Iron improvement recommendations

[pendergast]

Hi,

I looked around, but could not find information as to the advantages of the 3 irons offered by MQ.  Could someone guide me?  I did have an Iron  change on my SEX 4 years ago, and I am satisfied with it. But I have another SEX I want to improve for a friend, and I am trying to make the best decision. So between the non-nickel, the nickel stripe and the full nickel, what should I expect?

Also, if I need to change the capacitors as I had done with the former improvement kit, how should I go about it?

[Paul Birkeland]

Essentially the variations between the different transformers are to give some price options, with the understanding that full nickel is the best option if it can be afforded.  Many who have tried different materials say that the more nickel you use, the more detail that comes through.  Technically speaking, more nickel in the stack increases inductance, which improves bass.  At the same time, less turns are necessary, providing superior high frequency response.

I don't believe there is any hard rule about how much nickel has to be used to see these benefits.  If I had a SEX amp right now that needed an upgrade, I would probably look into an M3/Nickel pinstripe option, as I know Mikey has some M3 lams at the moment. 

[pendergast]

Thanks!

But this does not answer my other questions. My first kit with the upgrade included the caps. 

So how do I go about the caps to upgrade the other sex? Is this to be purchased separately?

Also, I am curious to know if my previous upgrade that I got from Bottlehead is comparable to no nickel, striped nickel or full nickel.

Could I have some clarifications please?

Thank you. And my apologies if I am wasting people's time. I just could not find the information.

[Grainger49]

Let me get it straight, you are asking if the parafeed cap needs to change value with pinstripe nickel and with all nickel like it did with the stock upgrade MQ Iron?

[pendergast]

No.

4 years ago, I bought 2 SEX.  The first one was upgraded with the iron upgrade.

Question 1: how does that upgrade (of 4 years ago) compares with the actual iron upgrade available through Magnequest?

Question 2: doing the iron upgrade today, I need to purchase from Magnequest. But 4 years ago, the upgrade kit came with capacitors, I believe. So the question is, how do I get those caps today?

I sincerely apologize for not being clearer earlier.  Although this is a nice hobby (I mean fantastic), I would not want to abuse of your attention, but those clarifications are important to me.

See, the second SEX I made, I sold to a friend.  He is ecstatic about it, but when he learned that it was possible to get more bass, he wanted me to perform the upgrade. So now, I am shopping for this upgrade!  But since there is no such thing as an upgrade kit as before, I am inquiring as to how to proceed...

Gosh, now I feel I make more sense...  do you? If not, I'll have to ask a refund from my English teacher or get a new brain...

;o)

[Grainger49]

I was responding to your post reply #2.  It does not ask Question #1; to answer Question #2, you buy them yourself.  MagneQuest doesn't sell capacitors that I know of.

Edit: You did not answer my question which was, "you are asking if the parafeed cap needs to change value with pinstripe nickel and with all nickel like it did with the stock upgrade MQ Iron?"

[kgoss]

I believe what is confusing you is that the C4S upgrade for the S.E.X. kit is not on the new Bottlehead products site, but it is still available.  Just call or send an e-mail to Bottlehead.

The current C4S kit does not include the capacitors or the iron.  You provide your own favorite capacitors and purchase the iron from Magnequest.

You will find instructions for installing the Magnequest iron and C4S upgrade under the S.E.X. kit topic - second post from the top.  Those instructions also give you the value of the capacitors you need to buy.  The brand is up to you.

[Paul Joppa]

...
Question 1: how does that upgrade (of 4 years ago) compares with the actual iron upgrade available through Magnequest?

Question 2: doing the iron upgrade today, I need to purchase from Magnequest. But 4 years ago, the upgrade kit came with capacitors, I believe. So the question is, how do I get those caps today?...

Here's the link to the instructions:

http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/S.E.X./ironsupplementkit.htm

That is really hard to find - hopefully Doc B will crawl out from under the 2765 other things demanding his attention and make that more clear sometime soon!

Meanwhile:

Question 1: The original SEX upgrade iron is now sold direct from Magnequest, as the BH-1 nickel pinstripe output transformer with the BH-2 plate chokes. The instructions above used slightly different model designations because this was the first of the custom Bottlehead versions that Magnequest made. Personally, I prefer 100% nickel - a little more costly, but more transparent. The regular (M3 or perhaps M4 - ask Mike when you order) is less expensive, and I would say a bit more gutsy - it has "grip" for want of a more precise term, and will handle the really deep bass a bit better - we're talking organs and symphonic bass drums; rock and roll bass is loud but not extremely deep. The pinstripe is in between. (I have nickel in my own SEX amps.) The bass improvement is almost entirely a result of the iron upgrade.

Question 2: When first introduced, we had some custom capacitors made by ICW (Clarity Caps). They are quite good, but too many people had their own favorite capacitor and wanted the upgrade without our custom caps, so we stopped doing that - we're a kit house, not a capacitor house! I recommend Auricaps (Clarity Caps are comparable I believe) if you don't have a favorite type; you can get them from Parts Connexion in Canada (they've been reliable and fast, in our experience) and other sources. If you ask for advice on the Forum, you'll find very many different favorites. It can be fun to experiment, if your muse leads you in that direction. I have Auricaps in my Paramounts, IIRC I have the original ICWs in my SEX amp.

The third component of the original upgrade is the C4S plate loads for the driver. Bottlehead still sells those along with the necessary hardware etc. even though it does not appear on the current web site. Best bet is to email Eileen and ask. I think this part is quite significant audibly and not very expensive.

[Paul Birkeland]

The SEX upgrade is more or less 3 parts:

Magnequest iron

C4S boards

New parafeed caps

If you are looking for upgrade parafeed caps and Doc is no longer selling them (I'd ask), go to parts connexion and get two .1uf 400v Auricaps and two 2.0uf 600v Auricaps.
The ordering process for the mq iron is just to go right to the source. If you got Mq upgrade iron with your first SEX amp, it is the same Mq iron that is available now. If you don't remember specifying nickel or no nickel, you probably got no nickel.

-PB

[Paul Joppa]

I'd recommend 600v ratings for both caps; the startup transient voltage on teh coupling cap can be greater than 400v.

[pendergast]

...
Question 1: how does that upgrade (of 4 years ago) compares with the actual iron upgrade available through Magnequest?

Question 2: doing the iron upgrade today, I need to purchase from Magnequest. But 4 years ago, the upgrade kit came with capacitors, I believe. So the question is, how do I get those caps today?...

Here's the link to the instructions:

http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/S.E.X./ironsupplementkit.htm

That is really hard to find - hopefully Doc B will crawl out from under the 2765 other things demanding his attention and make that more clear sometime soon!

Meanwhile:

Question 1: The original SEX upgrade iron is now sold direct from Magnequest, as the BH-1 nickel pinstripe output transformer with the BH-2 plate chokes. The instructions above used slightly different model designations because this was the first of the custom Bottlehead versions that Magnequest made. Personally, I prefer 100% nickel - a little more costly, but more transparent. The regular (M3 or perhaps M4 - ask Mike when you order) is less expensive, and I would say a bit more gutsy - it has "grip" for want of a more precise term, and will handle the really deep bass a bit better - we're talking organs and symphonic bass drums; rock and roll bass is loud but not extremely deep. The pinstripe is in between. (I have nickel in my own SEX amps.) The bass improvement is almost entirely a result of the iron upgrade.

Question 2: When first introduced, we had some custom capacitors made by ICW (Clarity Caps). They are quite good, but too many people had their own favorite capacitor and wanted the upgrade without our custom caps, so we stopped doing that - we're a kit house, not a capacitor house! I recommend Auricaps (Clarity Caps are comparable I believe) if you don't have a favorite type; you can get them from Parts Connexion in Canada (they've been reliable and fast, in our experience) and other sources. If you ask for advice on the Forum, you'll find very many different favorites. It can be fun to experiment, if your muse leads you in that direction. I have Auricaps in my Paramounts, IIRC I have the original ICWs in my SEX amp.

The third component of the original upgrade is the C4S plate loads for the driver. Bottlehead still sells those along with the necessary hardware etc. even though it does not appear on the current web site. Best bet is to email Eileen and ask. I think this part is quite significant audibly and not very expensive.

Fantastic!   Thank you so much!