CAPI BT50 EQ Tests and Comparisons

Altran is a Great OEM supplier, they build all kinds of very complex power transformers for medical automation arospace etc. Some including a dealer who also happens to be a ignorant opinionated mod on a rather well know audio board has dissed Altran time and time again based on their line of rather low priced stock designs. Altran will admit their in house audio design team is not their strong suit. On the other hand when it comes to building and winding any type of Transformer they are second to none.
Soooo if you have somebody who can design a great Transformer, Like Ed Anderson or Dan Kennedy at Great River or many other who put their name on their own designs but lack the ability or equipment to make their own, Altran is probably one of the best and very reasonably priced.
Funny thing about that Vocal dealer dumb mod, he never asked the manufacturers he carried who make their Transformers because a lot of. The gear he loves to gush about and loves to sell have audio Transformers that have labels that say the Gear manufacturer, but were made by Altran.
Now think about this, if your a gear manufacturer what are the chances that you sell enough to justify an expensive winding machine and paying and training people to do it right? What if your latest design needs a Transformer that requires a different type of winding machine ? Well it won't come cheap!
Altran is good enough to build Sal walkers favorite cheap crappy Transformer he used in the original 312 with all the"problems" that gave it that classic sound in the 70's when Ed Anderson specs it jus like the ones Sail bought all those years ago !
Of Course our faveorite mod / Gear pimp would tell you that Jensen is the best of the best of Designer Transformers and tell you that Nobody builds them like Jensen, except Jensen didn't Always build Jensen Transformers, originally Rechianbach ( the father of the guy behind Cine a mag) Built the Original Jensens to Deanne Jensens Specs, so a Talented OEM like Altra is nothing new!

many angles to audio politics. All depends on what you want and need.

The EA2622 is the only product that I get from Altran. Since its Ed Anderson's design, I actually go thru him. We have been buying them for 8 years now and have zero complaints as far as quality goes. My only complaint is their delivery times the last 4-6 months have been lagging due to my previous statement. I would not hesitate to get other designs from them although sometimes folks use Jensen, CineMag or Sowter for marketing and namesake purposes. I have another winder that we use for other items and they are barely known. I am happy with that because I mainly try to sell products on my merit and the design as a whole. Many shitty pieces of gear have came to market that tout high end components including great iron.

I recall a mod on the purple site slagging what a piece of junk the EA2623-1 was. To my knowledge he's the only person who has ever said stuff like that. It all came down to the fact that he didn't sell my stuff. He was/is a dealer. He and I went back and forth on that thread for a few days and then miraculously all of his posts were scrubbed by the gear CIA.

Ulterior motives do not make for a bad transformer.

LOL 

Yeah, that guys a wanker.

But the gent who made the anti-Altran comment is not. I know the guy, and have been to his studio. He's a stand up guy. Not sure what his problem with Altran is, but I can say that if they (Altran) don't get their **** together and start putting out product in a more timely fashion, people are going elsewhere. Regardless of how good they are. Manufacturers can't be held hostage. It's their livelihood.

Man I love the Bt50's they sound killer, I've built over 12+ of these to date BUT this will be my last build until there's a new revision. I've literally spent the last half hour trying to get one of the grayhill switches in before throwing in the towel and taking a break. A MAJOR PITA to say the least.

This has always been the worst/toughest part of the build, so much so it's the very 1st thing I do just to get it out of the way.... fitting it in with all the caps already installed makes it even harder, lesson learned the first time haha; but as mentioned in the Assembly guide the limits of it fitting are being stretched and it's a Nightmare to fit in. 

Just had to vent, lovely sounding though really. AMAZING

Let's hope Jeff will address this !

It's very well possible I don't have the magic touch haha. I've always gotten them in too, even had a couple pop right in ONCE, but it's just something that is one tricky SOB IMO

Bender is on a bender! HaHaAaaaa.

Those switches are hard to seat. Patience is a virtue.

Totally worth it!

Finished building another run of 8! I really didn't have much trouble with seating the switches. Also, building this many at a time really diminishes the chance for errors. All boards scrubbed and cleaned. Really good looking builds! Thanks for designing such awesome gear, jsteiger!

indiehouse, that last pic is damn sexy. Nice work.

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