With nowhere boy, a new john lennon biopic, the bottlehead crack amplifier and my old sennheiser hd580 headphones kept me totally absorbed in the film. The pc board for the loads on the 6080 tube has very. Bottlehead is unique in what it offers, its an itch only a bottlehead kit can scratch. I think i heard the version with the extra addon circuit. Headphone amplifier kits archives bottlehead i 2020 med. I bought the crack and its speedball upgrade after i got my hands on a pair of massdrop x sennheiser hd 6xx headphones.
The standard potentiometer controlled volumebalance setup will be upgradeable to a coarse and fine stepped attenuator very similar to the beequiet attenuator used in the beepre preamp and a similar style used in our most premium mainline headphone amp. May 10, 2014 february 2012 build of bottlehead crack amp. This is a quick build log of bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier with some pictures and little. Both me and lieven love output transformerless amps, often known as otl amps. The kit for discussion today is a single ended triode parafeed transformer output monoblock amp called the paraglow, by electronic tonalities of poulsboro, washington. This amp is wired pointtopoint as opposed to on a board. The bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier is widelya praised a for its smooth, but neutral and detailed sound. It uses a 12au7a as its input stage, and a 6080 in a cathode follower configuration as its output stage. Im waiting for delivery on the bottlehead beepre and kaiju 300b pre and power amps. A forum for discussing the bottlehead kaiju stereomono 300b power amplifier kit. Im assuming it would be just as good on the 600s, which i did try for about a week or so, prior to receiving my 650s, but it was years ago. A bottlehead badge is not included with your kit but you can add one. Nov 19, 20 bottlehead stereomour kit thinking about building a 2a345 set. Feb 17, 2020 headphone amplifier kits archives bottlehead.
It sounds a lot better than you would think for the price. A 12au7 input tube serving as a voltage amplifier, directly coupled to a 6080 power tube as a cathode follower output. So i am looking into tube amps and am planning to get a bottlehead crack for. Bottlehead crackatwoa otl tube headphone amplifier build. Unlike other products in the bottlehead range, the mainline doesnt have any standard upgrade options like the cracks speedball or the s.
The included tubes are of decent quality and can be expected to provide years of great sound. Is it easy to build a bottlehead crack amp because im scared reddit. The marvelously addictive bottlehead crack innerfidelity. For camera buffs, i used chdk with an intervalometer script on an canon sx30 to take the photos. Gone are the dynaco days when teenage boys built kit amps in their garages or basements. The two stage zero feedback rc coupled circuit uses parallel feed a. The bottlehead mainline is the top of the line diy headphone amplifier in bottleheads range. I think bottlehead s manuals tend to be more complete and up to date, which has me leaning their way a little more lately. The bottlehead crack otl headphone amplifier bottlehead has been known to me many years before i purchased my first kit from them. An audiophile is someone who wants to do something about the flaws and deficiencies in their home. Myself, ill go solo to satisfy the need, the schematic research has been so much fun over the past months.
Sep 18, 2012 the bottlehead crack is a superb introduction into the world of diy audio. A forum for discussion of the crack otl headphone amp kit. Here you will find vacuum tube based amplifier, preamplifier and headphone amplifier kits, speaker kits, finished high end tube audio products, reel to reel tape machine upgrades, parts, and one of the finest support communities on the web. Crack is an output transformerless amp designed for higher impedance headphones. There are various modifications possible, most involving either different extra capacitors or different volume pots and attenuators, but the sage advice offered by many.
I waited until black friday to grab it from their website for 15% off. But the form factor is a little funky compared to the more standard ank stuff. Apr 25, 2012 i had my eyes on crack for quite some time. After thoroughly enjoying the crack for over a year, i decided it was time to enjoy the next step up in the bottlehead range for both a challenge and a new step towards audio nirvana. Now unexpected chassis complication as in, i didnt expect to have to think about it, layout where and how. Thats what im calling my bottlehead crack now that its stuffed full of crowded, sometimes ugly shitty ghettorigged. Bottlehead stereomour kit thinking about building a 2a345. Bottlehead crack headphone amplifier tube mazetube maze.
A quick tour of the web shows that the cracks basic metal plate design lends itself well to wannabe woodworkers. I dutifully returned the completed amp to washington state for repair. The bottlehead crack diy tube headphone amp kit duration. Bottlehead mainline diy amplifier passion for sound. The bottlehead smash, despite not being mentioned much, sounds freaking awesome paired with the ls50s. The output is capacitively coupled the only cap in the audio path, and has an output impedance of about 120 ohms making it an amp suited mainly for higher impedance headphones. You dont have to be able to read a schematic to build one. May 03, 2004 i just built a foreplay preamp for a school project so i could learn more about tubes and electronics. If you own a pair of sennheiser hd600, hd650 or even the hd800 flagship model, this is what many will recommend you to buy.
Unless you plan to assemble several diy kits, i cannot understand why anyone would sell their bottlehead creation. Unlike many vacuum tube designs, the crack is relatively beginner friendly due to the included documentation and large user base. A simple circuit also means a low parts count, which keeps the price low, too. A forum for discussing kit assembly by bottlehead s factory authorized technician, paul birkeland. And thats how they got to be the most popular tube kits on the market. Im not going to start with the normal list of specifications for the crack because its so variable due to the. As it happens, builders rarely part with their amps. Docs just announced a new otl headphone kit called crack. A 12au7 input tube serving as a voltage amplifier, directly coupled to a 6080 power tube as a. Bottlehead crack the stupendously good diy headphone amplifier. Doc and queen have been in the business of selling tubebased kits for quite some time and have earned an excellent reputation for providing easily accessible and excellent sounding kits. Crackatwoa is a premium version of the direct coupled crack circuit with the c4s active loads of the speedball incorporated, and also shunt voltage regulation in. What yields an even more intense experience than crack. The bottlehead crack is an outstanding first project for the novice audio diyer.
Compared to the bottlehead crack, ive always enjoyed the darkvoice more. There the friendly folks of bottlehead hang their hats. Reverse engineering a valve headphone amplifier duration. Jun 16, 2016 the bottlehead crack diy tube headphone amp kit duration. Kit building electronic tonalitie paraglow amplifier audiophile. For those of you wondering about the new crack amplifier, this is also very sweet and enticing set up. One of these days ill get around to polishing and posting the schematic for the menacetc. Foreplay, rebuilt by quest tube preamp, many upgrades.
This is a quick build log of bottlehead crack otl tube amplifier with some pictures and little stories. The marvelously addictive bottlehead crack page 2 innerfidelity. Im going though phases of getting different types of tube amp pp, set, hybrid, otl and comparing them to one anoher. The parts quality is very good, the documentation is truly excellent, the bottlehead forums provide fantastic peertopeer assistance, and construction is very easy. Bottlehead foreplay tube preamp 2channel home audio the.
This weeks kit is the bottlehead crack otl headphone amplifier. The company was created by the president for life dan doc b schmalle in the mid1990s, and primarily offers diy tube audio kits for both headphones and home stereos. Crack owners display pride of craftsmanship and ownership. Upgrading the bottlehead crack headphone amplifier. Speedball is our camille cascode constant current source upgrade for the crack headphone amplifier.
Like crack this amp is intended to be used with high impedance headphones 200 ohms or. Apr 03, 2016 i exclusively paired this amplifier with the hd650s and it truly is a great match for them. Originally announced in 2010, the crack is an affordable tubebased headphone amplifier kit offered by the bottlehead corporation located in poulsbo, washington state, usa. Bottlehead considers the crack a simple circuit skill level 1 kit. On amplifier with output transformers ots, the transformer at the output end of your amplifier is often likened to having an extremely and excessively long headphone cable to connect your headphone to your amp.