Tube Rolling w/Crack

[cddc]

There are no Russian 6080 and 12AU7 tubes.  You can fit a 6H13C which is a Russian 6AS7G, but there is no equivalent to the 12AU7.

Cool, thanks a lot for the reply.

The last time I submerged in the head-fi Crack thread was like at the beginning of this year. So I must have remembered something incorrectly.

I have never dipped my toes in the tube rolling waters. So what are the 2 stock tubes?

 

[mcandmar]

Its a lottery. Your pretty much guaranteed they will be american made tubes, but the brand will vary.  I have gotten some interesting tubes before, so you never know..

 

[cddc]

Its a lottery. Your pretty much guaranteed they will be american made tubes, but the brand will vary.  I have gotten some interesting tubes before, so you never know..

Lottery...so what is the jackpot?...lol

Thanks a lot for explaining the tubes

 

[Chris65]

Though you might get an new made Russian tube like I did..

 

[Paul Joppa]

Occasionally Bottlehead will acquire some especially good and/or famous and/or just rare tubes at a good price. Sometimes they will be announced, sometimes it's a lucky draw that you will get them, sometimes it becomes part of a promotion. Depends on Doc B's mood  :^)

Tubes are 12AU7 and 6080. Both have many equivalents. The 6080 is used as a cathode follower, which means that a wider variety of tubes are close enough to work.

 

[Doc B]

Yes, we guarantee that we won't guarantee what brand tubes you will get. We go through jillions of them and we get what we can get at any given time. Almost all the time, but not absolutely all the time, they are old stock American tubes. We do test every one in a TV-10 tube tester before it goes out. We do not listen to every one.

For what it's worth I can also guarantee you will usually get more accurate information about this kind of thing by asking us directly rather than asking on Head-Fi.

 

[cddc]

Thanks a lot Chris, Paul, and Doc. B to clear up my confusions. Now I got it.

They are stock American 12AU7 and 6080 tubes instead of the rumoured Russian tubes from head-fi.

I actually prefer American or English tubes. I think they are more reliable, if I am not guessing wrong again this time.

The stock tubes in my just-built Crack are awesome - background is dead silent, no microphonics whatsoever, very engaging

 

[mcandmar]

I actually prefer American or English tubes. I think they are more reliable, if I am not guessing wrong again this time.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Russian made tubes, for the crack specifically a 6H13C is up there with the best of them.

 

[Tom-s]

If a newcomer to Crack asks me what the best readily available / budget tubes would be i'd recommend the Russian combination.
6H13C with Genalex Gold Lion ECC82 new production.

Great starter pack: full bodied bass, large soundstage, musical mids. A combination made for easy listening, hour after hour.

Edit: And i never encountered any problems with these tubes.

 

[cddc]

Cool, it seems that there are some pretty good Russian made tubes. Thanks a lot for your recommendation, mcandmar and Tom-s!

 

[slice22358]

If a newcomer to Crack asks me what the best readily available / budget tubes would be i'd recommend the Russian combination.
6H13C with Genalex Gold Lion ECC82 new production.

Great starter pack: full bodied bass, large soundstage, musical mids. A combination made for easy listening, hour after hour.

Edit: And i never encountered any problems with these tubes.

This is what I decided to do as my first foray into tube rolling. I got the 6H13C last week and had no problems. Today I got the ECC82 in the mail and now my Crack has a bunch of popping and a low but rather loud hum. I had had occasional popping before, but nothing that lasted. The hum has never happened before. Did I just get a bad tube?

EDIT: Just put the original tube in and now it's humming too. Oh boy.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

You may want to start a new thread if you're having issues with your build, but what you describe is typical of a flaky solder joint that's acting up from rolling tubes.

-PB

 

[slice22358]

Sorry if I posted in the wrong place, but thanks because that was indeed the problem.

 

[Tom-s]

After the comments about Russian tubes i started looking around a bit for more tube rolling options.
I stumbled upon the following tubes:
6n6p -> Could work with ECC182 / 7119 / 5687 mod and adapter
6n1p -> Just needs an adapter?
Both are higher gain, different pinout and have other electrical parameters vs ECC82 and so are NOT to be used in a standard Crack.


Reading material: http://www.lampizator.eu/UPGRADE/upgrade%20noval%20tubes%20to%206H6P.html

 

[mcandmar]

The only drop in replacement Rusky tube is the 6H8C which is a 6SN7, which of course means you need an octal socket converter.

The metal base Melz tubes are extremely clean and detailed sounding, and the earlier hole plates are that bit better again.  Unfortunately those ones are getting hard to find so expect to find some silly asking prices for them.

 

[Tom-s]

I only do use one 6SN7 and it seems like it is the one you described, but labeled 1578.
Crappy phone pic:

Edit but the reason i'm looking into these other russians is because of their low prices.
More comments on the 6n6p and 6n1p are most welcome.

 

[mcandmar]

Yup one of them

 

[Tom-s]

Another tube that might be worth trying in Crack, the 6211: https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/137/6/6211.pdf

Anyone tried these?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

The 6N1P may hit a plate voltage that isn't too far off (it will require an adapter, and I don't know how you'll ground the shield pin with an adapter that plugs into a socket with no ground reference), but you really don't want more gain in the Crack.

 

[attmci]

Sorry if I posted in the wrong place, but thanks because that was indeed the problem.

NOS tube may give the popping sounds you described. Let it warm up a little bit should solve your problem.

"Humming" noise may come from wifi, computer, cell phone............and of cause bad tubes.