The 6AL5 in audio
mebrat...@yahoo.com
for some perverse reason, the 6AL5 is indeed about the cheapest
possibly useful 6.3 volt heater tue out there. Has anyone done any
work using it in audio circuits, connected triode or pentode?
mebrat...@yahoo.com
> of being connected triode or pentode.
I meant to say 6AK5..........
Staring at old audio chassis as a hobby :)
Hi RATs!
Perhaps you might consider drinking a bit less coffee ... you type a
lot, but, not much seems to be illuminated by your efforts.
Happy Ears!
Al
Ian Bell
Ah, a regular B7G pentode. I don't know about the AK5 but the AU6 (also
an rf pentode) is very cheap too, was often used in audio circuits in
the 'old days' (see RDH4 for examples) and works well in triode mode. I
have several boxes full if you want a few to play with.
Cheers
Ian
pf...@aol.com
> I have several boxes full if you want a few to play with.
Bret? Do something with tubes other than whine?
Not in this lifetime.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
ZACK`
"Ian Bell" <ruffr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:gqldp3$veo$4...@localhost.localdomain...
yes ive got a 20watt pa amp that uses a 6au6
as a driver for 2 kt66/7581.
mebrat...@yahoo.com
I appreciate the offer, but I've got seven or eight tube caddies of
oddballs to play with.
Patrick Turner
L on the keyboard is right beside K.
But you're right about less caffeine.
I've changed to de-caffeinated coffee and stopped drinking black tea. I
only have coffee when I am out, not at home. Green tea is very good.
And when I gave up the bitter coffee and tea at home I also gave up the
sugar to sweeten them and sugar is also empty calories that fatten a man
and make him a slower cyclist.
So I an less hypo, but cycle faster and further without a nagging
pressure feeling in my left chest which are not unlike the onset of
angina pains.
112 km today and I went past many people half my age or less.
Any tube can be used interestingly, and indeed to pass music without
noticeable THD/IMD and noise if it is used in the right spot in the
right way.
Defining "right" means people have to read a lot.
Patrick Turner.
>
> Happy Ears!
> Al
Ian Bell
No problem. If you change your mind let me know.
Cheers
Ian
Staring at old audio chassis as a hobby :)
>
> Defining "right" means people have to read a lot.
>
>
Hi RATs!
A path through this world may go through books, but, the destination
does not require any documentation. I only play with circuits. No hope
of being competent. My Chinese amp does sound a bit better, maybe ;)
I have coffee with my meds inna morning, before my morning nap.
I haven't ridden a bike for some years. I gave mine away while
abandoning our once valuable home. Also gave away my dog sulky. A
friend in Oz built it for me, back when. It was stainless steel.
Looked new, except the blue seat had faded a bit. My dog never took to
the idea, he liked pulling the sulky, until I got on, then he turned
to see me ... and it went around in tiny circles. Good for giggles,
but, otherwise hopeless.
Eric uses Blumlein garters for the guitar amp output stage. Four tubes
not a problem, the idea is balance the idle current in the P/P output
tranformer primaries, no noticeable problem from parallel tubes
conducting different portions of current.
Seems the UK was a bit hard on clever Alans during/after WW2. Blumlein
and Turing. OK, not all the clever Alans ...
I think my ma named me after a movie star. Sigh.
Happy Ears!
Al
mebrat...@yahoo.com
>
> Seems the UK was a bit hard on clever Alans during/after WW2. Blumlein
> and Turing. OK, not all the clever Alans ...
>
> I think my ma named me after a movie star. Sigh.
>
No one uses the garter circuit because it is not a good one. Not
today.
Blumlein was tragically killed in a plane crash. Turing was a perv
who got caught at a time in Britain when they were at that moment
disposed to do something about pervs, so he killed himself rather than
face the music. IOW, a punk.
Ian Bell
Remind me to killfile you.
Cheers
Ian
mebrat...@yahoo.com
>
> Any tube can be used interestingly, and indeed to pass music without
> noticeable THD/IMD and noise if it is used in the right spot in the
> right way.
>
> Defining "right" means people have to read a lot.
>
What we want is a circuit that works well and is not more complicated
than necessary. The tubes used in well designed classic audio
equipment were chosen to do their job as well as possible and that's
why we see the same boring old lineup all the time.
Could better tubes have been built even then? Well, yes, but no one
was all that interested.
Eimac built a lot of glass transmitting types that would have been
great had they been made in lower mu triode forms, but Eimac avoided
audio people like the plague. They avoided them in 1959 and in 1989,
when the audio guys contacted them and started to ask if they would
build suitable audio types. They wouldn't return your call if you were
"an audio goof". Guitar amp guys wanted to use the 4-65 and 4E27 and
those tubes all of a sudden became unobtainum. They DID NOT WANT the
business.
Same with WE. They had orders for 300Bs stacked to the ceiling and
quit making them. They didn't want that business. The "Western
Electric" today that purports to make them is some entremanure slinger
that licensed the name.
Siemens made the EL156 in Germany. Did they make any effort to sell
them on the consumer audio market? No, same story. They even used a
specially designed socket to keep them from being used outside their
intended market. (That's why so many European tubes from the 20s
through the late 50s use oddball sockets: it was customer control.)
It was explained to me long ago that the secret to profitability was
skillfully turning down the wrong business as much as geting the right
business. Burroughs would refuse to sell a company a mainframe
computer if they were not in a niche the company catered to. Pratt and
Whitney still lectures its people that the stupidest thing they ever
did was give Andy Granatelli a few junk unairworthy PT6s in the crate
for his race cars-not because he DNFed, but because he almost won, and
that could have sparked all kinds of disruptive development that could
have undercut their profits.
keithr
He is remembered, you won't be.
Id ita
Date: Sun, Mar 29, 2009, 2:19pm From: mebrat...@yahoo.com
>>Seems the UK was a bit hard on
>>clever Alans during/after WW2.
>>Blumlein and Turing. OK, not all
>>the clever Alans ...
> Blumlein was tragically killed in a
>plane crash. Turing was a perv who
>got caught at a time in Britain when
>they were at that moment disposed
>to do something about pervs, so he
>killed himself rather than face the
>music. IOW, a punk.
Turing was a homosexual criminally charged in an affair, in repressive
1950s Britain. The government would not intervene because he was a
unique intelligence asset. His punishment was chemical castration.
Turing indeed faced the music, found it intolerable, and ate cyanide. He
died for his country's dishonorable silence.
You make a dishonorable noise.
B
b
mebrat...@yahoo.com
> Date: Sun, Mar 29, 2009, 2:19pm From: mebratziuj...@yahoo.com
>
> >>Seems the UK was a bit hard on
> >>clever Alans during/after WW2.
> >>Blumlein and Turing. OK, not all
> >>the clever Alans ...
> > Blumlein was tragically killed in a
> >plane crash. Turing was a perv who
> >got caught at a time in Britain when
> >they were at that moment disposed
> >to do something about pervs, so he
> >killed himself rather than face the
> >music. IOW, a punk.
>
> Turing was a homosexual criminally charged in an affair, in repressive
> 1950s Britain. The government would not intervene because he was a
> unique intelligence asset. His punishment was chemical castration.
>
> Turing indeed faced the music, found it intolerable, and ate cyanide. He
> died for his country's dishonorable silence.
>
With a minor, IIRC.
It would have been in the State's interest to intervene.
Alternatively, he could have simply left the country: that was
officially proscribed but anyone of his intelligence could have
managed it.
I don't resent suicide in the case of individuals who are terminally
ill, etc., but those who opt out of life for spite or in an effort to
"teach them a lesson" earn my contempt. From what I've read of him,
he was brilliant but quite arrogant.
There's also a theory that it was an accident, but I don't know that
it has many serious adherents.
Staring at old audio chassis as a hobby :)
>
> �I don't resent suicide in the case of individuals who are terminally
> ill, etc., but those who opt out of life for spite or in an effort to
>
Hi RATs!
Like you, many people are busy with touching up their hate catalogs,
for eventual publication, in the Hereafter. WT: "Brat's Worst"
The Silly Season of tiny minds spouting huge Great Truths is more over
than you may ever realize. The Great Jester is safely put away in a
good golf club in his pink and green golf togs grinning madly and
giving gang signs to anyone with a camera.
Nobody cares who you find contemptable. Perhaps you won't either, one
fine day.
There is a lot of work to be done. Hiding in your room dumping
excrement on the fools may thrill you, but, you thrill easily, and
often.
Alan the Punk brought computers into this world, Not alone, but with
enough clarity to get something reliable built and functioning.
You may never know what that means. Most of us barely understand what
getting something useful into operation can do for all of us.
A great and noble hate list is not anyone's crowning achievement.
I am old and sick, but, much happier than you may ever guess,
Not that you have ever considered what you can do to make this world a
bit less toxic.
When the Universe appears to look, smell, feel and taste like shit, it
may be prudent to check if your head is up your ass.
You are free to pull it out and join the party. Or not. Your choice,
each moment you live.
Happy Ears!
Al
PS I am not a Turing machine :)
PPS Am I?
Patrick Turner
flipper wrote:
> Yes, with L next to K on the keyboard I suspected you might but then
> one never knows so I decided to stick with what was written.
>
> I've toyed with the idea of using one but never have.
>
> I don't know where the idea comes from it's the 'cheapest' useful 6.3
> volt tube because it's not even the cheapest sharp cut-off pentode and
> some triode-pentode pairs are cheaper for *two* functions vs 1. And
> that's without getting into compactron triples.
>
> The 6AK5 does have the virtue of using modest heater power. Versus
> like, say, 70% more for the ubiquitous 6AU6.
>
> On the 'cheap' front, the 6BR8 is interesting as it's a different
> basing 6U8 but, since it's different, dirt cheap (not that a 6U8 is
> all that 'expensive'.)
The 6U8 is a nice animal. Gutsy pentode, gutsy triode as well, so a
whole decent preamp channel can be made in several ways with this tube.
Patrick Turner.
JC
"Patrick Turner" <in...@turneraudio.com.au> wrote in message
news:49D1D7C9...@turneraudio.com.au...
>
> The 6U8 is a nice animal. Gutsy pentode, gutsy triode as well, so a
> whole decent preamp channel can be made in several ways with this tube.
>
> Patrick Turner.
Patrick, I agree. As a Ham who uses old gear that runs the 6U8's pretty
hard, I have found that the 6MU8 is a less expensive pin for pin
replacement, and the pentode section offers a higher Pd rating.
Jim
WD5JKO
Patrick Turner
I've not seen a 6MU8 anywhere. But when I occasionally get given a shoe
box full of old tubes there will usually be a flock of odd
triode-pentodes within, 6BL8, 6U8, and all the stuff that was so popular
in televisions. Most have noise or microphony or some other problem
which is why they ended up in the shoe box of a miser who may have
believed there was going to be a means by which the tubes could be fully
repaired like new. Alas, the cure never arrived. Hardly any of the tube
types are made now so how any one variety of triode-pentode may be used
is something old timers can argue all day about while they talk about
the low prices. I make gear I sell to customers wanting hi-fi
performance so I mainly stay with the more common audio tubes which will
be easily available for the next 20 years. I would not see any advantage
by using many older tube designs.
Patrick Turner.
bigwig
Sorry about being a bit late in replying to your reference to the
outstounding EL156. The EL152 is almost there and its partner the LS50
is available dirt cheap as the GU50. These babys are about 4 quid a
pop for a 40W pentode. I am thinking about buying a few to play with.
Sockets cost as much as the valves but making some should be easy,
time and effort being irrelevant. Check this stuff out:
http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Verstaerker/LS50.htm
Be sure to check the rest of this site it is pretty good.
Matt.
bigwig
> On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 15:28:58 -0700 (PDT), bigwig
>
> http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Leserbriefe/Alfred/Alfred.htm
>
> Here's an amp made with them (original socket).
>
> http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Leserbriefe/Peter-Schippmannns-GU50-A...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Nice,
good idea with the octal socket, not sure about soldering the pins
so close to the glass. I guess if the whole valve was warmed up to say
150C it would stress the glass less.
The amp is very nice. laying the tubes down is neat. The chap must
have a CNC mill, I wouldnt want to drill all those holes by hand:-).
Very neat construction with short paths due to the layout.
I am still checking out this site as I dont read German too well and
and the usuall translation program seems to chuck a background full of
red Xs all over it.
Matt
Tim Shoppa
6AK5 was one of the earliest low-capacitance miniatures developed for
WWII as a miniature. (Contrast that with the 1R5-1S4-1S5-1T4 lineup
which came out in 1940 as miniatures and the 9001/9002/9003 which are
pretty good but fundamentally repackaged acorn tubes). Incredibly
useful wherever you need a small pentode. There's a russki equivalent
that a few years ago was showing up in incredibly large quantities on
E-bay at incredibly low prices (less than 20 cents a tube) a few years
ago but for some reason it now draws a much larger price in fancy-
pants packaging. Maybe the audiofiles caught on or something.
As long as we're mangling tube numbers, 6AK5 is one digit from 6AK6
(like the octal 6G6C, very common single-ended audio output pentode,
also used as a medium-power cathode follower in lots of industrial
equipment) and also a step away from the 6AQ5 (for all purposes a
miniature 6V6). All were made in the bazillions in WW2 and shortly
after, and all are still readily available today.
Tim N3QE
Arny Krueger
news:e02b6c60-e2fb-4c95...@p20g2000yqi.googlegroups.com
> Upon reading the ranting of Metasonix writers, I have
> found out that for some perverse reason, the 6AL5 is
> indeed about the cheapest possibly useful 6.3 volt heater
> tue out there. Has anyone done any work using it in audio
> circuits, connected triode or pentode?
The 6AK5 is a sharp cutoff pentode, designed for use with AGC. IOW, not the
most linear tube around, even among pentodes.
I saw them lined up by the dozen in radar receiver IF strips.
mebrat...@yahoo.com
>
> > Upon reading the ranting of Metasonix writers, I have
> > found out that for some perverse reason, the 6AL5 is
> > indeed about the cheapest possibly useful 6.3 volt heater
> > tue out there. Has anyone done any work using it in audio
> > circuits, connected triode or pentode?
>
> The 6AK5 is a sharp cutoff pentode, designed for use with AGC. IOW, not the
> most linear tube around, even among pentodes.
>
> I saw them lined up by the dozen in radar receiver IF strips.
I believe it's the remote cutoff pentode, that is used with AGC for
log response. The sharp cutoff pentode is the garden variety-the
pentode half of the 7199 is a sharp cutoff pentode.
The remote cutoff pentode is one reason that tube communications
receivers were tough to beat for a long time in terms of dynamic
range. It took a board with several ICs and a lot of parts to make a
solid state set work as well.
The All American 5 was a popular tube radio for years that came in a
variety of styles including some small communications receivers. It
had 5 tubes with, usually, 8 sections total and was capable of quite
good performance in broadcast sets. It also had no power transformer
and was built in double insulated fashion. We got to thinking about
how few transistors and diodes could be used to build a full
equivalent set-really the equal in RF dynamic range and sensitivity
and selectivity- and the number of 15 to 20 discrete devices minimum
came up. The early solid state table radios without ICs were much
poorer in terms of overload. In fact a GE Superadio III is not much
better than the better AA5s.