Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Crack => Topic started by: EOMFD on October 07, 2019, 06:29:15 PM
-
Hello, I just purchased a used Crack for my first tube amp. The amp worked great initially, the previous owner was kind enough to include a handful of 12AU7 tubes to try out. I enjoyed my first listen but I was looking for a little more bass so I decided to try out a different tube. I turned it off, let it cool down and swapped the tube. It sounded horrible and I lost the right speaker in my HD650’s I figured it was a bad tube. I swapped the original tube back in, it sounds better but I still don’t have the right side speaker. The headphones are fine and I tried different cables still the same. Unfortunately I didn’t build it so I’m not as familiar as I should be but I was wondering if any of you had and tips to diagnose this issue. Thanks for your help in advance.
-
I forgot to mention the tube I swapped in looked kinda old and had some oxidation on the connectors, would it be possible that it gunked something up? I’d like to do a voltage check but since I bought this already built I don’t have the instructions. Is there a guide anywhere that will tell me what I need to do?
-
You can request a PDF of the assembly manual for $15. Contact Eileen at [email protected]
-
Thank you Doc I’ll definitely do that. I think I may have found the culprit though. I’m pretty sure... Actually I’m positive I broke the connection on one of the led’s in the socket when removing the tube. I’d post a picture but I’m not sure how to do that from mobile on this site. I just ordered a set from here, it doesn’t look like a fun repair but definitely doable.
-
When replacing the led or tweaking what you have try to make a strain relief curve in the leads. Fitting it as a straight point to point connection doesn't give the tube pin sockets any room to move during fit/refit of the tube.