Crook Socket

[w0lfd0g]

Hi there

My Crack has been performing swimmingly well, with one minor problem:  An intermittent problem with the left channel resulting in either no sound or nasty crackling.

I suspect that there is something up with my driver socket as I can stop the problem by wiggling the driver tube into a certain position. 

I have rolled 100+ tube and have used (on occasions) a trick learned here of removing hum by removing and reinserting suspect tubes half a dozen times.

Can anyone please confirm my suspicions? Is it even possible to wreck a tube socket in such a short time?  Is it possible to fix without removing and replacing the socket?  This would be a right royal PITA.

Cheers and thanks

Nathan

[John EH]

More than likely a poorly soldered joint on one of the pins.  Power down, unplug and push on all the socket pins with a chopstick and see if anything moves.

John

[Grainger49]

Just touching up the solder joints on the 9 pin tube socket might work.  But if a wire is broken just before the solder connection you will have to pull on each wire to see that it is continuous, not broken.

I'm with John above, it probably not the socket.  It might be the socket but it is more likely a connection.

[w0lfd0g]

The lead on one of the LEDs connected to the nine pin socket has snapped.  Crap. 

Any easy fixes, or will I need to source a replacement LED? 

Cheers

Nathan

[Grainger49]

As a make shift you can use any red LED.  But the ones that Bottlehead uses have a very specific forward voltage.  They are HLMP 6000.  It would be best to contact them through the replacement parts email and they will send you replacements.

[Paul Birkeland]

A 470 Ohm resistor can temporarily replace the LED on the 9 pin socket. (But NOT on any of the PC boards)

[4krow]

On rare occasion, we(Mountain Bell) encountered what came in as a 'high open', meaning there was some connection, but not one that was reliable. It would turn out that 1 in a million times a wire was broken inside of the insulation, and as temperature changed, so would the connection. It could be quite maddening.

[w0lfd0g]

Thanks all - Have just ordered a few replacement HLMP 6000 LEDs.  Mouser charges $0.50 plus $40.00 shipping to Australia.  Bought five for $5.00 plus $12.00 from eBay UK. 

[Grainger49]

Not all HLMP 6000 diodes have leads.  I made that mistake myself.  Be certain of what you bought.

[4krow]

Good grief!, that's like saying 'not all cars come with tires' If not leads, then what?

[w0lfd0g]

Thanks Grainger - Noticed that at Mouser when I was checking out parts.  I think I saw about three varieties of this particular LED.  Others for surface mounting?

[Grainger49]

I don't really know.  The ones I got by mistake had a very short, small , no, tiny diameter lead at 90 degrees to them. 

[mpeg2]

Surface mount? That would explain the tiny leads (and be really tough to install in the Crack).

Rich

[w0lfd0g]

LED replaced - All good!  Thanks for your help, gents.