The business end of my crack

[Nathan]

Here's what you see-
Crack with Speedball
Padded down volume control
Teflon audio bypass caps
Mundorf MCap Supreme power supply bypass cap
Cardas RCA input jacks
PEC 100k Stereo log potentiometer

Here's what you don't see- Tung Sol 5998 and Mullard CV4003

 

[Jimb0]

Awesome mods Nathan!

 

[Nathan]

It's only awesome if it sounds good. And yes, it sounds terrific! Mated with Sennheiser HD600 with Cardas headphone cabling

 

[Jimb0]

It's only awesome if it sounds good. And yes, it sounds terrific! Mated with Sennheiser HD600 with Cardas headphone cabling

Good to hear. What do you think of the cabling? Did you notice any differences?

 

[Nathan]

Good to hear. What do you think of the cabling? Did you notice any differences?

Not night and day- plus the stock cable is much lighter; lighter is more comfortable

 

[Grainger49]

Nathan,

Nice work.  I like the woven cover to the Mundorf leads.  I don't have that kind of thing so I use heat shrink.  I got a box of different sizes really cheap.

I have been using a K72P-6 KK Teflon in my Paramours for a looooong time.  It was an improvement over the stock cap.  And way back I got in on a group buy another Bottlehead organized for Paramour owners.  Only on Bottlehead do I find a community like this.

 

[Nathan]

Thank you! I was able to buy a roll of the woven cover for under $1. I have more than I'll ever use and I  figured why not. The big issue was what color to choose. I picked blue cause the wires are white, red and black. Needed a little blue. The bypass caps were a real find and inexpensive as well.

This is a pretty cool community-

 

[Nathan]

Ok- added another mod- put a 270 ohm choke (Triad C7-x) in the power supply. I needed to use 1 inch standoffs and drill 2 holes in the top plate. Unsoldering the 5w 270 ohm resistor and soldering the choke's leads was a little tight but not bad.

As usual - now I'll say I'm done.

The choke is a good mod

So here's what I'm running-

Speedball, padded down volume with PEC volume pot, cardas RCA jacks, choke in ps, Teflon audio bypass cap, mundorf bypass cap in the ps

Typical tube compliment is Tung Sol 5998 and Mullard Cv4003 but now I'm using a GE 6as7g and a Mullard 12au7 (these are my backup tubes and decided to switch them in for a while to great effect)

 

[Nathan]

Triad choke mounted on 1 inch standoffs

Ok- so I replaced the 1st PS cap with a 470uf 250v Nichicon, eventually going to replace the 2nd PS cap similarly. The final PS cap is going to be interesting

 

[ZacharyP]

Triad choke mounted on 1 inch standoffs

Ok- so I replaced the 1st PS cap with a 470uf 250v Nichicon, eventually going to replace the 2nd PS cap similarly. The final PS cap is going to be interesting

Getting nice and stuffed in there!

 

[Nathan]

Here it is with the 470uf PS caps for caps 1 and 2

Yes- pretty busy in there

 

[Nathan]

One more thing added- Switchcraft headphone jack.

Am I done now?

 

[jwrossie]

Here it is with the 470uf PS caps for caps 1 and 2

Yes- pretty busy in there

Great mods, but I  have a question about them. I would like to do some of those mods myself, but I wandered how do you connect them and what components have to be removed? I have a crack with speedball now.
Do you have a drawing or detail photo's?

Can you describe the sound?

 

[Nathan]

The sound is great- detailed, not harsh, plenty of depth

Some mods are straight swaps- new part for the old part. Bypass caps are another story.

The new RCA jacks made no difference. The speedball made a big difference as did bypassing the audio caps

 

[Nathan]

I moved the speedball boards to do the new headphone jack because I lengthened wires. The boards were replaced to their original positions. The most challenging installation space-wise was the choke. See my photos in this thread to see the installation