opinions re new bottlehead pre?

this is what bottlehead says (in a forum post) about the microphonics issue:

"The locking socket really grips onto the tube, so the approach to minimizing microphonics with this preamp will be more along the lines of lowering the resonance of the entire preamp as a whole."
 
I've got my eyes on this kit as well. Also, very curious to see the single ended EL84 amp that Doc Bottlehead has said will be coming out soon to accompany it.
 
Well good luck and have fun with it.
I've found the Bottle head kits contain decent, but just barely decent..parts.
The parts cost component in these kits, by my guesstimation is (with Possible exception of the Better Iron) in the tens of $.
Typically owners, Myself included, end up swapping out Most ALL the bits eventually. IE the volume pots erm stepped attenuator switches a $2 part with 12 detents. Works certainly, but crude is a charitable descriptor.

With Upgrades, these end up as genuinely Pricey builds.
IMO If the will and the basic skills are there, DIY is a happier path, in the very least, one only needs to buy bits.. once.
 
listening to it now. having some issues: it is a bit boomy in the bass and has a slight inside the phone booth character.

the build wasn't perfect. didn't hit all my voltages -- got almost all of them and was close but off on a small #. the volume pot is noisy when used and the input selector sends the pre to microphonics (tapping on the selector a few times settles it down again).

my plan is i to 1st try reflowing the solder on all the pots. not sure what the break in period should be; i've run it for over a week.
 
going more and more to tubes!

still using the 626 as my basement/laundry room receiver. runs 2 sets of full rangers pretty much every day for hours. i am thinking about using a tpa 3116 chip amp with it...
 
pre is sounding pretty good tonight. maybe it was the source (fm via my fisher 100b). maybe running it for another day...
 
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