Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Legacy Kit Products => Smash => Topic started by: ranchhand1 on February 01, 2018, 05:23:50 AM

Title: Matched set replacement ubes for Smash?
Post by: ranchhand1 on February 01, 2018, 05:23:50 AM
I am new to tubes and tube gear. Considering the Smash.  When one tube fails can I just buy another of the same type? Does the Smash have a control for bias adjustment or is this necessary?
Also, seller suggests this is a build someone with no experience can tackle. Correct? I built a Hafler DH 101 pre and that went fine.
Thank you.   
Title: Re: Matched set replacement ubes for Smash?
Post by: Paul Birkeland on February 01, 2018, 06:39:49 AM
If you've built a DH-101, I believe you'll find the Smash considerably easier to construct.

As far as I have observed, all 4P1L tubes are the same, so sourcing replacements is a breeze!  You don't need to worry about matching them, and the circuit applies bias automatically.

-PB
Title: Re: Matched set replacement ubes for Smash?
Post by: Tim G. on February 04, 2018, 12:12:32 PM
I have rolled through a few sets of tubes on my smash, I purchased a few NOS Russian "matched" sets from Ebay and tried to purchase a few different date codes.  Trying different sets there weren't any striking differences, but I settled on ones with the earliest date codes as being the best sounding ones with the least microphonics.  All of them sounded great though.  Just my .02

Tim