My Crack build thread

[Grainger49]

I am a big believer in a shielded power cord that grounds the outer shield at the plug.  It can only help, it can't hurt.  But shielding is a good thing.  20 years in industry, noise like you can't believe, has taught me that.

 

[MxT]

Agreed- you dont have to break the bank on power cords but nice thick gauge with a decent braid/and or foil shield makes a differance. and like you mentioned it does look silly when your HP cable is thicker than your IEC (-,

 

[MxT]

Some Better quality pics with the Speedbal , and cap ugrades

 

[MxT]

Some more- only thing I will change once my parts arive is some decent wirewound resistors at the power supply end and some new RCA's

The biggest improvement of sound for me on all the changes was the Speedball- I can not comment on the volume pot as I built it with the upgraded pot. Must admit the stock caps are very good in this application and at first was a bit dissapointed at the sound of the ERSE caps- after playing it for a few hours the signature changed dramatically and is now better than the stock caps.

 

[Grainger49]

Can you elaborate a little on the finish of the base?  The first post says something about red root oil but the finished base doesn't look red like the first post/picture.

 

[MxT]

The base was finshed with 5 layers of Alkanet root oil. It was then stained with a water based Walnut stain and given another 5 layers of Alkanet root oil. It was then given 5 layers of Birchwood Casey Tru-oil and left for 2 weeks to cure properly. I then gave it a good layer and buff of antique furniture wax.

 

[Grainger49]

Thanks!  That makes my head spin.  I'll probably not try to duplicate that finish as beautiful as it is.

 

[MxT]

No man- thats super simple- stain it, give it some oil to make it pretty and seal it. (-,

 

[Grainger49]

I'll take a look around Knoxville to see if I can find those materials.