[cobrabucket]

The greatest resource is going to be the bottlehead forum. Posts there get responses from the people at bottlehead to troubleshoot. You can also post here and we'll help as much as we can. Generally to diagnose an issue he'll need a voltometer in order to check voltages. Hopefully its a tube, or an obvious issue like a missing wire.

Yes. I posted there as well. I am hoping it's a tube or at worst, a loose volume cable. I know that with y'all's help we'll get it sorted!

 

[cobrabucket]

Guys, I think it's all sorted. It looks to have been a wire that came loose during shipment. He just need to re-solder the spot that had become disconnected. What a relief! I'll keep you posted if I have any more questions/ issues. Thanks everyone!

 

[med666]

Hi y’all. Quick question. I have a bhc with the sb upgrade. I love my bhc and what it does to the Senns 600 series. I’m looking for another OTL amp that gets the same or similar sound out of the 600s series. It’s for someone who neither can build a crack nor has the real estate in their desk for such a big, chunker amp like the crack - otherwise, this person would get an already assembled crack… I know, the heresy!

I’ve read the Little Dot mk3 gets the job done but I would love to hear from folks who have done a comparison or own both. Other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Dawgfish]

Hi y’all. Quick question. I have a bhc with the sb upgrade. I love my bhc and what it does to the Senns 600 series. I’m looking for another OTL amp that gets the same or similar sound out of the 600s series. It’s for someone who neither can build a crack nor has the real estate in their desk for such a big, chunker amp like the crack - otherwise, this person would get an already assembled crack… I know, the heresy!
Thanks!

Schiit Valhalla would fit the bill. It's an easy, low commitment (not having to build), and no fuss OTL tube amp with a smaller footprint than the Crack. It sounds great with the HD600 family of cans. I actually prefer the Valhalla over the Crack when paired with the HD6XX/650. It's slightly brighter sound signature (which can be very much tempered with warmer sounding tubes if you are sensitive to brightness) really wakes up the 6XX/650.

 

[davehg]

It’s amazing what a difference caps can make. In the 300b amp, things were amazing except the low end felt lightweight. Swapping the coupling caps for much larger Mundorf Silver Gold foil ones (same as the original only 75% larger) made a big difference - suddenly there was the missing low end weight. I am going to repurpose the remove caps for a Crack or Mainline build. Cap on the left replaced the one on the right.

 

[Jonmakauu]

It’s amazing what a difference caps can make. In the 300b amp, things were amazing except the low end felt lightweight. Swapping the coupling caps for much larger Mundorf Silver Gold foil ones (same as the original only 75% larger) made a big difference - suddenly there was the missing low end weight. I am going to repurpose the remove caps for a Crack or Mainline build. Cap on the left replaced the one on the right.

Any link as to where I can get mundorf caps?

 

[davehg]

Parts connexxion:

Any link as to where I can get mundorf caps?

https://www.partsconnexion.com/

 

[buencamino]

What are the stock tubes you have now?

Just the ones that came with the stock equipment. It says here on the instruction manual, 6080 vacuum tube, and a 12AU7 vacuum tube. are there any recommended tubes to upgrade? preferably something with soundstage as that's what I noticed that disappeared when I used the crack.. but any nice tubes to experiment with would be nice too, just want to see what's out there and listen to different sound signatures. Many thanks.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

hey, fairly new to OTL tube amps and assembled a crack a few months ago. Actually the experience with the HD800S I have is kind of underwhelming. Sounded pretty normal to me, despite all the hype the crack gets with senns cans. Was just wondering maybe I should change the stock tubes? I have no experience with tube rolling, but if it could improve the sound a bit (especially the soundstage, I mean the crack just took away all the soundstage my HD800S had..). Any advice from experienced users would be nice. Thanks in advance. Oh I use a Aune X8 dac magic as my dac with burson vivid op amps.

Is this with or without the Speedball upgrade?

 

[buencamino]

Is this with or without the Speedball upgrade?

yup without

 

[L0rdGwyn]

yup without

I think you'll find adding the Speedball will get you more of the soundstage you are looking for. Changing the power tube to a Tung-Sol 5998 will take it even a step further.

 

[buencamino]

I think you'll find adding the Speedball will get you more of the soundstage you are looking for. Changing the power tube to a Tung-Sol 5998 will take it even a step further.

Oh ok, the reason I didn't get it was that bottlehead support on fb chat told me just to get the basic one.. is the speedball really a big difference? which is the power tube? the big one in the middle?

 

[buencamino]

New RCA Victor with a copper metal plate below the plate not sure what's the name but this tube so much better then regular RCA 6as7g. You can see the copper in the pic. Also lucky tube dead silent

is that balanced output for the crack? Is that possible?

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Oh ok, the reason I didn't get it was that bottlehead support on fb chat told me just to get the basic one.. is the speedball really a big difference? which is the power tube? the big one in the middle?

Yes it is a big difference, and the big tube is the power tube. Balanced output is not possible with the Crack as it is a single ended amplifier, but you could change the output connector to XLR, which is what was done in the post above.

 

[buencamino]

Yes it is a big difference, and the big tube is the power tube. Balanced output is not possible with the Crack as it is a single ended amplifier, but you could change the output connector to XLR, which is what was done in the post above.

Alright.. thanks ill check the things you said out.. oh so the xlr connection is purely for aesthetic purposes..