Alps 20K not available?
Hello everyone
I believe I already wrote something similar (but couldn't find it anymore), so:
Today, I received a negative reply concerning the Alps 20kOhm Pot. They don't seem to have/build it anymore.
What good alternatives are available?
While looking around for valuable alternatives, I got confused.
Either the pot looks, sorry, shabby (not good enough), or it's precious stuff like the Alps RK501 or Khozmo's, DACT etc., all rather pricey. Tempting, but pricey!
Thank you!
d.
Hello everyone
I believe I already wrote something similar (but couldn't find it anymore), so:
Today, I received a negative reply concerning the Alps 20kOhm Pot. They don't seem to have/build it anymore.
What good alternatives are available?
While looking around for valuable alternatives, I got confused.
Either the pot looks, sorry, shabby (not good enough), or it's precious stuff like the Alps RK501 or Khozmo's, DACT etc., all rather pricey. Tempting, but pricey!
Thank you!
d.
Check here at HiFi collective. I have bought several pots from them. The TKD pots come in 20K Ohm. They are clearer and more detailed than Alps pots ( I have used both ) and they are better built. The Alps pots are warmer but sound veiled in comparison. They do have an alps 20K Ohm pot for for sale. HiFi collective ships fast here to the U.S.
I have a TKD 50k Ohm pot that is motorized that I would be willing to sell if that would work.
Potentiometers | Hifi Collective
I have a TKD 50k Ohm pot that is motorized that I would be willing to sell if that would work.
Potentiometers | Hifi Collective
I used this PEC and was really pleased with the sound. I recently upgraded to a shunt attenuator and only noticed a modest improvement over the PEC.
KKA2531S28 Precision Electronics Corporation | Potentiometers, Variable Resistors | DigiKey
KKA2531S28 Precision Electronics Corporation | Potentiometers, Variable Resistors | DigiKey
I bet that sounds better than the Blue Alps which is way overrated. The Blue Alps is cheap at $15 for non motorized and $45 for motorized, thats why so many manufacturers use them beside being fairly well made.
I was really impressed with the PEC. There's a lot of stuff at the Hifi Collective and Parts Connexion too – I was just lucky enough to find those at Digikey when ordering B1 parts.
... and the 25k (Instead of 20k) aren‘t no problem, right?
I think I‘ll go with them (before i lose selfcontrol and start to solder a stepped att. ;-))
I've tried 20, 25 and 50k. Aside form gaining a little bit of volume with the lower resistance, they all sound good.
I've also referenced the 10x number, but have never gotten close to seeing if its enough. The output on my phono pre is 100ohm, so I could theoretically get by with 1k. Feels like people generally choose higher/lighter resistance for pots and attenuators, but volume capability can start to suffer (with regards to a buffer). I bought an attenuator with 250k installed and the volume was light at full volume. Once I installed some 25k resistors, I got the volume back.
It arrived today.
So I went on and tried to stay reasonable. Ordered the PEC from Digikey on friday evening (european time), and it's already here! Now I'd call that _really_fast_ !
I'm so curious to hear what it's going to be.
So I went on and tried to stay reasonable. Ordered the PEC from Digikey on friday evening (european time), and it's already here! Now I'd call that _really_fast_ !
I'm so curious to hear what it's going to be.
MNYankee, Thanks very much for your offer! I already chose a PEC, mainly because it's 25k (closer to the 20k) and I am not that safe at all this.
Nice to see B1 thread in operation after such a long time.
First my sincere thanks to Guru Papa for such a wonderfull circuit.
Some time back when I was measuring voltages in my B1 with the analog multimeter(20k ohm/volt), l realised that when I touched the red probe to the gate of the top jfet while the black was at ground the sound improved noticeably.
After confirming this fact in both channels I soldered a 1M resister from that point to ground.
That is the point where a 1M resistor supplies half B+ to the gate terminal.
My external 1M restor is also from that point to ground.
Papa in his latest Korg B1 connects the top jfet gate with separate 221k resisters to B+ and gnd.
Any way I have been enjoying my B1 since then, now for more than a couple of years after the mod was done.
Feel free to try the mod and report.
I sincerely believe you would also notice the improvement I got with the mod.
Afterall you cannot do any harm with this mod.
First my sincere thanks to Guru Papa for such a wonderfull circuit.
Some time back when I was measuring voltages in my B1 with the analog multimeter(20k ohm/volt), l realised that when I touched the red probe to the gate of the top jfet while the black was at ground the sound improved noticeably.
After confirming this fact in both channels I soldered a 1M resister from that point to ground.
That is the point where a 1M resistor supplies half B+ to the gate terminal.
My external 1M restor is also from that point to ground.
Papa in his latest Korg B1 connects the top jfet gate with separate 221k resisters to B+ and gnd.
Any way I have been enjoying my B1 since then, now for more than a couple of years after the mod was done.
Feel free to try the mod and report.
I sincerely believe you would also notice the improvement I got with the mod.
Afterall you cannot do any harm with this mod.
#619
donhughes111
Question
if you have a build like the B-1 where all the JFets (or Mosfets) are all of one type, say N, and same level, say BL, should they be matched or can you just go with it. Not complimentary pairs. Thanks
In the first case my be the jfets I had used, though both BL grade were not perfectly matched and resulted in inferior sound. May be I had not used the lower iDss jfet in the lower position. May be the high volume levels I listen to had a loading effect to the sound.
However my mod resulted in an overall improvement in the sound.
So Donhughes111, can try two BL grades and may be if they are not too far apart like 6 and 12,
Then may be they might work.
My recomendation is to match them as closely as possible thereby avoiding dc offset at the output of the buffer pair.
Thats what Papa said.
donhughes111
Question
if you have a build like the B-1 where all the JFets (or Mosfets) are all of one type, say N, and same level, say BL, should they be matched or can you just go with it. Not complimentary pairs. Thanks
In the first case my be the jfets I had used, though both BL grade were not perfectly matched and resulted in inferior sound. May be I had not used the lower iDss jfet in the lower position. May be the high volume levels I listen to had a loading effect to the sound.
However my mod resulted in an overall improvement in the sound.
So Donhughes111, can try two BL grades and may be if they are not too far apart like 6 and 12,
Then may be they might work.
My recomendation is to match them as closely as possible thereby avoiding dc offset at the output of the buffer pair.
Thats what Papa said.