lth1
New member
I have been working on my Crackatwoa since early January, finished the build on March 5 (almost). Couple of stays in the Hospital, eye surgery, missing resistors and a lot of stupid mistakes delayed the project. It's hell getting old!!!!!
The Crackatwoa is an incredibly good headphone amp (I like OTL amps), it is much better than a Crack (as it should be); even with all of the mods the Crack will never equal the sound that comes out of a stock Crackatwoa, it is an outstanding bargain. Yes, the Crackatwoa can be improved by throwing money at it just like the Crack, but the rewards are greater and better sound. The Crackatwoa is dead quiet, no hum, no buss, no fuss. It also is dead quiet when using 6SN7's and 6F8G tubes with adapters, something that I could never accomplish with the Crack.
My Crackatwoa has several mods. For once I did use the Alder base, but did cover it up with some venier and added my usual square legs (not real happy with the outcome). The top is powder coated; RCA plugs upgraded; upgraded alpha pots to Audio Note pots; Output caps upgraded to 100uf/250v Dayton film/foil; all signal wiring is silver (left over from BeePre); added an isolation platform (Thomas Mayer copy) for the 6080/6AS7G and 12AU7 tubes; and the usual Bling. Have not finished the area around the center two tubes, may just have to live with what I have. I did replace the tube sockets (always do for some reason), but this was a big mistake because trying to install the HLMP 6000 LEDs on a CMC ceramic/teflon socket is a real pain in the butt.
Here are a few pictures of the build:
The Crackatwoa is an incredibly good headphone amp (I like OTL amps), it is much better than a Crack (as it should be); even with all of the mods the Crack will never equal the sound that comes out of a stock Crackatwoa, it is an outstanding bargain. Yes, the Crackatwoa can be improved by throwing money at it just like the Crack, but the rewards are greater and better sound. The Crackatwoa is dead quiet, no hum, no buss, no fuss. It also is dead quiet when using 6SN7's and 6F8G tubes with adapters, something that I could never accomplish with the Crack.
My Crackatwoa has several mods. For once I did use the Alder base, but did cover it up with some venier and added my usual square legs (not real happy with the outcome). The top is powder coated; RCA plugs upgraded; upgraded alpha pots to Audio Note pots; Output caps upgraded to 100uf/250v Dayton film/foil; all signal wiring is silver (left over from BeePre); added an isolation platform (Thomas Mayer copy) for the 6080/6AS7G and 12AU7 tubes; and the usual Bling. Have not finished the area around the center two tubes, may just have to live with what I have. I did replace the tube sockets (always do for some reason), but this was a big mistake because trying to install the HLMP 6000 LEDs on a CMC ceramic/teflon socket is a real pain in the butt.
Here are a few pictures of the build:
