I’m sure with burn in things will change. Hope it works out!
Yep that’s what I expect. If not, I’ll be rolling op amps anyway so I’ll find a sound I like.
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Interesting, this wouldn’t have been my take on the sound signature, I’d consider it fast.
The treble is smoothly presented, but it has excellent timbre, and I wouldn’t describe any part of the signature as slow.
You do need to let it warm up for a day or so, it takes forever to get to a stable temperature, and I want to say mine continued to improve over the first few weeks, but that’s anecdotal.
I just swapped my op amp for a Burson classic V6, it’s not a huge change. Like tube rolling I find it difficult to definitively quantify changes when can’t easily swap back, I think there is more air and more precise spatial presentation with the Burson, but I need to listen more.
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Yeah it’s a very strange “sound”. I can’t quite put my finger on it…perhaps it’s missing some dynamics? I’m going back and forth between it and the Crack right now and Crack definitely has something extra. They’re both class A amps so that’s not the difference. Anyway, I’m not drawing definite conclusions yet. I have it on 24/7 and I think it’s getting closer the Crack in terms of whatever it is that’s missing. I’ll let it cook for a few weeks before making a final judgement.
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Curious what you guys think of the Whammy after more time with it.
I’m looking for a project that doesn’t involve cleaning the garage.
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I use it as my SS amp exclusively. So it gets a decent amount of use. My main setup has 3 amps in common use, the Whammy a Liquid Platinum Hybrid and a ZDT Jr, the LP get’s the most play on the Aeolus.
I’ll stand by my better than the other Pure SS amps I own statement.
I swapped the op amp in it for a Burson classic, the effect is subtle, but I like it, Marginally improved staging and smoother treble. You should really drop the PSU voltage to 15V to do this, mines still at 16 and change without issues. I might pick up a Burson Vivid at some point.
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So apparently there are two of these WHAMMY topics. Here’s my op amp experience that I posted in the other topic:
Alright, I’ve now had 2.5 days on all op amps except the default RC4580 with has about 3 weeks on it. Here are my very general notes in order of most to least favorite. Your mileage may vary.
OPA2134PA - It’s open, lively. Good bass. Good detail. Best so far. Good dynamics. Spacious.
OPA2107AP - Good bass. Spacious. Good attack. Good detail, texture.
OPA2228PA - Decent top end. More lively than 4580. Bass lacking.
RC4580 - Dull, lifeless, no dynamics.
AD823 - Not feeling it. lifeless. tired. don’t want to listen to it. dirty. constipated.
Will give them all more extended listening and update if my thoughts change.
I heard Fred Schneider has one of these.
I must say thats pretty great for a 30$ amp. it beats out 200$ amps. I would love to dive into this stuff once i get my solder station up. Op amps look cheap too. Some guy is selling this amp for 500$ on ebay lol
I’m looking into doing a build for myself. I’m in no rush, so I’m pricing out my own BOM. Might be worth it to just get the kit and have everything, but I’m have a couple components tweaks in mind that I want to do.
For op amps I currently have V6 Vivid amps, but they are in use so I’ll have an excuse to order V6 classics, otherwise I also have 5532D JRC op amps on hand as well.
The PCB is $30
The kit with PCB and components are around $190, not including the chassis.
So $500 for finished product on Etsy or eBay? Its kind of high but probably a more reasonable markup than other amps.
$220 in parts including the Chassis.
Your paying for 3 - 5 hours of time in that assuming they are quick and they’ve gone through the pain of making the chassis cutouts a quick process.
$500 is not unreasonable.
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And let’s not forget,l it’s $500 for an entry into a Pass Labs design, if that matters to you.
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A little update. After ~3 months of listening now, the OPA2134 is the op amp to have. Hands down. There are a few more ( OPA1612AQDRQ1, LM4562, Burston V6) that are supposed to be very good but for now I’m very happy so I won’t try those out anytime soon.
A few notes to make your build more successful:
-If you get an anodized/painted chassis, make sure to sand clean all contact surfaces including where the body of the pot sits against the chassis front. You want ground continuity between all surfaces and the ground nut. This insures a star ground pattern.
-Make sure to use shielded wire on the input. I had a high noise floor issue while using an unshielded 3 conductor braid. Swapped that out for a shielded Mogami mic cable and noise dropped to zero.
-Get a Neutrik plastic HP plug. Plastic being the key here - you don’t want the plug grounded to chassis.
-If using the Hammond case, either omit the plastic trim rings on the ends or, put them on the outside - not between the chassis endplates and the rest of the chassis. Again - proper grounding.
I priced out the BOM on Mouser and it comes out a few bucks more than just ordering through the DIY store.
And for those of you wondering - it’s a killer amp.
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It is. A total impulse buy- I bought one that had already been built by someone with a Burson opamp.
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Looks solid, any thoughts on it yet?
It’s a a neutral, moderately powerful, quiet, maybe warm amp with good dynamics. I’ve been enjoying it! I can’t say that it can compete with my Phonitor e, of course.
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Do you know what model the Burston is? V5/V6? Classic/Vivid?
Was looking at Bottlehead kits and stumbled on this…super stoked! Working to get PCB now.
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This looks like a lot of fun, but I just bought a fa-12 