I recently built this Bottlehead kit (actually, I had it at Chicago), and I have to admit, it's crossed my mind a few times to sell my beloved Zana Deux since I started listening to it. The kit is about as easy as they come (more cutting/stripping wires than anything else) and I did it in about 4 hours.
Here's the killer part. The cost of the basic kit is just $220 and an upgrade kit with CCS boards for both the 12au7 and 6080 cathode follower is another $100. The stock Crack has a strong tubey character but with killer bass and liquid mids and highs. With the upgrade (called the Speedball), the sound becomes more transparent and fast.
The frequency extension sounds better (particularly in the bass) and a quieter background reveals some of the best stage depth I've heard with dynamic headphones. Speaking of which, the Crack is recommended for high impedance cans (120 ohm) but I've been using my 40 ohm AD2000's and it sounds killer with them. It did however, run out of steam with a pair of K701's. In Chicago I borrowed ASR's HD800's for a bit and suffice it to say, I'm looking to buy a pair of them as we speak. If you've ever picked up a soldering iron or stripped a wire, this would be a great kit to get your feet wet and build an amp that you might just never need to upgrade from. BTW, there's a Bottlehead forum where other guys and gals who've built this amp can help you along if you get stuck or better yet, let you know how to do further mods on this kit.
Can 6as7's be used without any changes to the amp? I think i have a few lying around from the singlepower extreme days. Simple enough amp and good reviews with the 650s. Gas Guzzlers Extreme - Ze / Stuttering Fix. The website says that tuberolling can be done with 6080/6as7 variants.
Aug 20, 2010 Crack;Bottlehead OTL. One of these days I'll get around to polishing and posting the schematic for the Menace-TC. The Crack probably looks a lot like it.
Hp Photosmart C3100 Series Driver Software For Windows 7. Does that happen to include the 5998 tube by any chance? Loved that tube on the extreme. Dont know if it would sound the same in this amp but i figured i would ask instead of assuming one way or the other. You can use all the 6080 subs as well as the gazillion 12au7 subs in the Crack. I've tried most of the the usual suspect and I'm currently running a Tung-sol 5998 and a CBS/Hytron 5814a in mine and lovin' every minute of it! There's a good bit of info regarding all kinds of tube rolling/mods etc on the Bottlehead/Crack forum.