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I built my own Bottlehead Crack tube amp [0] for listening to music with my Sennheiser headphones, and it’s absolutely delightful. It’s add such a nice warm sou

by pwpw 4y ago

I built my own Bottlehead Crack tube amp [0] for listening to music with my Sennheiser headphones, and it’s absolutely delightful. It’s add such a nice warm sound. It also works on my Game Boy color to remove the annoying hum that you hear when plugging headphones directly in. Mine uses a 6080 tube, which it looks like Bottlehead has started to run out of. It’s great to see someone spend time manufacturing things like this for such a niche hobby that’s driven by passion. I wish more companies specialized in these things. I find myself spending too much time weeding through junk on Amazon to support my niche hobbies. [0] https://bottlehead.com/product/crack-1-1-otl-headphone-amplifier-kit/ https://bottlehead.com/product/crack-1-1-otl-headphone-ampli...

systems_glitch 4y ago
Imagine how much you'd like something with less magic mojo marketing :P I worked on a bunch of Bottlehead products for a west coast audio shop during college...that they charged as much as they do for what's in there was mind-blowing. My favorite was the "stepped attenuators" they used to sell, Rat Shack rotary switches and ten cent resistors.
- sockaddr 4y ago
  Seems like it’s “essential oils” for men
  - actionfromafar 4y ago
    At least Radio Shack rotors and 10 cent transistors don't make your dogs and cats go into seizures.
    - tohnjitor 4y ago
      What's the story with the seizures?
      - actionfromafar 4y ago
        https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/risks-of-essential-oils-for-dogs https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/risks-of-essential-oils-for-dogs
        tohnjitor 4y ago
        Fascinating. thank you.
- Scalestein 4y ago
  Genuinely curious - how would you go about getting the parts and building something like a Bottle head amp? I been eyeing them up for a while and think the appeal is that they package everything up nicely, like buying a Lego kit. I assumed there was a standard "audiophile mark up" which sounds like it might be higher than I thought!
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Many parts can be had here: https://www.tubesandmore.com https://www.tubesandmore.com Lot of projects/how-tos here: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/tubes.htm http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/tubes.htm Another DIY forum: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/forums/tubes-valves.5/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/forums/tubes-valves.5/ A "Darling" I built from scratch (I built over half a dozen in total): https://imgur.com/PBKOQMk https://imgur.com/PBKOQMk (Of all the tube amps I've built the Darling is still my favorite for the sound, simplicity. The tubes were cheap enough to find — used in the radios in WWII bombers, made obsolete by solid-state and military inventory was dumped on the market. Maybe 1-Watt in power though? You might be surprised how listenable that is through full-range drivers + powered sub.) A Darling write-up that got me started https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/Projects/DoubleDarling/index.html https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/Projects/DoubleDarlin...
    - systems_glitch 4y ago
      Excellent recommendations, I'll also add if you're not in a hurry Edcor makes excellent transformers (plate, filament, combo, output, interstage). Everything's custom made when you order it though. Hammond Manufacturing makes a lot of applicable transformers for the mid-to-lower range of hifi and they're largely stock items. See if you have local hamfests. Tons of tube stuff there. Remember, it doesn't need to be an audio tube to pass audio! My most-used amplifier is built around a pair of 6T9 TV Compactron tubes (basically the IC of the tube world, multiple elements in a space saving package). The circuit came out of an old GE vacuum tube manual. As long as you don't tell the electrons (or audiophiles), they'll never know!
      - 4y ago
- sotix 4y ago
  That’s absolutely correct that it was overpriced. However, a large portion of the cost was the extremely high quality instruction manual for putting it all together. It was cheaper than a university course, and now I love tinkering with electronics! You clearly know what you’re talking about, so I appreciate your input. Now that I’m more confident, my goal is to learn things at your level and understand how to assemble things more practically and at cheaper costs.

by pwpw 4y ago

systems_glitch 4y ago

Imagine how much you'd like something with less magic mojo marketing :P I worked on a bunch of Bottlehead products for a west coast audio shop during college...that they charged as much as they do for what's in there was mind-blowing. My favorite was the "stepped attenuators" they used to sell, Rat Shack rotary switches and ten cent resistors.

sockaddr 4y ago
Seems like it’s “essential oils” for men
- actionfromafar 4y ago
  At least Radio Shack rotors and 10 cent transistors don't make your dogs and cats go into seizures.
  - tohnjitor 4y ago
    What's the story with the seizures?
    - actionfromafar 4y ago
      https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/risks-of-essential-oils-for-dogs https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/risks-of-essential-oils-for-dogs
      - tohnjitor 4y ago
        Fascinating. thank you.
Scalestein 4y ago
Genuinely curious - how would you go about getting the parts and building something like a Bottle head amp? I been eyeing them up for a while and think the appeal is that they package everything up nicely, like buying a Lego kit. I assumed there was a standard "audiophile mark up" which sounds like it might be higher than I thought!
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Many parts can be had here: https://www.tubesandmore.com https://www.tubesandmore.com Lot of projects/how-tos here: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/tubes.htm http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/tubes.htm Another DIY forum: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/forums/tubes-valves.5/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/forums/tubes-valves.5/ A "Darling" I built from scratch (I built over half a dozen in total): https://imgur.com/PBKOQMk https://imgur.com/PBKOQMk (Of all the tube amps I've built the Darling is still my favorite for the sound, simplicity. The tubes were cheap enough to find — used in the radios in WWII bombers, made obsolete by solid-state and military inventory was dumped on the market. Maybe 1-Watt in power though? You might be surprised how listenable that is through full-range drivers + powered sub.) A Darling write-up that got me started https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/Projects/DoubleDarling/index.html https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/Projects/DoubleDarlin...
  - systems_glitch 4y ago
    Excellent recommendations, I'll also add if you're not in a hurry Edcor makes excellent transformers (plate, filament, combo, output, interstage). Everything's custom made when you order it though. Hammond Manufacturing makes a lot of applicable transformers for the mid-to-lower range of hifi and they're largely stock items. See if you have local hamfests. Tons of tube stuff there. Remember, it doesn't need to be an audio tube to pass audio! My most-used amplifier is built around a pair of 6T9 TV Compactron tubes (basically the IC of the tube world, multiple elements in a space saving package). The circuit came out of an old GE vacuum tube manual. As long as you don't tell the electrons (or audiophiles), they'll never know!
    - 4y ago
sotix 4y ago
That’s absolutely correct that it was overpriced. However, a large portion of the cost was the extremely high quality instruction manual for putting it all together. It was cheaper than a university course, and now I love tinkering with electronics! You clearly know what you’re talking about, so I appreciate your input. Now that I’m more confident, my goal is to learn things at your level and understand how to assemble things more practically and at cheaper costs.