Finished building the Crack and Speedball but had to remove the Speedball. Here are my issues:
1) There is a slight white noise with the Crack (stock). It is not loud, but enough to be easily noticed as soon as the headphones are plugged in. It does not change with the volume knob (even when all the way down). I unplugged the RCA jacks and tried wiggling the 12AU7 and still the same in both ears. Is it a cold solder, bad tube, or something else?
Replacing 12AU7 tube solved the problem2) My 5W 270 ohm transistors got really hot since I forgot the plastic sheet between the transistors and heat sink. I don't know if this made one of the resistors crack directly or if it simply made an already damaged transistor more damaged, but one of them cracked so I need a replacement. Will this work:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009PIQUDE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 .
Solved3) Finally, the Speedball originally lite up all LEDs both before and after I put the plastic sheets in. However, I was not getting any voltage readings on the first 6 terminals because I had the ground on terminal 13 instead of 12.
While I was voltage testing, there was a spark on terminal 7. I don't know if it shorted to terminal 6 or not, but all the LEDs went out except the bottom main board (which glowed strong), and the LED at A8 to center pin. I tested all the transistors and resistors and the only bad one I found was the bottom TIP50, which gave a low resistance from red collector to black base. The PC board did not have any shorts or disconnections so my best guess is that the transistor is shorting out the power at the bottom board not allowing the electricity to travel any farther. Any guesses as to what it is?
SolvedCheers