couple questions about Crack kit

[jboehle]

1) The kit I received did not include any hookup wire with the white jacket.  I only got red & black hookup wire.  Is this intended?

2) The small tube I got has some slightly bent pins, gunk on the outside of the tube, and a fair amount of the writing on the tube is missing.  I can make out "OMBERG 39" with "12" below the "39" and maybe "2" below the "12".  Also it says "5963" on it.  Mostly I am disappointed that I got what seems like a well-used tube, not in a box (it was just wrapped in the bubble wrap next to the box containing the big tube).  I'm fine with NOS tubes with a "new" DIY kit, but this does not seem like NOS to me.  Is this typical of what is sent with the Crack kit?

[vetmed]

Red is always positive, by convention, just as black or white is the opposite. So I would say you should be good to use the black in place of the white. Personally I would have been very pleased to have gotten a NOS 5963, which is a long life version of the 12AU7. Probably made for Stromberg-Carlson. I'm pretty confident that Bottlehead would test any old tubes to be sure they would meet "new" standards before including them with any of their kits. Hope this is helpful

[Paul Birkeland]

We could indeed raise the price of the kit and put a new production Chinese 12AU7 in the box. I suspect that such a tube would give you about six to eight months of daily use.

The old stock 5963 that you received is a special grade of 12AU7 that may run for the better part of ten years in the Crack circuit with daily use. If the pins were bent in shipping, we apologize. We do our best to keep the white tube boxes in stock to protect the 12AU7,but we will not hold an order to wait on them.

The lack of white wire is an error, we can send you some if you post your first initial and last name.

[NightFlight]

1) The kit I received did not include any hookup wire with the white jacket.  I only got red & black hookup wire.  Is this intended?

2) The small tube I got has some slightly bent pins, gunk on the outside of the tube, and a fair amount of the writing on the tube is missing.  I can make out "OMBERG 39" with "12" below the "39" and maybe "2" below the "12".  Also it says "5963" on it.  Mostly I am disappointed that I got what seems like a well-used tube, not in a box (it was just wrapped in the bubble wrap next to the box containing the big tube).  I'm fine with NOS tubes with a "new" DIY kit, but this does not seem like NOS to me.  Is this typical of what is sent with the Crack kit?

Send me your old tubes. I would gladly send you some newer Russian production tubes in trade. *grin*  Nice clean look on 'em.

[jboehle]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to piss anyone off.  I'm new to tubes.  If the tube is tested and still has a long life then I have nothing to complain about.  I can probably clean the gunk off the outside of the tube with some alcohol or something.  I looked at more pics of tubes on eBay and such and I think the pins on a lot of these used tubes just aren't exactly straight.  The tubes were in plenty of bubble wrap so I don't think it was probably damaged more during the shipping from Bottlehead to me.

I was not saying I wanted brand new production tubes.  I was mainly concerned about receiving a tube that looks like it already had a rough life.  But like I said above, if it tested well and still has a lot of life to give me, then I shouldn't have complained.

I'm not as concerned with looks as I am the sound, but the Crack is a beautiful little amp, so I guess I care a little bit about how the tubes look when it's finally sitting on my desk at work.

Eileen got back to me today and said she'd send some of the white wire.  I have other wire I could use, but I'd rather mine be a completely stock Crack (at least initially) just like you see in all the other builds.

[Paul Birkeland]

I have other wire I could use, but I'd rather mine be a completely stock Crack (at least initially) just like you see in all the other builds.

This is sage wisdom!

We do test every 12AU7 on a tube tester built for the military with a very conservative "minimum acceptable" threshold.  If a 12AU7 doesn't go past this with some margin, it goes in the trash.