Bottlehead YouTube channel

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Doc B

Doc B

Former President For Life
Staff member
We're working on some new videos that demonstrate some tips and tricks for building Bottlehead kits. To simplify finding this stuff I have finally gotten off my butt and created the Bottlehead YouTube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbC3oem8P8u8hD_JCo4MNxg

For starters I have simply reloaded some old existing videos that were scattered about for the past few years on my personal channels. New content is coming soon, possibly later this week.
 
Very nice. I know that for me YouTube has become very helpful and this sounds like another great site. I have already subscribed to it.

Maybe you should pin discussion so it stays at the top.
 
I'll pin it when we add the new content. It will be more in depth, longer. Editing is coming along nicely and will be wrapped up soon.
 
https://youtu.be/1eHtFD8ahAo

New videos landing this week! How to assemble, stain and finish your wood base. How to paint your chassis panel and transformer bell.
 
First new video of our The Doctor Is In series is up on our YouTube channel! I demonstrate some really simple wood base assembly and finishing techniques that have a high probability of success. Thanks to Ben Rupp for the excellent video production and Art Khu for the excellent music -

https://youtu.be/S914VNYblOM
 
Episode two of The Doctor Is In is now live. In this one I show you how the prep and paint a chassis panel and transformer cover.

https://youtu.be/Kidk-vMwvIU
 
Thanks for the kind words. It's easy for me to look at them and think "man, I could have shown a lacquer finish, layering different stains, polishing and bluing the bell, powder coat, etc.". But since most of our customers are just getting into this DIY world I am trying to convey really simple ways to get great looking results. Hopefully this will be useful. Maybe down the road I can do some more advanced finishes, too.

I'm compiling a list of ideas for more videos. I'll tackle a few known sticking points like we have done in the past with the short videos about soldering a power switch, assembling a heat sink, etc. At some point I will do a full kit build or two, once we figure out a way to do it without putting everyone to sleep. If anyone has some suggestions for other videos (aside from "a detailed course on designing tube amps") please post them here.
 
Nice videos Doc. How about a proper soldering video as it seems like 90% of faults are solder related. The section at the end of your manuals is good but I wonder how many people read it. I have thought that perhaps that section should be in front of the instructions.
Just spitballing here.
 
As PB says, "yeah, there's only 68K how to solder videos on youtube".  ;) But I hear you. One that deals specifically with soldering our kits could be very useful and is in the plans.
 
If people watch a vid about wrapping the wire around the term. to get a nice fillet, and trimming excess leads and account for those clipped schniblings that can get you later on, perhaps PB's sanity can be exploited much more to your benefit.
 
+1 for a how-to soldering video showing how to crimp, solder and trim. I would suggest using as examples the Crack ground connections at the headphone jack and the nearby center lug of the 5 terminal strip -- those seem to be common culprits.

Related idea: solder a Crack using way too little heat and crappy mechanical connections. Then show the test results (wrongs resistances/voltages). Then properly attach reflow all joints, and show perfect test measurements.  And give it a listen with a satisfied smile on your face. Obviously not all in real time.

This might go a good way towards convincing people of the benefits of simply reflowing all connections in a non-working amp rather than spending 10X the time looking for the particular joint(s) causing the problem.

cheers, Derek
 
I agree with a how to solder video, seen so many on Youtube that are a train wreck, at least if you did one people would know they could trust it.  Also keep in mind, it may help overcome the barrier many people have towards building their own amplifier, show them its really not that difficult.

I would need to check, but i recall the manual does have a section on wrapping wires around before soldering, i.e. good mechanical contact first.

On the other extreme i had to work on my TV-7 tube tester recently, i don't know what mil soldering standard they used but i swear they wrapped leads around terminals three times then tied them in a knot before soldering, add to that a layer of anti fungal coating and the damn thing was almost impossible to get apart.
 
Yup, mil spec wiring was pretty hardcore back then. And I was told by my mentor John "Buddha" Camille that it was almost all done by women. He often expressed that women are much more adept at soldering than men. Which has me recalling a tour I was given of Meyer Sound several years ago in which the majority of the workforce at the speaker cone and electronics assembly benches were indeed women.

While our kits are not set up for that style of wiring it might be interesting to attempt the old trick of having to wire one all up mil spec style without solder and demonstrate that it works. I'll give that one some thought.
 
I would just like to chime in and mention with some others that I find these videos extremely helpful. I haven’t yet received my main line kit but I’m gathering resources and planning things and I have watched all these videos avidly. Looking forward to more.
 
Just a heads up that Ben Rupp will be coming over to shoot a new video this week. Meantime I am digging around the studio for all of my soldering gear...
 
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