[Bullpride]

Just spoke with Deyan about an adapter. Now what 6SN7 should I pick up, and where to get it from?

 

[PsilocybinCube]

I am not a fan of these Garage1217 adapters. They have contact points exposed, which can be very dangerous - they can cause shock or short if touched.

We had a user here with this Garage adapter and the contact points touched the top plate of his Crack and created shorts. Luckily the user quickly turned off his Crack when he saw the rising smoke, and nothing was damaged, IIRC. That happened just several weeks ago, if you look back a few pages here you could find the incident.

BTW, your icon is the same as Doc B's

Yes, that was me. Thankfully all is still well with my amp. The adapter from Deyan was much, much better on several fronts, mostly it provides a better chassis for pulling on and off of the amp.

And yes, the smell of solder smoking in the morning is not pleasant. Thank goodness I only left it on for a few seconds before recognizing it wasn't going to end well.

 

[PsilocybinCube]

Just spoke with Deyan about an adapter. Now what 6SN7 should I pick up, and where to get it from?

Just spoke with Deyan about an adapter. Now what 6SN7 should I pick up, and where to get it from?

You should hop on the 6sn7 addict's thread and get ready to deep dive.

That said, for a cheaper tube, there are a couple I could recommend. The Sylvania 'Bad Boy' can usually be had for cheap. The Westinghouse Reliatron is very inexpensive and can be had for quite cheap. The Ken Rad black glass is the favorite of many tube rollers, though it's a bit more expensive ($60 - $80usd).

I like the National Union black glass and that tube can also be obtained very inexpensive.

The RCA grey glass with the meatball sounds quite nice, but I seem to have bad luck with them being microphonic (I think it's bad luck on my part more than it being a bad tube).

I've accumulated 20 or so 6sn7 tubes since going down the rabbit hole. They are a fun tube.

6sn7 thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/6sn7-tube-addicts.479031/page-469#post-15796475

 

[cddc]

6SN7 is a very deep rabbit hole, it could cost you lots of money, be careful folks

Some 6SN7 tube can cost more than Crack w/ Speedball...

 

[cddc]

The RCA grey glass with the meatball sounds quite nice, but I seem to have bad luck with them being microphonic (I think it's bad luck on my part more than it being a bad tube).

That's definitely a problem of that particular tube. I've never heard RCA grey glass having microphonic issues.

 

[PsilocybinCube]

That's definitely a problem of that particular tube. I've never heard RCA grey glass having microphonic issues.

For sure. It's why trusted sellers are so crucial to find. I bought dud tubes for sure. They are highly regarded so I know it's a fluke.

They were listed as NOS and one had a loose base out of the box. I think every tube roller gets the crappy end of a deal every now and then.

Then again, I've bought some tube lots (untested) and gotten some gems.

Tubes are like a box of chocolates....

 

[DenverW]

SO I just finished upgrading the power supply caps in my crack. I replaced them with 470uf 250v, up from the 270uf. Then I bypassed the final cap with a 1uf mundorf supreme (the poor mans way to mundorf sound!). I still havent replaced the output caps yet, because they took 3 months to arrive from russia, but even without that last upgrade (i've already installed a choke, cree diodes, and alps pot) it just sounds...

so
very
very
good.

I'm a happy camper right now. I'll put in the kzk white line 100uf output caps this weekend. Then my head will explode (hopefully not my amp!)

 

[DenverW]

So I installed the output caps tonight. What a squeze! A bit tight in there now, so much so that I can just barely get the plate to fit right.

But I think everyone is right, this is the biggest impact since the speedball. Soundstage and separation improved, and this is right on powering up for the first time, without 'burning' them in. So, since i've pretty much run out of upgrades, the question is, "what now?" First, I'm going to enjoy this amp a bit, but the inevitable bug will strike me, and I'll start wondering about the crackatwoa. Perhaps I can find someone local who'd like to buy this amp so I can start all over .

 

[cddc]

Show us some pics of inside....to see how tight a fit it is

 

[DenverW]

That would mean I'd have to turn it off....

 

[cddc]

So I installed the output caps tonight. What a squeze! A bit tight in there now, so much so that I can just barely get the plate to fit right.

But I think everyone is right, this is the biggest impact since the speedball. Soundstage and separation improved, and this is right on powering up for the first time, without 'burning' them in. So, since i've pretty much run out of upgrades, the question is, "what now?" First, I'm going to enjoy this amp a bit, but the inevitable bug will strike me, and I'll start wondering about the crackatwoa. Perhaps I can find someone local who'd like to buy this amp so I can start all over .

I'm definitely not a tech-savvy. Haven't really looked into Cracka2a, but I remember it is marketed as having improved power supply by using shunt tube, IIRC?

What is a shunt tube? I can understand ordinary rectifier tubes, but I have no idea how shunt tubes work, how they differ from rectifier tubes, and how they can improve the power supply.

 

[cddc]

That would mean I'd have to turn it off....

I can see some additional space to squeeze in more caps....LOL

Just kidding...quite packed already, great work!

 

[cebuboy]

That would mean I'd have to turn it off....

Welp, there's still room for a pair of bypass caps

 

[DenverW]

Welp, there's still room for a pair of bypass caps

Now THERES an idea....

 

[Majestyk]

Two questions... I'm thinking about buying an assembled (stock) Crack with SB and I'm curious what the soundstage is like compared to solid state amps, like the THX series amps for example. Right now I use a vintage receiver and the soundstage just smokes the Monoprice THX amp I tried awhile back.

Also, I might get one with Mundorf caps. How much of an upgrade in sonics would they make?

Thanks.