I saw those and they look to be pretty decent for the price. I think one of the biggest things with stepped attenuators is the quality of the mechanical switch that they use and that makes sense. But the same can be said for the quality of the cheaper potentiometers. Then there is the fact that 21 or 24 steps is often said to not be enough, and depending on the source and the way the pots were built in terms of taper, especially not enough near the lowest end of the range (low volume/gets too loud too soon). Ive been obsessing over the volume pot thing since I first decided to build the amp. I was considering one of those pots or possible the Valab 24 step (series) attenuator. But I have a feeling I would had to use resistors on signal inputs to tame the volume at the lowest settings. I have a cheap wirewound alps in another amp and it tracks surprisingly well at the low end of the volume range and throughout and sounds fine but being a small board based amp, doesnt leave much room for mods for comparison.
I've prewired an Alps Blue Velvet pot for the Crack and may use it or I still may go ahead and use the stock alpha pot in the initial build and swap the Blue Velvet in later to see for myself if I really hear a difference.
I can obsess on end about little things and drive myself crazy eventhough I full well realize that I wont really know how anything behaves until it's up and running. I probably didnt inspire much confidence in Tubeglow. But I can offer this. You arent alone, Tubeglow. Well, I can generally follow the schematic but dont know what everything means/does. But I do know, that after looking over the instructions, this is an easy build as long as you can solder. Ive asked plenty of basic (some dumb) questions on this board in preperation for building the amp, and everyone has been helpful and friendly. Im sure some were gritting their teeth with some of my questions but all patient and helpful nonetheless. This is a safe place :-)
