Eros 2 Difficulty??

[Emoreigns]

Howdy everyone-

New around here ( First Post)- I'm nearing completion of my first crack build, and I have been having such a good time soldering and building the kit. As far as the next Bottlehead amp to build I was wondering how difficult is the Eros 2 to make/solder? It looks like a good amount of PCB soldering- Any advise would be helpful; and how would the Eros 2 compare in difficulty to make it in comparison to the BeePree 2 or Kaju 300B?

I've kind of decided I'm going to make them all, I just would like to know the best route to attack it

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Paul Birkeland]

The BeePre 2 is probably the easiest of the kits you want to tackle, then the Kaiju, then the Eros 2.

We revised the Eros 2 to simplify the build rather substantially, but it still requires pretty competent PCB soldering skills and it's the toughest kit to debug, so I might be tempted to leave that one for last!

 

[Emoreigns]

Thanks for the advise Paul- I'll attack them in that order then!

Cheers-

 

[Thermioniclife]

You can buy a pcb soldering kit to practice. There are thousands out there.
https://www.amazon.com/Gikfun-Electronic-Soldering-Practice-AT89C2051/dp/B07PRSFJ4B/ref=sr_1_6?hvadid=580880437152&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9004575&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8471149606679797869&hvtargid=kwd-921953457758&hydadcr=17063_13426349&keywords=pcb+soldering+practice+kit&qid=1699994077&sr=8-6
Here's one that uses through hole componants and comes with a chip socket which is nice. Some can be had for 5-6$

 

[Emoreigns]

Really appreciate that Thermioniclife-

I'll buy a couple of these and practice on them before I give it a go on my Speedball PCB-

If I can solder up the Speedball upgrade correctly is it reasonable to assume I'll be able to progress to the "bigger" and more advanced bottlehead kits after?

Thanks for all the help guys-

 

[Thermioniclife]

I would think so sir.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, the Speedball is definitely a good test. 

 

[hmbscott]

I built the Crack, then the Speed Ball, then the Eros 2, in that order. I am not new to soldering nor PCB's and I actually find PCB soldering easier. The primary challenge with the Eros II is that it has a lot more solder joints than the Crack, so you really need to be methodical. By my calculations, the Eros II has 174 solder steps vs 108 for the Crack. They aren't more difficult, just more of them. I had more difficulty with the Crack than the Eros mostly because I had learned the Bottlehead Way on the Crack.