and fix it. I would say it can be done in three sessions for the circuit, plus another for finishing the wood base and top plate. Maybe four evenings during a single week. Keep in mind you want to do the finishing of the base and top plate before assembling the circuit. You can always leave them as is though if you don't care about aesthetics.

Need to haves:
Soldering iron
Solder
Multimeter
Soldering wick or solder sucker (for solder removal)
Wood glue
Tape
Wire strippers

Nice to haves:
Wood finishing supplies (stain, top coat, foam brush, sand paper)
Top plate finishing supplies (spray paint is the most common method)
Bent nose pliers (these will make the whole process 100x easier, I like these ones: https://xuron.com/index.php/main/consumer_products/5/34)

The nice thing about building yourself is you can reuse these tools for other projects. For example, you have just about everything you would need to build your own headphones cables, besides the raw materials of course.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for these detailed instructions!! I’ll buy one very soon and I appreciate that you took your time to write this. I’ll give this a go since I’m studying Electrical engineering at college, so most of these tools I’ll end up buying either way.
 
Jun 18, 2019 at 9:30 PM Post #9,605 of 12,435
For people who have no experience with a soldering iron, it’s not a bad idea to practice with a small cheap circuit board kit that’s designed for students. You probably can find them at Amazon.com. Even if you mess up those little student kits, it does not predict you can’t build a tube amp.

My first practice soldering circuit kits and circuit board projects were disasters but I did successfully build a guitar tube amp anyway and it worked fine.
 
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Jun 18, 2019 at 11:53 PM Post #9,606 of 12,435
YouTube is your friend! also don’t heat the solder, but the joint =) the crack was my first foray into soldering and it was pretty easy....that being said I would do it again and I’m positive it would look nicer as I learned a lot during the process.
 
Jun 18, 2019 at 11:58 PM Post #9,607 of 12,435
isitaheadset said:
Thank you so much for these detailed instructions!! I’ll buy one very soon and I appreciate that you took your time to write this. I’ll give this a go since I’m studying Electrical engineering at college, so most of these tools I’ll end up buying either way.
Click to expand...

No problem, happy to answer any questions you may have. I have built the Crack + Speedball and the Crackatwoa, both great amps.

IMAG0024.jpg IMAG0035.jpg
IMAG0519.jpg IMAG0118.jpg
 
Jun 19, 2019 at 2:12 AM Post #9,609 of 12,435
I'm a Bottlehead addict and the next kit is on it's way.
In 2013 i've build my first Crack kit. When i got, i first had to go to the local hardware store and buy a soldering station and learn how to solder.
Since then, i've build various BH amps and DIY amps. Crack was my gateway drug.
I'm also a student but have no electronic or engineering background as you do, you'll be fine.

Something i've written on this forum before. It said:
A word on what makes these kits so special to me.:

What, for me, makes these kits stand apart from any other piece of audio equipement i own or have owned is not the sound quality. Good sound quality can be bought (usually at a far higher price). These kits can teach you, how your equipement works, what influences the sound and in the end, how to do it yourself. This is the essence of these kits. You can learn a thing or two from the experience. They can be anyones gateway drug into building your own high-end audio equipement. What these amps can teach you about audio electronics is often overlooked on "hi-fi forums" and is what i’m most grateful for.

A word on the Manual:

This is the most important thing with these Bottlehead kits and this is what makes them “easy” DIY kits for me. Their manuals are among the best manuals I’ve found with a DIY kit. It makes the kit accessible to be built by everyone. The PDF format manual is very thorough and I would recommend these kits to almost all ages (that can safely handle a soldering iron) and especially for those wanting to build their first DIY quality audio kit. The manual takes you trough the whole process step by step. It contains everything you need from start to finish. Aside from the actual build, it will guide a complete novice kit builder with everything you need to know about safety when building such a kit. They also include soldering lessons for both point-to-point and PC-board wiring/soldering.

There’s also enough advice on the best way to complete the woodwork and how to get a good-looking finish on the chokes, transformer bell and top plate.

When you’ve completed your kit there’s another five pages on the most common mistakes and how to troubleshoot your kit. I’ve found these tips also come in very handy for troubleshooting non-Bottlehead gear.


A word on the Bottlehead Forum:

The Bottlehead forum is the place to be when you’re not confident about a part of your build, when you get freaky voltages, or other troubleshooting errors with your build. Apart from that it’s also the place to be if you’re thinking of eXperimenting a bit with upgrades like I did (more on this later). On this forum, every question - whatever it is, is taken seriously and answered so that you’ll be able to continue your kit building journey and enjoy your product the most. This support forum is the part that got me confident enough to buy Crack (now 5-6 years ago). Be sure to have a look on it! Older topics are full of tips and tricks that might spare you some headaches with your future kit.

Life is not about the destination, it’s about the journey, and the journey is what Bottlehead kits are all about!
Click to expand...
 
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Jun 22, 2019 at 10:52 PM Post #9,612 of 12,435
Tom-s said:
A few month ago this video was posted on Vimeo. It tells all about the Bottlehead company.
Beyond that, it shows the whole process of building a kit.
A must watch imho!
Oh and here's one on Blumenstein Audio!
Click to expand...


Really cool video! Thanks for posting.
 
Jun 23, 2019 at 10:18 AM Post #9,614 of 12,435
Tom-s said:
A few month ago this video was posted on Vimeo. It tells all about the Bottlehead company.
Beyond that, it shows the whole process of building a kit.
A must watch imho!
Oh and here's one on Blumenstein Audio!
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this! I really enjoyed, both videos.
 
Jun 23, 2019 at 10:26 AM Post #9,615 of 12,435
On another note, I finally have my BHC Speedball and tubes (Mullard ECC82, Long Plate 57' Blackburn & Tung Sol 5998), all burned in, and the sound is amazing. The sound is wide and deep, with warmth, yet plenty of detail. Natural and real, are two words that come to mind. This amp and tube combo, is stunningly magical, with my ZMF Aeolus!

ZMF Aeolus + Schiit Gungnir Multibit + BHC/Speedball = ENDGAME
 
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