[jivex5k]

Alas I didn't. It all tested fine when I first did it and I was just reflowing things so didn't deem it necessary. When I put it all back together I will do the checks.

Before I re-flowed though I tested the power cord I made. No inputs just phones into the unit. With the old power cord (from a 5A LED power supply) it was pretty quiet but you could hear hum at near max to max volume. With new power cord, silent all the way to max. After reflow............humm all the way from bottom. lol. Sounds to me like ground. Like the humm you get plugging a guitar into an amp with a dodgy lead. Like the beginning of Oasis-Cigarettes and alcohol.



I get this. My phone's charger base is above the Crack. My solution is to turn the phone off. lol. Works a treat and no interruptions either.

Is it a router you are talking about or wi-fi? If router, can't you shield around that and hide it away somewhere?

Double check 3L, seems to be a troublesome terminal related to ground issues. Here's a ground connection check guide too: https://forum.bottlehead.com/index.php?topic=4812.0
It doesn't mention the grounded pads on the speedball upgrade though.

 

[DenverW]

Alas I didn't. It all tested fine when I first did it and I was just reflowing things so didn't deem it necessary. When I put it all back together I will do the checks.

Before I re-flowed though I tested the power cord I made. No inputs just phones into the unit. With the old power cord (from a 5A LED power supply) it was pretty quiet but you could hear hum at near max to max volume. With new power cord, silent all the way to max. After reflow............humm all the way from bottom. lol. Sounds to me like ground. Like the humm you get plugging a guitar into an amp with a dodgy lead. Like the beginning of Oasis-Cigarettes and alcohol.



I get this. My phone's charger base is above the Crack. My solution is to turn the phone off. lol. Works a treat and no interruptions either.

Is it a router you are talking about or wi-fi? If router, can't you shield around that and hide it away somewhere?

Its my wi-fi, and unfortunately due to layout its got to go about 4 feet away from my amps. I'll sort it out eventually. Until now its the ghetto tin foil solution .

 

[tintinsnowydog]

So I just picked these up locally for the astonishing price of $9 AUD per tube. Very detailed but still smooth presentation, and one of the most unique midrange presentations I've heard. Treble is strong, pairs great with HD800 on classical music(incredible soundstage), though some hi-hats did stick out a bit. HD650 even better. Haven't tried out other power tube combinations, but I predict it'll pair well with a slower 6080; currently have a raytheon 6080 graphite plates in. Tonight will be a good night

 

[jivex5k]

Ordered a couple 12au7 tubes from ebay, got a bugle boy and a mullard.

It's strange, some mullards sell for around 500 bucks, but I picked one up for 30 and it's NOS.
Same with the bugle boy, I see some way higher priced but I got mine for 25.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254626346257
https://www.ebay.com/itm/282981215782

I've been reading up on tubes and stuff, it's a lot to take in, but I've come to a few conclusions:

1. Input tube affects audio more than power tube. (Except when they don't)
2. Mullards sound good as input tube. (If it's NOS)
3. Bugle Boy has a cool name and logo.
4. Don't pay more than 50 bucks for a tube.
5. Unless you've had a couple drinks.

 

[PsilocybinCube]

Ordered a couple 12au7 tubes from ebay, got a bugle boy and a mullard.

It's strange, some mullards sell for around 500 bucks, but I picked one up for 30 and it's NOS.
Same with the bugle boy, I see some way higher priced but I got mine for 25.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254626346257
https://www.ebay.com/itm/282981215782

I've been reading up on tubes and stuff, it's a lot to take in, but I've come to a few conclusions:

1. Input tube affects audio more than power tube. (Except when they don't)
2. Mullards sound good as input tube. (If it's NOS)
3. Bugle Boy has a cool name and logo.
4. Don't pay more than 50 bucks for a tube.
5. Unless you've had a couple drinks.

Drinking and buying tubes is great fun but horrible for your bank account.

 

[DenverW]

Guess what? Cracktember sale just started on the 18th. $100 of crack and $15 off speedball. 315 for speedball crack? Ridiculous!!!!

Now if they’d only put the crackatwoa on sale!

 

[DenverW]

Ordered a couple 12au7 tubes from ebay, got a bugle boy and a mullard.

It's strange, some mullards sell for around 500 bucks, but I picked one up for 30 and it's NOS.
Same with the bugle boy, I see some way higher priced but I got mine for 25.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254626346257
https://www.ebay.com/itm/282981215782

I've been reading up on tubes and stuff, it's a lot to take in, but I've come to a few conclusions:

1. Input tube affects audio more than power tube. (Except when they don't)
2. Mullards sound good as input tube. (If it's NOS)
3. Bugle Boy has a cool name and logo.
4. Don't pay more than 50 bucks for a tube.
5. Unless you've had a couple drinks.

Great post! I'm sure we all have our own opinions on this, and we're not shy here . I can respond to several of those numbers at once: it depends on the tube. I was a believer in input doing more than power tubes to affect sound...until I tried some big boys. My personal opinion is that when I was running mid to lower cost tubes, it was more about synergy than the tubes themselves. This is a generalization, of course. The rca 6as7g sounded good with this, not good with that. Tung sol mouse ears was great with this, too clinical for that.

Enter something like the western electric 421A. It really doesnt matter what I plug into the input tube, the crack sounds amazing with this tube. It pairs with everything I've tried it with. Same thing when I paired my top input tube with different power tubes. Everything sounded great, from the stock tube I got with the crack to high end power tubes. So do I agree with not spending more than 50 for a tube? Nope.

But do you have to? You can do cheap and really nice upgrades to the crack for really small amounts. A choke, cree diodes, and an alps blue pot should cost under 50 together, and give more improvement than you'd get from a $50 dollar tube. KZK white line 100 uf caps were only 20 apiece on ebay with negotiation (although it took 3 #(&#$*@$ months for them to arrive!).

But what do you do when you've done every upgrade under the sun? You've tried all different types of adapters? That haunting melody you hear is the sound of top end tubes . I can only shake my head in envy seeing someone who can hear the crack and NOT be tempted to try better and better tubes with it.

I didn't have that self control. I only console myself knowing I can always sell them, or use them in other amps in the future, like my one day crackatwoa.

 

[jivex5k]

The mullard tube, I swear it sounds fuller than the baldwin the crack shipped with. Then I have an electro-harmonix ECC82 that sounds harsh, don't like it at all. Bugle boy should be here in a week or so.

I wonder how much of this is just the placebo effect.

Microphonics are one thing, easy to tell of course, but these subtle differences in warmth and clarity could all be in my head.

 

[John Massaria]

I have my Crack with SB and its great but I was wondering if I maybe drained my power tube too much by leaving amp on for a week or so- I can't recall but now I noticed a hum when amp volume is above 1:00 - do all BH have hum while using a HP like HD600?

 

[cddc]

So I just picked these up locally for the astonishing price of $9 AUD per tube. Very detailed but still smooth presentation, and one of the most unique midrange presentations I've heard. Treble is strong, pairs great with HD800 on classical music(incredible soundstage), though some hi-hats did stick out a bit. HD650 even better. Haven't tried out other power tube combinations, but I predict it'll pair well with a slower 6080; currently have a raytheon 6080 graphite plates in. Tonight will be a good night

You really had a steal!

I wish I could find some local store selling TF's for that low

You really scored!

 

[cddc]

The mullard tube, I swear it sounds fuller than the baldwin the crack shipped with. Then I have an electro-harmonix ECC82 that sounds harsh, don't like it at all. Bugle boy should be here in a week or so.

I wonder how much of this is just the placebo effect.

Microphonics are one thing, easy to tell of course, but these subtle differences in warmth and clarity could all be in my head.

This is not a placebo effect.

Tubes from different brands do have their own unique sound due to different materials / technologies they used. This is sometimes called "house sound"

Mullard is famous for their lush mids, Sylvania is normally more on the neutral side, and new production tubes are just a pure waste of money, IMO.

 

[cddc]

I have my Crack with SB and its great but I was wondering if I maybe drained my power tube too much by leaving amp on for a week or so- I can't recall but now I noticed a hum when amp volume is above 1:00 - do all BH have hum while using a HP like HD600?

Nope, BHC doesn't feature humming issues.

Tubes are like light bulbs, they have a life span. Normally a brand new tube will last 5k to 10k hours. So it will be a bad habit to leave your tube amps on all the time, coz the tubes will consume very fast. It's also not a good habit to turn on and off your tube amps frequently (like many times within an hour).

In your case you might have depleted tube(s), which possibly caused the hum. If you have some spare tubes, just replace the old ones to see if the hum will go away.

 

[cddc]

I have my Crack with SB and its great but I was wondering if I maybe drained my power tube too much by leaving amp on for a week or so- I can't recall but now I noticed a hum when amp volume is above 1:00 - do all BH have hum while using a HP like HD600?

I noticed that volume at 1pm is a little bit high, I normally listen to my Crack with SB around 9-10am.

If your amp has no humming issues at normal volume, it's just fine. Don't bother with hum at high volume.

A low tube can just work fine if it doesn't make noises or cause deterioration in sound.

 

[John Massaria]

Thank u!

 

[DenverW]

@John Massaria after you confirm or deny that it’s the tube by swapping out tubes, I would also recommend doing a new voltage check as well as giving solder points a once over.

This will help identify if there are any non tube related issues through the voltage check, and most likely fix them through solder check.