Bottlehead Crack

mrbiron

No hate....only jealousy! Bitter....bitter jealousy

ALL212

There will be a longer delay in the build of the BAC. I think I've found the ribbons I needed to repair the Carver Silver Amazings.

I think all I really have left on the BAC is to touch up the plate drawing but by the end of the week the ribbons might be here.

mrbiron

I can't believe how upset I am still that you knew of black sockets this whole time!!!!

Still haven't installed the speedball yet either. It's gonna be a long winter......

ALL212

I bought a second set of black sockets to use with the Carver speakers. They don't go anywhere, serve no purpose, but I didn't want to miss the chance to cause you further angst.

Get on that speedball! It's the numero uno upgrade for that thing!

mrbiron

Alriiiiiight!
I populated the boards, just need to make the connection. Raking and a Bathroom rehab take precedence over doing a speedball.

SCompRacer

What does it take to see some pics of the progress! I promise, no more 'choke' pics....;)

But I'll toss in the bath upgrade completion pic from several years back...lol



Some plumbing p o r n....it isn't a load bearing wall.



When we did the lighted lower level bath, I had to remove a winder to get the shower stall in. We owner completed the entire lighted lower level. The rest of the house was done by builder. We didn't like how they completed the lower level for the money.

ALL212

That a....copper colored stuff...tweeters?

And how did you get a picket fence in the top of your shower? That's creative!!!

SCompRacer

The fence was protesting the window entry....

mrbiron

SCompRacer wrote: »

What does it take to see some pics of the progress! I promise, no more 'choke' pics....;)

But I'll toss in the bath upgrade completion pic from several years back...lol



Some plumbing p o r n....it isn't a load bearing wall.

Well hello Mr Hefner....STUD!
I'll take a pic of my soon to be finished remodeled bathroom tonight for you.
That valve setup.....yeah.....I don't DIY stuff like that! Nice!

SCompRacer

HA! Thanks! The wife called me a bum...lol Towards the end of completion, I decided not to shave until it was done.

Body wash nozzles are nice, but they are not water savers. To me it was easier to build the assembly on a frame and place it than build it in the wall. A manual valve switches between shower, shower/body wash, body wash, tub and flexible shower hose. I had plugged and pressurized it before closing wall. Glad I did cause one of the lug tee's had a bad casting, a pinhole opened up.

Post your progress!

SCompRacer

On a more relevant subject, I ordered a couple Sonicap Platinums to replace my Solen coupling caps in the Bottlehead Eros. Per Jeff's suggestion, went with a .33uf instead of 1uf or .47uf. Corner frequency calculated at ~2Hz.

As they say at the V Cap Coupling Calculator page, "The more material in the signal path, well, you know where this is going... the less transparent the signal becomes. When it comes to output coupling caps, less is more, as long as you've achieved a reasonable -3db point."

ALL212

On to further Crack changes - get the 6.3v adapter from the Lowther_Club (didn't find it on dbay or fbay...something in between) to go from the 12AU7 to a 6SN7. It'll take three or four weeks to get here from China but it works perfectly. Don't forget to get a 6SN7 tube from somewhere also.

Horry bratcrap! Nice....very very nice!

mrbiron

I don't know how to use Google for this...
Send linky!

ALL212

This is exactly what I bought.

ebay.com/itm/6V-6-3V-6SN7-6SL7-to-12AU7-12AX7-tube-adapter-socket-converter-one-piece-/151638849047?hash=item234e613617:g:C5UAAOxycERRk0g9

mrbiron

So......i have an announcement to make.....

My speedball...................is still sidelined due to completely forgetting/no time/haven't listened to headphones in close to 2 months/get off my back arron/slash.

Where the fudge is this "Big A$$ Crack Build"???!!!???!!!
Even by now, i;d at least have the shipping box opened...

ALL212

The BAC is right next to your speedball!!

Don't use that 6SN7 adapter unless the speedball is installed.

mrbiron

BAH!......touché

SCompRacer

This all sounds illegal.

ALL212

12BH7's and 12BH7a's are another nice tube to try in the crack...if you have the speedball installed.

BAC is closer. I found another project to finish and prototype a plate with and assuming I designed that correctly I'll move onto the BAC.

ALL212

Birth of the BAC...



1st try didn't make it. 2nd try - the power input piece flipped up and the head didn't complete the outline. 3rd times magic!

SCompRacer

I'm so excited! Love that stuff, Mr. Hi-Tech. Can it do walnut?

mrbiron

Atta Boy!
Whats the half life of metal? Hopefully, you get it done before you have to worry about that.

Are you painting the plate? I can't remember.
What are you changing for the BAC? Volume pot, exotic caps, black tube socket ....what else? Obviously making it twice the size...

MrBuhl

Hey experienced Bottlehead users/modders. I picked up an old Bottlehead Foreplay with the upgrade to 12 step attenuators. Apparently, this is a known thing but there is a significant crackle when moving between steps, I read that installing higher end volume pots or better (24 step?) attenuators will help alleviate this.
Couple questions
1. Is this particularly complicated or a matter of desolder/solder - does anyone know?
2. Suggestions for a good brand / part (that won't also make a $225 Foreplay a $350 Foreplay)?

ALL212

Nice unit!! Flip it over and give us a pick of it's bottom...I love bottoms....snicker....he said bottoms...

ALL212

mrbiron wrote: »

Atta Boy!
Whats the half life of metal? Hopefully, you get it done before you have to worry about that.

Are you painting the plate? I can't remember.
What are you changing for the BAC? Volume pot, exotic caps, black tube socket ....what else? Obviously making it twice the size...

I am going to paint the plate - heated black hammered. Charging? hmmm....if you live in California 1.5 BILLION!!!

MrBuhl

ALL212 wrote: »

Nice unit!! Flip it over and give us a pick of it's bottom...I love bottoms....snicker....he said bottoms...

WIll Do! Listening to that bad boy right now! For the money, it's shockingly good.

ALL212

What do the knobs do? I'm going to guess the middle one selects the input? And then one side is volume for left and the other volume for right?

ALL212

mrbiron wrote: »

Atta Boy!
Whats the half life of metal? Hopefully, you get it done before you have to worry about that.

Are you painting the plate? I can't remember.
What are you changing for the BAC? Volume pot, exotic caps, black tube socket ....what else? Obviously making it twice the size...

Can I try this again? Changing...not charging...good grief...

I'm going to use an 6SN7 in place of the 12AU7 so in go the nice black (I would never rub in the fact that I have black sockets) 8 pin sockets.

Power supply caps will be changed. The first two are just bigger electrolytic and the final is a 220 uf solen cap. I'll remove one of the resistors and use a choke.

I'll replace the diodes with better ones. Output caps will be Clarity cap PX's tipped with Clarity MR series 1uf.

Volume pot is a gold point. RCA inputs are Vampire.

Moved some things around a bit. Volume will be on the front left, headphone jack in the front center and on/off on front right.

I'll post pictures as I make progress.

ALL212

SCompRacer wrote: »

I'm so excited! Love that stuff, Mr. Hi-Tech. Can it do walnut?

I think we have a bit more power than would be required for walnut!! Flames - smoke....POOF. No more walnut...

MrBuhl

ALL212 wrote: »

What do the knobs do? I'm going to guess the middle one selects the input? And then one side is volume for left and the other volume for right?

You are correct - center is for input selection, left and right are left/right volume.