Finished my First Quickie

[IceOgre]

I had ordered a Quickie about two weeks ago. This was my first venture into DIY electronics.

For the past couple of years I was using an old Fisher tube amp but unfortunately that died.  I know nothing of circuits and could not find a local shop to fix the amp.  So, sadly,  the amp went to a new home.

In the mean time I bought a Sumo "The Nine" amp used (Class A baby).  I have always wanted this amp since the first time I heard it sing in the early nineties.  I was using an NAD integrated amp as a preamp for the past couple of weeks.  Everything sounded good but not as smooth as tubes.

Enter the quickie.  I had never built anything electronic (Except tinkering with Lego Mindstorms, which are way cool, and wiring a house). If I screwed up the Quickie assembly I wouldn't be out much cash.  Also, I figured it would be a good project to introduce my boys to circuits (ages 8, 6, and 5).  I am a firm believer that education should never be limited in any form and kids should be exposed to as much as possible at a young age.

Assembly of the quickie was a blast.  My only issue was the coffee I drank that morning.  The coffee seemed to hinder me from having a steady hands.  The amp was assembled in about two hours taking time to explain what I was doing to my boys.  The PJCCS was assembled the following morning. The preamp sounds sounds amazing. Soft on the top, detailed in the middle, and decent on the bottom.

After switching out cables a few times I was able to get the sound just right.  For folks having issues with sound try swapping out cables first.  Believe it or not they really have a HUGE impact on sound.  My past experience is that some cables will dramatically impact low end and add harshness on the higher end of the sound spectrum.

The only issue I am having is with what occasionally sounds like clipping?  Not really sure if it is clipping I need to do a little more research and listening.

My system consists of the following...

Bottlehead Quickie (Awesome)
Sumo Amp "The Nine"
Enligtened Audio Design (CD Transport)
Audio Alchemy (DAC DDE v1)
Vampire Wire (interconnects silver plated copper)
Kimber Kable (Simple black and brown stuff)
Spica TC50's (These speakers have been a mainstay in my system since high school, 18 years ago, and I can not part with them)

Every component in the system was less than $400 dollars with the exception of the speakers which I bought new my senior year of high school.  I am a Corporate Controller and cheap as can be...

Thanks the Paul Joppa, Doc , and the Queen who were all very helpful and amazingly friendly.  Also, I am not sure who I spoke with on the phone when I called about top plate color availability couple of weeks ago (he even got in his truck and went to the warehouse to see what colors were available ).  Now that is service.  I can all but guarantee I will get hooked on crack.  I will upload some pictures later today.

Thanks,

Don

[IceOgre]

I have been listening to the Quickie for quite some time.  It sounds great.  I have added a copper bottom plate on the underside of the chassis to give the Quickie a more finished look.  

To help with the microphonics I decided to add some tube dampers.  I started to price some of the dampers availible for purchase and quicky found they are not cheap.

I looked on the forum and saw a comment from Doc recommending the use of copper tape.  So I bought some copper tape from the local Hobbie Lobby. I wrapped the copper tape around the center of the tube building the radius to 3/4".  I then bought a couple of copper plumbing fittings and slid them over the copper tape.  The fit is snug but not too tight.

I fired up the quickie to give it a listen.  The first thing I noticed was the reduction of microphonics.  When I touch the volume knob the tubes no longer sing.  Tapping copper pipe fittings generates a very low level of singing compared to the raw tubes.  Also, the general level of system noise has decreased dramatically.  The preamp sounds much smoother overall.

So the question I have now is the effect of adding copper tape to the tubes.  Does the copper tape and copper fitting impact tube life or harm the tubes in any way? Also, is the elimination of system noise due to the fact that the copper shields the interconnects from the tubes?

Thanks,

Don

[IceOgre]

Some pictures of my quickie...

[Paul Joppa]

Sorry I missed this thread the first time around. Very cool eXperimenting with damping! Thanks for posting your results - this is how we all learn stuff.

I see The Nine puts out 70 watts with 1.1vRMS input. Clipping should not be a problem. If you still hear something that might be clipping, check the filament battery orientation - the manual has it backwards. There's a nearby thread started by JONO that discusses this.

Sounds like you have raised the tube mass a good bit with the tape and plumbing copper. That's probably the most significant factor reducing microphonics. It won't hurt anything. The main risk with tube dampers is when they insulate the tube so it can't dissipate enough heat. These tubes at this operating point dissipate very little heat, and copper is a darn good heat conductor.

[IceOgre]

Thanks for the feedback.  Attached is a close-up of my homemade dampers.  I like to refer to this DIY project as a "tube job".  Maybe that could be a future name of a tbd product (hopefully a dac of some sort).

[Grainger49]

I hadn't even noticed the tube dampers in the smaller pictures even thought you had described them well.  They look nice and I would consider them a good heat sink to help keep the tubes cool for a longer life.

[IceOgre]

The pot that came with the quickie worked fine and sounded great, however, the sound at low low volume levels was unbalanced. The inequality of the channel output at low volume levels encouraged me to start looking for an new pot. I wanted to go the route of a stepped attenuator but they can get very expensive.  I entertained the Sweetest Whispers and unfortunately found out I would have to drill an additional hole in the top plate.

Well after searching for a while I found this little guy...

http://www.virtualvillage.com/24-step-ladder-type-stereo-volume-attenuator-100k-001493-040.html

I was a leery of making the purchase.  I had never bought anything from Hong Kong or China before. The little dude cost $8.99 plus another $3.99 for shipping. I had pretty much written off the odds of receiving my purchase.  Then after two weeks my wife called me at work, and to my surprise I actually received a package.

Well I finally put the pot into service this morning with some helpful feedback from folks on this forum. All I have to say now is wow wow wow.  I can honestly say that the sound coming from the quickie is much more balance sounding versus the stock pot. I would recommend this for anyone whose sound is unbalanced. Those who do not have a similar issue may or may not want to make the purchase.  It can't hurt to give it a try...

I will throw a picture up on this post because the thing did not come with instructions.  I love the Quickie.

[TheSparkle]

That's great to know!  I have been looking at some ladder attenuators on the auction site.  I have bought from  Hong Kong, Russia, Ukraine, Thailand and other places so that doesn't scare me.  But, I'm really really glad to know that these cheap ladder attenuators make a big improvement in a Quickie.  Thank you.

And, your Quickie looks great.

I got some Russian military high grade caps (2.2uf) to try, and they are huge, about 2.5 inch long cylinders.  I'll have to try some mods similar to the ones that you have performed.

You should try some better tubes also if you are interested.  They make a big impact on the sound.

[Grainger49]

Your Russian caps sound like my first purchase of KKs, 2.2 uF Paper In Oil caps.  They are big and green.  They have a nice sound too.  But they are big.  It is amazing how small a 2.2 uF brown metalized PP cap is that is stock in several of the Bottlehead kits, then we go to do some tweaking and the replacements are huge in comparison.  Did I mention that they are big for the value/voltage rating?

[IceOgre]

A few more pictures of my system and the Quickie. The little black box next to the quickie is a version of the Cmoy design headphone amp. I must say it sounds pretty darn good after some upgrades to the circuit. The Cmoy amp is going on vacation with me next week.

With fathers day coming up I really really really want some Crack. I want to pull the trigger on this amp but I'm concerned about its performance with my Grado SR200's???

I also added a pair of Clarity Cap Quickie. I love Bottlehead's designs they are great.

[bainjs]

I also have one of these controls but couldn't figure out the wiring.  I can't see all of the connections in your photo.  Could you by chance come up with a diagram showing the connections?

Thanks

Joel in Tennessee

[Grainger49]

I also have one of these controls but couldn't figure out the wiring.  I can't see all of the connections in your photo.  Could you by chance come up with a diagram showing the connections?

Thanks

Joel in Tennessee

Joel,

Let's see if I can get this right without enough coffee...

Get out your meter.  Make your first measurement with the attenuator all the way down.  The input to wiper (output) will measure the "nominal" impedance of the attenuator.  The wiper will measure a short the ground lug.

As you increase the volume settings to maximum the input to output (wiper) resistance readings will decrease in resistance and the output to ground resistance readings will increase.

I think I got that right.  More coffee and I'll check.

[bainjs]

The problem is the inputs/outputs/ground for both channels are not easily found on the stupid thing.  IceOgre has figured it out and hopefully will share the secret!

[Grainger49]

The problem is the inputs/outputs/ground for both channels are not easily found on the stupid thing.  IceOgre has figured it out and hopefully will share the secret!

A starting point is, like I said, turn it all the way down and the output is shorted to ground.  You will find four of the 6 lugs are shorted, in pairs.  The ones that are shorted together are a given channel's output and ground.  That makes the other two the inputs.  There will be a measured resistance from one of those two input lugs to one of the two pair of shorted ground/output lugs.  That identifies which three lugs are a given channel.  Then the only thing to figure out is which of the two pair shorted together are ground and output.  My previous post outlines that.  It should not take too long and you get to get more experienced with your meter.

[bainjs]

I'm pretty familar with potentiometers, however, this control only has 4 lugs total, however, it's a stereo unit.  It doesn't make a lot of sense.