by John Atwood

Born just before America’s entry into World-War II, the 6SN7GT dual triode had a precocious childhood, becoming one of the most common tubes by the end of the war. Despite competition from younger, smaller upstarts, the 6SN7GT was widely designed into consumer, industrial, and military equipment throughout the 1950s, and as a replacement tube was extensively manufactured in America until the end of its tube industry in the mid-1980s. Equivalents of the 6SN7GT were widely used in the USSR and China, and are still being manufactured there. Read more

by Lord Valve

Revised 08/24/01

DISCLAIMER: LORD VALVE (W. WHITTAKER DBA NBS ELECTRONICS) WILL TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY INJURIES OR DAMAGE SUFFERED BY ANYONE AS A RESULT OF THE MISINTERPRETATION OR MISAPPLICATION OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE. PROPER HIGH- VOLTAGE SAFETY PROCEDURES AND PRECAUTIONS MUST BE PRACTICED AT ALL TIMES WHEN SERVICING VACUUM TUBE AMPLIFIERS!! IF YOU ARE NOT *COMPLETELY* FAMILIAR WITH THESE PRECAUTIONS, SEEK GUIDANCE FROM SOMEONE WHO IS! Read more

This is the method I use to bias my amps. It’s not the only way to bias your output tubes, but I think it’s the safest and easiest method.

Essentially, you want to bias your amp such that the plate dissipation rating of the output tubes is not exceeded. Plate dissipation is measured in watts (but don’t confuse this plate dissipation rating with the audio output power of your amplifier, which is also measured in watts). Read more

Introduction

This is a recipe to construct some very simple diy speaker cables. I use these cables with my DIY Hi-Vi 3-Way Speakers. The following materials were used for these simple DIY Speaker Cables:

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As anyone who knows about tube amps will tell you, “The output transformer is the most expensive part”. Not is it is only the most expensive part, but is is also probably the hardest part to come by. Parts for tube amps in general are a lot harder to find then other more common electronic parts. Transformer theory for power transformers is pretty straight forward and it is fairly easy to find information for winding a power transformer of any type and size. Read more

I decided to build a tube amp for the fun. In fact I think of that stuff since a really long time now (since the first amp, I ‘ve built ten years ago).

There is a lot schematics on the internet, but finding a good one is pretty hard. I want to build something like that:

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What is a Vacuum Tube ?

In electronics, a vacuum tube (U.S. and Canadian English) or (thermionic) valve (outside North America) is a device generally used to amplify, or otherwise modify, a signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space. For most purposes, the vacuum tube has been replaced by the much smaller and less expensive transistor, either as a discrete device or in an integrated circuit. However, tubes are still used in several specialized applications such as guitar amplifiers (also called a valve amp outside the U.S.) and high power RF transmitters, as a display device in television sets and in microwave ovens. Read more

This article covers commonly used vacuum tube amplifier configurations with emphasis on types used in veteran radios and veteran communication equipment. The article discusses each configuration first at a fairly elementary level, aimed at readers with limited technical insight or readers who just want an overview of the amplifier type. After this, some of the stages are discussed in more depth, to give readers who are interested in this a deeper knowledge of how the stage is built and dimensioned.

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A special effects are usually gained from an effects pedal. The pedal is separate from your amp and needs to be plugged in and used as a separate tool. While this can be a cheaper option, buying an amp with the effects built in can be simpler and better quality in the long term. There’s no need to carry anything else around with you, and less wires are always a good idea. Read more

Single-ended tube amplifier with two 1626 tubes in parallel per channel

Six JAN (joined army navy) tubes, after some 40 years of rest, finally make music…

I started this project with the idea to build a simple single-ended tube amplifier. I didn’t have any experience with the construction of tube amps so I was looking for a beginner’s project. Such a project should be simple (for easy debugging) and it should also be cheap. Nobody likes to blow up a component of 300 dollars by a small lapse of attention… Read more