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| Solid-State TUBES !! |
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| engrguy42:
--- Quote from: Circlotron on April 15, 2020, 04:15:27 am ---The best thing about valves is how they made you feel when you were a little kid, peering in the back of a running radio or tv, wondering just how it worked, smelling the warm transformers and dust. Now we're adults and that magic feeling has slipped through our fingers and we just want to relive it again. It's not technology, it's psychology. --- End quote --- Perfectly legitimate. No question. As long as everyone realizes and accepts that "how they made you feel" refers to how they made YOU feel, not the rest of the world. |
| GlennSprigg:
(O.P. here). Wow... Everything people are saying has merit/truth. It gets down to 'young-un's' VS 'Oldies' here I think. I didn't want to get into the 'finness' of the 'Sound'. As some people have touched on, some of us 'oldies' just love the LOOK & feel of old valve/tube equipment. NOT just for Amps, (with audio considerations) but even the likes of old Signal Generators, or Frequency Counters etc etc. I don't care how long it takes to 'Warm Up', I just like the historical oldness of the construction, and the warm glow of the filaments, and the virtual 'artistic' beauty of the construction of some tubes! It excites us!! And I know some tubes have limitations. For instance... some people may not have known/grasp why we have/had 'Tetrodes' instead of just 'Triodes', especially for higher frequencies? A 'Transistor', being so internally small/compact with it's P/N/P etc construction, doesn't have the SAME (keeping it simple here!) Reactances between the relatively 'large' mechanical design/size/spacing plates & components within a 'Tube'. At higher frequencies, (in a typical 'Tube'), there is a now CONSIDERABLE amount of CAPACITANCE between the Grid & the Anode, to VASTLY effect the circuitry!! The EXTRA Grid, (Screen Grid), is designed to cancel out, or at least greatly minimize this inherent internal capacitance... (Typically held at about 70% of Anode voltage). MY POINT here, is to highlight that a lot of this 'WIZARDRY' is due to the PHYSICAL problems associated with some Vacuum Tubes. HOWEVER, we love to see the GLOW, as it brings us many memories of what once was!! :D |
| bobdring:
It is interesting that here we are seeing the valve transistor debate continue. Being of the older generation I too remember valves. Then again I am firmly into solid state now. Let me explain my current quandary:- I recently acquired an elderly Leader LSG11 RF signal generator. It’s valve based. I only got it because I wanted one in my youth and couldn’t afford it. There is an article available about converting this SG to solid state and it then runs on a ht of 9V. The conversion needs other component changes. I have three choices 1. Find 2 new valves and leave it original. 2. Convert it to solidstate as per the article and so make it not collectable 3. Come up with a plug in solidstate conversion that works at the original ht of around 100v. I’m leaning towards #3 if I can dream up a circuit. I could then put valves in a bag inside the case to allow for the future return to valve operation. Any ideas? Bob |
| wraper:
--- Quote from: bobdring on August 14, 2023, 01:17:43 am ---3. Come up with a plug in solidstate conversion that works at the original ht of around 100v. --- End quote --- I wonder why would you bother with that nonsense which would be a piss poor hack and not original. I googled a bit and replacement tubes are easily available. And even when they are not, usually you can use a socket converter and use a different tube. |
| vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: bobdring on August 14, 2023, 01:17:43 am ---It is interesting that here we are seeing the valve transistor debate continue. Being of the older generation I too remember valves. Then again I am firmly into solid state now. Let me explain my current quandary:- I recently acquired an elderly Leader LSG11 RF signal generator. It’s valve based. I only got it because I wanted one in my youth and couldn’t afford it. There is an article available about converting this SG to solid state and it then runs on a ht of 9V. The conversion needs other component changes. I have three choices 1. Find 2 new valves and leave it original. 2. Convert it to solidstate as per the article and so make it not collectable 3. Come up with a plug in solidstate conversion that works at the original ht of around 100v. I’m leaning towards #3 if I can dream up a circuit. I could then put valves in a bag inside the case to allow for the future return to valve operation. Any ideas? Bob --- End quote --- I also have a Leader LSG11,which I bought at a Hamfest for no other reason than that it was dirt cheap. I've had a lot of use of it, but it is now awaiting recapping & ditching the selenium rectifier. The Mains wiring is a bit "iffy", so I am thinking about fairly radically revamping that so that there is a power switch on the back, along with a IEC socket with built in fuse. I think I might use the existing switch pot to turn the HT on & off, but that is probably too much of a "nicety" for an old "roughie". Or I could just ditch it & buy a higher spec but still old sig gen. The tube complement of the Leader is another thing----I've probably got a 12BH7 in my odd valves, but a I doubt there is a 6AR5 there. I did "solid state" a dipmeter, but that was to eliminate the power cord limitation on where I could use it. |
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