Another successful Crack Build

John EH · 2821

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Offline John EH

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on: November 24, 2014, 03:03:11 PM
Posted the Hawaiian Punch Crack I'm building for a friend in another thread.  Just finished building it as a stock Crack and preparing to do the Speedball upgrade.  Couple things of note:

The plate load resistors are way up high because they come out anyway for Speedball and it's just easier this way and I can save the resistors and throw in the parts drawer.

The output caps are up pretty high too since they get angled to accommodate the Speedball upgrade.  Left all the length on them to make this easier.

Resistance checks were perfect, I turned it on and no smoke, LED's lit up nicely.  Rather than do the voltage checks, I thought "What the Heck?" and just plugged the DAC in.  Beautiful music came forth.  Listened for 30 minutes and then did the voltage checks.  Perfect.

Will get Speedball installed in the next day or three and figure a way to ship this back to my friend.

This is my third Crack build and I really have to sing the praises of Bottlehead again.  Great designs, great directions, great support, and best of all it sounds absolutely amazing.  One of the best bargains and best sounds in the industry and you get the distinction of telling everyone "I built this".

On this build I had no gotchas, no problems, no smoke, no blown fuses, no hum, no buzz, nothing.  The kit just works if you take your time and follow the directions. Anyone can do this.  If you're reading this and wondering if you can do this, and sitting on the fence building one.........Order one now. Right now.



Offline John EH

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Reply #1 on: November 25, 2014, 06:49:02 PM
Speedball is in, piece of cake. Pic of it lit up and pic of the finished product.




Offline JamieMcC

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Reply #2 on: November 25, 2014, 08:40:45 PM
Funny I never thought of using cable ties like that on my Crack but it looks nice and neat.

Shoot for the moon if you miss you will still be amongst the stars!


Offline Strikkflypilot

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Reply #3 on: November 25, 2014, 11:15:24 PM
Indeed, beautiful and clean build. Love the braid too.

Home system:
Sources: Ibasso DX90, Google Chromecast Audio optical out
DAC: Schiit Gumby
Amp: Bottlehead Mainline
http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=7463.0
Phones: HD800S

Office:
Sources: Iphone/ Ipod
DAC: Dragonfly Red+Jtrbug
Amp: Crack/Speedball heavily modded
Phones: HD580,HD600 grilles


Offline John EH

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Reply #4 on: November 25, 2014, 11:34:20 PM
Indeed, beautiful and clean build. Love the braid too.

I called my girl friend in to do the braid.



Online Paul Birkeland

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Reply #5 on: November 26, 2014, 10:19:32 AM
I'm putting in a vote that the next Crack you make by themed after Crisco.

You can do the "Criscrack", with a white top plate containing the logo.  For the base, you could do a metallic wrap with the silver foil color and the markings that the sticks have for cutting off specific amounts. 


Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline John EH

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Reply #6 on: November 26, 2014, 10:37:35 AM
I'm putting in a vote that the next Crack you make by themed after Crisco.

You can do the "Criscrack", with a white top plate containing the logo.  For the base, you could do a metallic wrap with the silver foil color and the markings that the sticks have for cutting off specific amounts.

There may be a next one as I posted this on my Facebook and my cousin is interested in me building him one.  Not sure about the Crisco thing ha ha.

I have some designs for a Corona one and of course a Japanese one.  IchiBan Crack.



Offline fullheadofnothing

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Reply #7 on: November 26, 2014, 03:42:12 PM
Peebs just wants a Crisco Crack to play his Sisqo 12".

Joshua Harris

I Write the Manuals That Make The Whole World Sing
Kit Packer Emeritus


Offline John EH

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Reply #8 on: November 26, 2014, 06:44:10 PM
Peebs just wants a Crisco Crack to play his Sisqo 12".

All he has to do is ask!  :)