[inXcess]

Hey guys, what tubes would you consider good for rolling to partner with the HD650's?

 

[dxanex]

  Hey guys, what tubes would you consider good for rolling to partner with the HD650's?

 
I had a load of tubes with my Crack and if you want to pull out a lot of detail but still maintain the warmth of the HD 650 my favorite by a good margin was the Tung Sol 5998 / Tesla 12AU7 combo...it's amazing and worth the cost IMO. If you want even more detail and are willing to spend a bit more the Mazda CIFTE is a detail monster but a bit leaner than the full sound of the Tesla.
 
If you like really smooth mids and nice full soundstage the Tung-Sol 12AU7's are no slouch and relatively inexpensive on ebay.

 

[inXcess]

Hey thanks for replying, just ordered the Tesla and am looking forward to it. I'm kind of having a hard time finding the 5998 in the UK, is there anything similar you can recommend? 
 
Thanks!

   
I had a load of tubes with my Crack and if you want to pull out a lot of detail but still maintain the warmth of the HD 650 my favorite by a good margin was the Tung Sol 5998 / Tesla 12AU7 combo...it's amazing and worth the cost IMO. If you want even more detail and are willing to spend a bit more the Mazda CIFTE is a detail monster but a bit leaner than the full sound of the Tesla.
 
If you like really smooth mids and nice full soundstage the Tung-Sol 12AU7's are no slouch and relatively inexpensive on ebay.

 

[dxanex]

  Hey thanks for replying, just ordered the Tesla and am looking forward to it. I'm kind of having a hard time finding the 5998 in the UK, is there anything similar you can recommend? 
 
Thanks!

I've personally never heard any output tube that sounded close to as good as the Tung-Sol 5998 does in the Crack. The only other tube said to best the Tung-Sol 5998 is the GEC 6AS7G brown base, which have ridiculous mark-ups and are quite expensive. I've never heard the GEC, however.
 
I got lucky and found some 5998's on ebay for a good price...worth checking every now and then.
 
There is also a good thread worth reading through on tube rolling over at the Bottlehead forums-
 
http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=663.0

 

[Jimmy24]

Hey guys, what tubes would you consider good for rolling to partner with the HD650's?

I would highly recommend the CBS Hytron 5814a's. It's one of the best 12au7's out there. It's also inexpensive. If you check my previous review of the two tubes together (5998/5814a), everything becomes very natural and lifelike. The strongest genres are acoustic music and vocals. Sounds as if they're in the room playing with you.

http://www.vacuumtubes.com/ has the CBS Hytron 5814a's for $25 each. Just e-mail Michael and let him know that you want to order one because I believe it's not listed on the website. You may find these on eBay but they are quite rare.

http://www.vacuumtubes.net/ has the Tung Sol 5998 for $85 each. You can get the direct link to it here: http://www.vacuumtubes.net/RES%20Audio%20pages/5998.html. I'm not sure what the shipping costs would be to the UK. I would contact them as well. That's the cheapest price that I've found on the internet. You can also get these on eBay but very rare as well.

Hope those two sites help you get what you need.

Also, if you want to take your tubes to the next level, a fellow head-fier recommended the 7119 for the input tube. You will need to mod your crack to be able to use it, but I've heard this tube offers the most realistic/live experience for the HD 650's. Soundstage is unmatched. I am in the process of modding mine so I will let you know how that sounds in a couple weeks.

Happy rolling!


James

 

[Surlias]

Would it be possible to add a preamp output to the Crack? Like how the Magni 2 Uber does so I can pass the audio through to my desktop speakers, since the DAC I use only has one output.
 
link to screenshot of connectors on Magni 2 Uber
 
If possible, how difficult would it be?

 

[nailbunny7]

  Would it be possible to add a preamp output to the Crack? Like how the Magni 2 Uber does so I can pass the audio through to my desktop speakers, since the DAC I use only has one output.
 
link to screenshot of connectors on Magni 2 Uber
 
If possible, how difficult would it be?

Yes, it's very easy to do (if I'm not mistaken). Basically you can just run a set of signal wires from the output caps into a pair of RCA jacks and that should work. Unless you want to do it the more difficult way and install a switch and a different output caps just for the preamp mode.

 

[HolyCheese]

Hi,
 
I have lost my crack+speedball manual. Could you guys send one to me. You can PM. It would be a great help!
 
Oh and for those who are interested. It doesn't work perfectly with the X2 unless you don't care about the bass being a bit loose. The rest of the sound is great!
X1 seems to have a little less trouble with the bass and this amp. Don't know why tough.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

  Hi,
 
I have lost my crack+speedball manual. Could you guys send one to me. You can PM. It would be a great help!
 
Oh and for those who are interested. It doesn't work perfectly with the X2 unless you don't care about the bass being a bit loose. The rest of the sound is great!
X1 seems to have a little less trouble with the bass and this amp. Don't know why tough.

 
Why don't you contact Bottlehead?  The manual is copyright and Doc asks that it is not copied.

 

[Jimmy24]

  Hi,
 
I have lost my crack+speedball manual. Could you guys send one to me. You can PM. It would be a great help!
 
Oh and for those who are interested. It doesn't work perfectly with the X2 unless you don't care about the bass being a bit loose. The rest of the sound is great!
X1 seems to have a little less trouble with the bass and this amp. Don't know why tough.

 
You should be able to download it off your account from the Bottlehead website.

 

[jbarnhardt]

I believe

   
You should be able to download it off your account from the Bottlehead website.

I believe you only get one download of each product's manual. I agree with HolyCheese - just contact Bottlehead directly and I'm sure they'll work something out for you. They've been very responsive and helpful any time I've contacted them for anything.
 
-John

 

[HolyCheese]

Yea i have already contacted them. I just tought it would be faster this way.
 
Can't download because I don't have an account. I ordered from massdrop at the time.
 
Anyway I understand that you are not officially allowed to share the documents because of copyright. It would explain why I couldn't find any on bing.
So I'll just wait for a response.

 

[Jimmy24]

Just replaced the electrolytic caps with Dayton 100uF 250V Polypropylene caps. 
 

 
 
Now to test them out!

 

[mcandmar]

Have you insulted the wires?   They look very close to the heatsinks which will create a short if they come into contact.

 

[Jimmy24]

  Have you insulted the wires?   They look very close to the heatsinks which will create a short if they come into contact.

 
I did not, although the wires are very far from the heatsinks and I everything checked out okay when I tested the voltages.