Musical Instrument Tube Amp Building, Maintaining and Modifying FAQ

Much of this material applies to building or re-building hi-fi equipment, as well but it was originally intended for musical instrument crazies. Authored, assembled and edited by R.G. Keen, een!geofe".com Most recent re#ision le#el is $ersion %.&', ()%*)'% +he first edition of this ,A- was first released in &..%.

Contributors
+han s to the contributors who helped and taught me/ 0undreds of fol s who taught M1 stuff when 2 didn3t now a triode from a +ri-A"is4 2 can3t remember all of your names, and it all comes out as general nowledge now, but 2 appreciate it. A few names in that category stand out/

+om 5alon 6a#id Mourning Mar 0ammer

And people who ha#e contributed things that 2 ha#e included as part of the actual te"t/

6ennis 738eill 8athan 9tewart George Kaschner 6a#id Kohn Michael 1delman :en Mos owitz ;ohn 9to es 5rian <arling 1ric 5arbour

9pecial than s to 8athan 9tewart who did the bul of the wor con#erting the original #ersion of this ,A- into 0+M:.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

Index
<ontributors

&. 5asics of +ube Amps for ,irst +imers

o o o o o o

>hy use a tube amp? Are +ube Amps louder than solid state amps of the same power? >hat is @9tandby@ for? 0ow should 2 turn it on and off? 0ow long do tubes last? >hen should 2 replace my tubes? >hat things will damage my tube amp, what3s safe and what3s not?

&. %. (. B. *. C.

*** SAF T! "A#$I$% ***R1A6 +029 ,2R9+AAAAA >here can 2 learn about building tube amps? >here can 2 find parts to build)repair amplifiers? 0ow can 2 modify my amp to be more powerful? 0ow can 2 e"tend my tube life? 0ow do 2 get... 5lues distortion? Marshall)metal)5oogie)etc. distortion? Good distortion at lowDerE #olumes?

&. >here can 2 find plans for a 5elchfire)Ma"imo)etc. spea er cabinet? %. +ransformer questions/ &. 6o output transformers really sound different from one another? 2f so, why? %. Are the impedance tolerances the reason one 7+ may sound better than another? (. Are paper bobbins really better than plastic bobbins in output transformers? 0ow about power transformers? B. Are differences in transformer sound in the pattern of the windings? 7r something else? *. +o copy a great sounding output transformer do you copy impedance or winding pattern? C. 2s hand winding superior to machine winding for output transformers? F. >hat are @gaps@ in output transformers, and why are they good? G. <an 2 use a push-pull 7+ in my single ended amp? 0ow about if 2 re-stac it to ha#e a gap? .. >hat is an @ultralinear@ output transformer? &'. <an 2 con#ert an amplifier with an ultralinear connected 7+ to normal use? &&. <an 2 substitute two single ended transformers for a single plate-to-plate transformer? &%. 0ow do re#erse biased diodes act as @transient spi e pre#enters@? &(. <an 2 use an ordinary pushpull output transformer as a single ended ultralinear output transformer? &B. >hat does the @impedance@ of my output transformer mean? &*. >hy do 2 ha#e to match spea ers to the output impedance of the amp?

&C. >ill it hurt my amp)output transformer)tubes to use a mismatched spea er load? &F. <an 2 use two single ended output transformers in a push-pull circuit and then parallel the outputs? &G. >hat are the things about output transformer that cause the differences in tone? &.. 0ow can 2 tell if my output transformer is li#e or dead? %'. >here can 2 get a good replacement output transformer? %&. 2 want to ma e my own power and output transformers. 0ow do 2 do this?) >here can 2 find information about this? %%. 9hould 2 replace my stoc transformer with a new)old)#intage)purple one for better clean)grunge)grit)etc. sound? %(. Are potted ) impregnated transformers better? 2s potting ) impregnation necessary? =ower +ransformers (. >hat is the easiest way to get tube sound at a good price? B. 0ow can 2 modify my tube amp to ... ? Dalso see recommended mods, belowE
o o o

get lower hum? ha#e higher gain)more distortion? ha#e a smoother, less buzzy distortion?

&. >hen should 2 bias my amp and how do 2 do this?

o o o o

>hat is @bias@? >hen should 2 bias my amp? 0ow do 2 bias my amp? Matched output tubes - do you need them?

&. Amplifier Modifications

o o

7K)Recommended amp modifications 87+ Recommended amp modifications

&. +ube <haracteristics and 9ubstitutions %. Maintenance 2ssues

o

o o

<ap ;obs >hat3s a cap Hob? 6o new caps need to be formed? 0ow do 2 @re-form@ electrolytic caps? 9oc ets 6irt

o o

>hy do my tube ha#e a blue glow inside them? 7ther 2ssues

&. Appendi" A. +ube 9tuff 9uppliers %. Appendi" 5. +ube Ma ers =roducing +oday D1ric 5arbour news postingE

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

Basics of Tube Amps for First Timers

>hy use a tube amp? +ube amps ha#e always been the amplifier of choice for the wor ing musician. Musical myth has ascribed almost magical tone to them. >hile the results may not be entirely magic, tubes do ha#e a sound that is different from solid state amplifiers, and one that happens to ma e amplified music sound better to the human ears and brain. +here are lots of technical and psuedo-technical e"planations for why this should be true, but there is enough solid e#idence that it is a real effect to trust it. +he real reason to use tube amps is simply that they sound better. ,or that ad#antage, we put up with the poor supply of parts, high prices, fragility and e"cess heat that they produce.

Are +ube Amps louder than solid state amps of the same power? 8o. 0owe#er they do 97I86 louder. :et me e"plain. 9ome e"cellent scientific wor on tube preamplifiers and their distortion products has turned up the mechanism for this. >hen tubes are dri#en outside their linear region, for the first &%db or so of o#erdri#e the harmonics that they produce tric the human ear into thin ing that the sounds are getting louder, when in fact the sound is getting progressi#ely more distorted. 2t is this acoustic tric that can ma e tube amps sound up to &%db louder than they actually are compared to a perfect, undistorted amplifier. A solid state amplifier of the same power as a tube amp may distort at the same signal le#el as the tube amp, but the distortions are not subtle, and we hear them as distortion, not as a slightly louder sound. A solid state amplifier of much greater power would remain undistorted at higher le#els, and the tube amp would sound comparably loud to the larger solid state amp. +hey sound larger than they are. >hat is @9tandby@ for? 9tandby is used to ma e sure the amplifier is quiet and lower the power dissipation inside the amplifier during times when you will not need it for some period of time. 5rea s in song sets are the ideal illustration. 2f you3ll be coming

bac to the amp within a short period of time Dunder an hour, sayE, flip it to standby. 9tandby also ser#es as a softer power up switch. +o get the most possible life from a set of tubes, the tube heaters should really be hot before the main power supply is applied to the tubes. >hen tube rectifiers are used, the rectifiers do this almost automatically. 0owe#er, when solid state rectifiers are used in an amp, the main power supply comes up almost instantly, and this can shorten tube life by the somewhat-esoteric means of cathode stripping. +he standby switch can be used to pre#ent this.

0ow should 2 turn it on and off? 2f it has a standby switch, flip this to standby, and then turn the power switch on if it is separate, or if the power switch is simply 78-7,,-9tandby, turn it to standby. :ea#e it this way for &*-(' seconds, then turn it to normal operation. +his gets the heaters hot before the main power supply comes up. +o turn it off, simply flip the power switch to @off@, don3t use standby. +his lets the still-conducting tubes bring down the high #oltages in the power supply.

0ow long do tubes last? >hen should 2 replace my tubes? 2t depends hea#ily on use. 2n a closet, the tubes will last fore#er, of course. ,or practice in a bedroom a couple of times a wee at modest #olumes, you3ll probably get fi#e to ten years out of them. 2f you practice twice a wee for a couple of hours at full #olume and play two gigs a wee end, count on one to two years out of a set of output tubes. 8ote that this assumes that you got good ones to begin with and that you had them properly biased when they were put in. +ubes wear out by sheer hours of being turned on, by how hard they3re wor ed, how hot they get from Hust the heat in the bo", by the number of times they3re turned on and off Dthermal shoc E. 8otice that being played at ma"imum warp into a dummy load Dor power bra e, or attenuator, etc.E counts as being played hard, and that because you can3t hear all the sound, you may not thin that you3re wor ing them hard. Jour ears tell you when to replace them. >hen they no longer sound quite as punch and sweet as they used to, start thin ing about changing them. 2 ha#e a somewhat more e"treme approach, myself. +he best time to get new tubes is when you 6783+ need them. Jou get the chance to find the best tubes at the best price without time pressure. 2 prefer to eep a whole spare set ready. +hat way, a sudden burn out will not cripple the amp, and 2 can readily tell when one of them is Hust not sounding right by subbing in a replacement that 2 already ha#e. 5e preparedA

<an 2 replace my own tubes?

=reamp tubes - sureA +hey3re in soc ets, any replacement tube of the same type will at least not damage the amp. 1#en preamp tubes that are not e"actly the same type can often be substituted as long as they ha#e the same pin connections. ,or the commonest type, &%AKF, there are many types that ha#e the same pinout and can be put in the same soc et for different gains and tone. ,or instance, you might be able to use &%AIF, &%A+F, &%AJF, 1<<G%, 1<<G(, F'%*, *F*&, C%'&, C'F%A, *G&BA, &%50F and others. 9ee the section on tube substitutions for more info. 7utput tubes are more problematical. Jou really should ha#e a tech chec and if necessary adHust the bias on your output tubes whene#er they are replaced. +his eeps them from getting too hot. =ower tubes are much more finic y than preamp tubes in this way, as preamp tubes do not in general need bias adHustment. Jou will undoubtedly ha#e heard that you can substitute in other types of output tubes for better tone as well. +his is getting into really tric y areas if you don3t ha#e the capability to open up the amp and rebias. Jou can imagine that if you ha#e to rebias when replacing output tubes of the same type, you certainly ha#e to with different tube types. +hat being said, there are a number of output tubes that ha#e the same pinout. Jou should consult a competent tech befor doing this, as some of the @compatible@ tubes may need minor rewiring or may use more heater current than your amp can supply. 2t3s not a good idea to Hust swap in different types of output tubes unless you understand the different requirements they ha#e.

>hat things will damage my tube amp, what3s safe and what3s not? >e3ll assume that you don3t need guidance about the ob#ious/ don3t drop it in a la e, or from a helicopter, don3t pour it full of soda or beer, and so on. A few more pointed do not3s/
o o o

o o

8e#er, ne#er, ne#er run the amp with no spea er plugged in. +his can cause maHor damage. 6o not flip the power switch off, then bac on rapidly. +his can cause power supply damage. 8e#er replace a burned out fuse with a bigger-amperage one. Remember there was a reason the first one burned out, usually protecting something more e"pensi#e. =utting a bigger fuse in will Hust rachet up the power le#el until something really #ital burns out. 2f the second equal-rating fuse pops, turn it off and get a tech to loo at it. 8e#er ignore signs of high heat inside - a wisp of smo e or a burning smell is 87+ normal. Jour amp produces lots of heat, and will continue to do so e#en if you bloc the fresh air #ents. 5loc ing the #ents will Hust allow the amp to heat to the point that you get to buy some #ery e"pensi#e repairs.

8e#er ignore a red glow other than the small orange ends of the filaments. A red glow o#er a large part of the internal plates of the output tubes means they3re about to melt Dyes, really melt - heat is our enemyE. 2f you notice this, shut it down and get a tech to help you find out what it wrong.

<orrespondingly, you can do the following without too much worry/

o

Add another spea er into the @e"ternal spea er@ Hac 4 a mismatched spea er load won3t ill it, while an open circuit Ddisconnected spea ersE may do so. 7#erdri#e the stuffings out of it. +ubes are #ery forgi#ing of massi#e o#erdri#es, unli e solid state stuff. As long as they tubes don3t o#erheat or stay o#erdri#en for long periods, it3s not fatal.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

*** SAF T! "A#$I$% *** # A& T'IS FI#ST(((((

>or ing inside a tube amplifier can be dangerous if you don3t now the basic safety practices for this ind of wor . 2f you aren3t prepared to ta e the time to learn and apply the right precautions to eep yourself safe, don3t wor on your own amp. Jou can seriously inHure yourself or get yourself illed. +his section is not intended to be a complete guide to safety in tube equipment, Hust to hit the high points as refresher for those of you who ha#e some e"perience. +he best way to learn the requirements and practices for safety in tube equipment is to find someone who will teach you one on one. BASIC # Q)I# M $TS

)$*+)% IT FI#ST =retty self e"planatory. 6o not, e#er, e#er, lea#e the equipment plugged in and start wor on it unless you specifically intend to ma e some li#e-#oltage measurement. :ea#ing it plugged in guarantees that you will ha#e hazardous #oltages inside the chassis where you are about to wor . +his is li e setting a trap for yourself. + T IT &#AI$ 2f the amp has been turned on recently, the caps will still ha#e some high #oltage left in them after the switch is turned off. :et it sit for fi#e minutes after you turn it off. S)C, IT &#! >hen you open up an amp, you need to find a way to drain off any residual high #oltage. A handy way to do this is to connect a shorting Humper between the plate of a preamp tube and ground. +his Humper will drain any high #oltage to ground through the *' to &''K plate resistor on the tube. +o do this successfully, you will need to now which pins are the plate pins. :oo it up for the amp you3re going to be wor ing on. Jou3ll need

to now this for the wor anyway. :ea#e the Humper in place while you do your wor D high #oltage electrolytics caps can @regrow@ #oltage li e a battery sometimes. Really. E Remember to remo#e it when you finish your wor . T ST IT +a e your multimeter and ground the D-E lead. =robe the high #oltage caps and be sure the #oltage across them is down, preferably to less than &'$. B)TT-$ IT BAC, )* FI#ST +a e the shorting Humper out. =ut the chassis bac in the cabinet, ma ing sure all of your tools, stray bits of solder, wire, etc. are out of it. Jou don3t ha#e to actually put all the screws and so forth bac in if you belie#e more wor might be needed, but ma e sure that the chassis is sitting stably in the cabinet and won3t fall out. At the end of a listening test, either continue buttoning up if you3re done, or go bac to I8=:IG 2+ ,2R9+.

5asics of +ube Amps for 5eginning Isers

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

".ere can I learn about building tube amps/

Get one or more of the following references Dnote that these boo s are mostly old, and highly sought after, and so may be e"pensi#e and hard to findE/

@+he Iltimate +one@ by Ke#in 73<onnor. +his the best boo on guitar amps 23#e found. 2t assumes you now some electronics to start with, so is not a beginner3s boo . =ublished by =ower =ress, which now has a web page at http/))www.wwdc.com)Lpower) . @+he +ube Amp 5oo @ by Aspen =ittman, now in its fourth edition. +his contains the maHority of guitar amp schematics e#er made. 6on3t belie#e all the @technical information@ as gospel, though. @1lectric Guitar Amplifier Repair 0andboo @ D?E 5y ;ac 6arr. Good intro to actually ma ing repairs as well as many schematics. @ARR: 0andboo @, preferably a late C'3s or early F'3s edition. Read the sections on construction practice, safety, and tube info. Guitar =layer Magazine3s article on tube types and operation from a year or so ago

Glass Audio magazine, 7ld <olony 9ound in =eterboro 80 Mesa)5oogie will send schematics of their amps, call &-F'F-FFGC*C*4 note howe#er, that these schematics are nown to be inaccurate. @$acuum +ube Amplifiers@ by G.1. $alley, ;r. =art of the M2+ radiation lab series, originally published by 5oston +echnical &.CB. Reprints are currently a#ailable from Antique Radio <lassified D=.7. 5o" !, <arlisle, MA '&FB&, *'G-(F&-'*&%E

Amplifiers, 0. :ewis Jor . D1#idently part of the 1ncyclopedia of 0igh ,idelityE. Good basic technical ref. 9imple math, good e"planations. 2ncludes a couple of designs Dse#eral use hard to find tubesE and tips on physical construction as well. Radiotron 6esigner3s 0andboo , :angford-9mith. 0ea#y theory, hea#y technical. 8ot coffee table reading, but if you want to now, it3s probably in there. +his boo is perhaps the most highly sought after tube related boo , and commonly goes for MF*-M&'' in good shape. Jou want the Bth edition.

7ld <olony 9ound Hust announced a <6 R7M #ersion of this boo , apparently inde"ed, illustrations and all, for MC...*. R<A Recei#ing +ube Manual. Reprints a#ailable from se#eral sources, including Antique 1lectronic 9upply N others D7ld <olony?E Mostly tube spec sheets N some characteristics charts. +he intro is a pretty good technical primer. 1lectron +ubes, R.G. Kloeffler. little application, but a good easy to digest e"planation of characteristics of diodes, triodes, beam power N true pentodes, with the math to go along. >orth reading if you3re trying to do modeling. +he Audio 6esigner3s +ube Register. +om Mitchel. &..(, Media <oncepts. $olume & - <ommon :ow =ower +riodes. &BB pages of freshly compiled tube data, some of which was not pre#iously published. Kinda pricey DM&G from Antique 1lectronic 9upplyE unless you need the data. 2ncluded are plate characteristics, transfer characteristics, constant current cur#es, mu as a function of grid potential and plate potential, transconductance as a function of plate current and grid potential, and dynamic and static plate resistance as a function of plate potential and plate current.

D+om mentions a %nd and (rd #olume in the distant future - co#ering low power pentodes N oddball tubes, and =ower N 5eam =ower pentodes respecti#ely.E :earn about the manual and safety aspects of wor ing on tube amplifier circuits. Read the ARR: handboo , or better yet, get to now a ham radio operator who will gi#e you some guidance and teaching. 6o not s imp on the safety aspects. +ube circuits contain deadly #oltages. Jou can - O 621 O - if you mess up or are careless. 2t is your personal responsibility to learn how to do this safely. Get to now a guitar repair technician, perhaps do some free apprentice grunt wor for them in return for some teaching.

5ac to the +he

&%* $acuum +ube =itch +hereminG17 0+he &%* $acuum +ube =itch +hereminome =age
".ere can I find parts to build0repair amplifiers/
>hen 2 first wrote the +ube Amp ,A- almost ten years ago, tubes were a dying breed. 2n that decade, the tube world has turned around. +oday, there are maHor sources for tubes and parts. +he list is long enough that 23m se#erely cutting bac this section. 8ew tube parts and supplies were steadily getting harder to find in the G'3s, but in the last decade this has turned around radically. +here are now many companies offering new parts, especially power and output transformers. 2t is still true that used parts are often nominal cost or free. +he hard parts to find in high quality are the transformers. 2f you3re building, 2 recommend getting your transformers first. 2f you are getting #intage parts, they are li ely to be one-of-a- ind. 2f you3#e Hust ordered new ones, the transformers will ha#e a massi#e effect on your chassis3s mechanical layout. +he easiest but most e"pensi#e source for parts is at your retail musical instrument store as @repair@ parts. 7ther sources/

Musical instrument repair shops will sometimes order parts or sell you parts out of their stoc . Amp ma ers3 repair parts departments. Many manufacturers will sell their parts to @repair shops@ to fi" their amps. 9ome of them are better than others about this, so be polite and businessli e.

old, bro en, or unlo#ed equipment. +his may be free, or units-ofdollars. Jou get transformers, soc ets, tubes, and chassis in the deal. May require cruising garage sales or di#ing in dumpsters. +rash e#ery part e"cept the tubes, transformers, soc ets and chassis. 2 got a &* >att mono amp)preamp intended for mono hi-fi music for M%' at a local garage sale. 8eeds only some twea ing to be a 9tudio .%% or an A<-&*.

Are Carbon Comps really magic tone mo1o/

Maybe. :i e e#erything else, there3s the hype, and then there3s the real world. A good ma"im to remember about electronics is that if you can3t e"press it in numbers Dthat are also measurable by someone else, not Hust made-up numbersE then you really don3t now the thing at all, you3re only belie#ing the myth. +he #intage amps we all lo#e had <<3s in them, and they certainly ha#e their share of moHo, but the ma ers of those amps in the *'3s and C'3s used them because that3s what was a#ailable. +oday we ha#e lots of resistor options. >hat3s different about carbon comp, and can we e"press it in numbers so we don3t eep being superstitious? 9o 2 went to the internet and searched for manufacturer3s info on <<3s. +he ma ers themsel#es admit that carbon comps ha#e e"cess noise, high drift, high pulse power, and high #ariability. +hey also ha#e a high #oltage coefficient of resistance. $oltage coefficient of resistance?? >hat3s that? +hat means that the resistance actually #aries with the #oltage across the resistor. +he resistance is actually different if you put &''$ across the resistance than if it3s got '$ across it. >hat that means to us is that if you put a *'$ 6< le#el across a << resistor and a &''$ sine wa#e superimposed on that, the sine wa#e will be measurably distorted by the resistor itself. >e ha#e resistor distortion. +he distortion is pretty much pure second harmonic. 2n small amounts, you can3t hear second harmonic as distortion, only a certain amount of @sweetening@ or liquidity to the tone. +hat3s what carbon comp resistor moHo really is - the resistors are distorting, but in a way our ears li e. +he manufacturers also document that <<3s ha#e e"cess noise and bad drift with temperature and aging. +hat ma es them a two-edged sword. =ut e#erywhere in an amp, and they3ll both sweeten the tone, and at the same time induce hiss. A little thought leads us to the following guidelines for using carbon comps for tone moHo/ &. high #oltage across the resistor is necessary, in the range of &''$ on up %. large signal swings across the resistor are needed - ideally, a large fraction of the static 6< #oltage so you ha#e signal swings of *' to &''$ too.

(. only positions in the amp that ha#e both high 6< #oltage and wide signal swings as in & and % will gi#e you enough resistor distortion to benefit from4 other places should be chosen for low noise and)or economy. B. resistor power rating should be the minimum needed to wor for a reasonable life in the circuit to ma"imize resistor distortion. Maybe a good guideline is that the dissipation should be selected to be as close to two times the a#erage dissipation as possible. *. as a corollary to the power guideline, we should be prepared to replace <<3s e#ery few years as the life at high temp ma es them drift and get noisyD-erE. Guidelines & and % are simply the recognition that the #oltage coefficient of resistance is not #ery big. 2n fact, although the coefficient is small, it was specified to be small by the ma ers and controlled tightly, indicating that it was a recognized problem. 2n the Radiotron 6esigner3s 0andboo D Bth edition, pg. &(B*E they list the ;A8-R-&& specification for << resistors as less than '.'(*P per #olt for &)B and &)%> resistors, and '.'%P per #olt for higher power ratings. Gi#en that the ma" #oltages for these parts was &)B>- %''$4 &)%> - (*'$4 &> and %> - *''$, that wor s out to a FP change in resistance for a &)B > part used at its ma" #oltage, a &%.( P change for a &)%>, and a &'P change for bigger resistors. +hat3s one of the thrusts of guideline B - pic the smallest dissipation resistor you can, to ma"imize the coefficient. 7f course, that3s as big as the effect can get, and you would ha#e to carefully set up the situation to get that much resistor distortion. 2n an amp, you probably won3t be able to get that close to ma" #oltages or signal le#els. Realistic le#els might be %''$ across a &)%> resistor, and a F*$ signal swing. +hat would gi#e you a %.CP distortion - enough to be audible as sweetening. +hat3s the point of guideline ( - you ha#e to ha#e a big enough signal swing across the resistor to ha#e the signal distorted significantly by the #oltage coefficient. 5ut with a &'$ signal, you only get '.(*P distortion, and it starts down the slippery slope to inaudibility. More importantly, these percentages represent the ma"imum beyond which a resistor would ha#e been reHected in the &.*'3s. +oday3s << resistors are much lower distortion. ,rom 2R<3s web site, we find some numbers. A typical resistor #oltage coefficient can be seen at http/))www.irctt.com)pdfQfiles)25+.pdf - which shows carbon comp at '.''*P)#olt for that company3s products. Another was '.''GP)$. +hese are smaller than the ma" allowed under the ;A8 military spec. 9o where do they wor best? >here can we use <<3s for their soft distortion, and where can we sidestep them to lower noise? ,irst, they do no good and lots of noisy bad where the signal le#el is small and the following amplification is high - a classical description of an input stage. +he input to an amp should probably ha#e a metal film plate resistor to minimize noise. Grid resistors in all but output stages also do no good, because the signal

le#el is typically too low. A &%AKF can be dri#en from cutoff to positi#e grid #oltage with a couple of #olts of signal, so the grid resistor ne#er has a big enough signal to be distorted appreciably. <athode resistors are another poor use of <<. +hey typically only ha#e a few #olts across them, and they3re often decoupled with a capacitor, both of which would minimize the resistor distortion. 2n cathode followers, there can be substantial 6< and signal #oltage across a cathode resistor, but in this case, the resistor is dri#en by the low impedance of the cathode, and the #oltage across the resistor is controlled by the grid #oltage #ery tightly, so the e"act resistor #alue doesn3t matter much - there won3t be significant distortion. +he place to use <<3s is where there3s big signal - plate resistors, and ideally the stage Hust before the phase in#erter. +he phase in#erter would otherwise be ideal, with plate resistors carrying the highest signal #oltage in the amp, but phase in#erters are often enclosed in a feedbac loop. +he feedbac minimizes the distortion the resistor generates. Ise <<3s sparingly - only where your personal ears tell you that they ma e a difference. 23m always amused at people who ad#ertise putting carbon comp resistors in their .$ powered effects to gi#e them some ind of magical #intage sound. Irban legend is tough to ill, though - and magic moHo always ma es for dynamite ad#ertising copy. 9o now you now what3s happening, and something of the numbers in#ol#ed. +he effect is real, though slight.

5ac to G17A

'o2 can I modify my Blender T2eety Bird amp to be as loud as a Mars.all Ma1or0AC340T2eed Bassman0S5T0etc6/
DAlternati#ely, how can 2 ma e my amp twice as loud)more power) etc.?E Jou can3t do this in a low power amp, at least not electronically. +o put out the power the big amps put out, you need the entire power train to be as beefy as the big amps. +his means bigger power transformer, rectifiers, filter capacitors, output transformer, more power tubes, bigger chassis, more #entilation to carry off the heat, lots of things. Jou can3t Hust add a couple of tubes.

An amplifier is properly thought of as primarily a big power supply that has some e"tra Hun tac ed onto it to carefully let a little of the power out to the spea ers under special, controlled circumstances. Jou might be able to Hust pull a couple of tubes 7I+ of a high power amp to ma e it quieter, under some conditions. 73<onnor discusses this in @+he Iltimate +one@.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

'o2 can I extend my tube life/

Modify the power on switching to heat the filaments first, let them warm up for (' seconds, then switch on the high #oltage plate supply. Add more #entilation to the amp chassis, perhaps with a small fan. Modify the tube operating conditions so the ma"imum cathode current is not e"ceeded under e#en ma"imum warp dri#e conditions. 1"ceeding ma" cathode current causes cumulati#e emission losses and early tube death. +his requires a somewhat deep understanding of the design of tube amps to do, unfortunately.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

'o2 do I get666

5lues distortion? Made by o#erdri#ing preamp and power tubes a little, enough to Hust start compressing the pea s of the wa#eforms, and not #ery much high frequency content, by electronically cutting highs or running the signal into a spea er cab that acoustically cuts highs.

Guitar =layer magazine ran a construction article on this #ery topic, modifying a ,ender 5assman to be the @Iltimate 5lues Machine@. +he article ran in &..*, authored by ;ohn Mc2ntyre. A recently #oiced although intuiti#ely applied idea in distortion is that tube distortion sounds best when each successi#e distortion stage is o#erdri#en by less than about &%db. +his has the effect of eeping the tubes inside the area where the signal is more compression-distorted than clipped. +hat is what those resisti#e di#ider chains between distortion stages are for inside those distortion preamp schematics. Mesa3s distortion preamps are another good e"ample.

7#erdri#ing a tube stage too much gi#es you harsher clipping, not the singing, sweet distortion we want. +o really get sweet, crunchy distortion, eep each stage that goes into distortion no more than C-.db into distortion.

Marshall)metal)5oogie)etc. distortion? Made by massi#ely o#erdri#ing preamp tubes until the original wa#eform is massi#ely compressed and clipped. Isually followed with a moderate amount of high frequency cut to remo#e some of the @insect attracting@ o#ertones generated in the clipping process. +here is commonly some output tube o#erdri#e in this process, too. Good distortion at lowDerE #olumes? o#erdri#e preamp tubes until you get the clipping you want, then feed a limited amount of this to a power amp stage to get the loudness you want. +his is how master #olume controls wor .

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

".ere can I find plans for a Belc.fire0Maximo0etc6 spea7er cabinet/

1lectro$oice sells D?E ma es a#ailable D?E plans for cabinets for their spea ers. <opy an e"isting cab. 9ome cabinet fitting suppliers ha#e e"ample plans. -- Daddresses in a future postingE ---

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

-utput transformer 8uestions9

-/ 6o output transformers sound different from one another? 2f so, why do they sound different? <an you for instance wind a transformer to get an intentional frequency response? :i e, you thin your Marshall has too much midrange, so you put a new 7+ in that has li e a C-.d5 cut around G''hz to get a natural @scooped@ sound? A/ +hese things cause transformers to sound different/

0igh and low frequency roll-offs caused by the details of the iron, copper, winding and manufacturing processing. 2nherent distortion caused by the magnetic properties of the iron and the dri#ing impedance 1"cess distortion caused by lac of coupling between sections of the windings - literally where all the windings are in relationship to one another - in a <lass A5 or 5 biased amplifier.

0igh and :ow ,requency Roll-offs/ +ransformers all by themsel#es ha#e a high end rolloff point and a low end rolloff point, and a broad flat region between the two. +he e"act frequencies where the highs and lows roll off are a characteristic of the iron, copper, and how they3re wound and stac ed together and treated or mis-treated. 2t is possible to get a resonance or two between the two ends, but most often there is only a self-resonance point abo#e the high frequency end. Isually any reasonably well-made output transformer has no oddities within the high and low frequency roll-off points. Gi#en enough info about the transformer and the use Dpower through it, temperature, 6< bias current, etc,E you can use the parasitic parts of the transformer3s response, the una#oidable self capacitances and lea age inductances, with other components outside the transformer to shape the frequency response inside the relati#ely flat pass band4 this is more li e shaping it e"ternally than designing the response into the transformer, though. +he parasitics are largely what cause the high and low frequency cutoffs, so it3s not easy to mo#e their effects out into the passband with simple circuits. Jou can design in a high and)or low frequency response point, and you may be able to tin er inside the passband a little, but e#en an e"perienced designer can3t easily Hust design in a scoop of arbitrary depth at a gi#en frequency with only the transformer windings to wor with. 2nherent Dor 2ronE 6istortion/ 2t3s not widely understood, but transformers ha#e their own distortion generating mechanism. +he iron in a transformer has to be dri#en to a certain magnetic flu" le#el to couple signals to the secondaries. +he output tubes must supply this magnetizing power as well as the power to the secondaries. A well designed transformer can ma e this power #ery small. 0owe#er, the nature of the iron itself is that the magnetizing power is non-linear. 2t ta es proportionately more or less magnetizing power at different magnetization le#els, so the iron siphons off more or less of the signal. +his depends on the core material linearity and magnetic softness, and how close the transformer is dri#en to saturation. +he amount of distortion depends, among other things, on the source impedance dri#ing it, as the distortion comes from the nonlinear shunting effect of the transformer3s primary inductance. A #oltage source dri#ing a transformer will be able to be distortion free on the secondary. A high impedance dri#e source Dli e a pentode plate, unfortunatelyE will not be able to pro#ide all the current the core needs to eep the #oltage linear, and so some distortion will show up on the secondary as a result. +his distoriton is relati#ely small, probably %-*P below the beginning of saturation, and is primarily third harmonic.

1"cess 6istortion/ 7nly in push-pull <lass A5 or 5 amplifiers Dthat is, most guitar ampsE when the crosso#er point where one tube turns off and the other tube carries all of the power load, 1$18 2, +01 52A9 ,7R +01 +I519 =R7=1R:J 1:2M28A+16 +I51 <R7997$1R 629+7R+278 the sudden change from two half-primary windings conducting all of the power to the the secondaries to only one tube supplying the secondaries, if the magnetic coupling from both half-primaries to the entire secondary is not e"cellent, there will be a glitch in the output wa#eform caused by the change in current in the lea age inductance in both the half-primary that is turning off and the one turning on. +his crosso#er distortion can not be biased away. <heap, non-interlea#ed output transformers often ha#e this ind of distortion and sound @harsh@. -/ 7b#iously, output transformers ha#e tolerances. Are the impedance tolerances the reason one 7+ may sound better than another? A/ +he impedance ratioDsE of a transformer are fi"ed by the number of turns on each winding, and it3s unusual for modern winding machines to forget or miss a turn. <an happen, but it3s rare4 so the impedance ratios are not what are the biggest contributors to tone differences. -/ Are paper bobbins really superior to plastic bobbins in output transformers? 0ow about power transformers? A/ 8o. 5oth paper and plastic are non-magnetic and non-conducti#e. +he only way they can affect a magnetic field is by ta ing up space and therefore e"cluding either a conductor or a magnetic material from that space. As long as the winding window is reasonably filled with turns of copper wire, the effect of one bobbin material #ersus another is essentially impossible to find e#en with sensiti#e lab instruments designed for wor on such things. +he business about paper bobbins being thinner and letting the copper wires be nearer the core is nonsense. +he entire iron core @conducts@ the magnetic flu". Mo#ing a turn of copper a tiny fraction of an inch closer to the center leg mo#es it that same fraction further from the outer leg. As long as the dimensions for paper and plastic bobbins are not grossly different Dand the differences between old paper -actually glued-up cardboard- bobbins and plastic bobbins are tinyE then there is no reason that the magnetics should be affected at all. +here is some reason for this myth being started, though. +he output transformers from the @golden age@ were pretty much all hi-fi output trannys. +his meant they were, among other things, carefully interlea#ed and wound. +he earliest plastic bobbins were wound not to get good sound, but because the M5A3s that had infiltrated the guitar companies were trying to sa#e a buc . A quic and dirty, lowest-bidder transformer wound without interlea#ing on a plastic bobbin and laminated with cheap, thic iron costs less than a good on from an old-line hifi ma er, so that3s what they started ma ing. +he plastic was not the problem, but it was all that the uneducated user could see, so plastic got an undeser#ed bad rep.

:et me be clear - 2+39 87+ +01 575528, 2+39 +01 6192G8 A86 A991M5:J. -/Are differences in transformer sound in the pattern of the windings? 7r something else? A/0a#ing pooh-poohed the idea of paper bobbins being better with the @a turn3s a turn@ argument, 2 hesitate to get into this, but 2 guess 2 should. +he thing that ma es for an 7+ tone is the sum total of the contributions of all those parasitic elements in the transformer - the series wire resistance, the lea age inductance in the magnetic path, the turn-to-turn capacitance, the layering and distribution of layers in the window, the depth of the core stac , the thic ness of the iron in the laminations the -Omagnetic softnessO- of the iron in the laminations and how carefully they ha#e been interlea#ed and butted together, and how free the laminations are from electrical contacts. =aper bobbins are one of the few things that 6783+ affect a transformer3s tone, all other things being equal. 2t is really a no-brainer to copy a transformer, but you ha#e to now about and be able to copy all of the details about how it3s made. 7nce you do that, you get fairly repeatable results, with the e"ception of the handling of the iron. +ransformer iron is annealed to be physically and magnetically soft Dwhich go togetherE, and an o"ide layer is grown on it to pre#ent the layers from electrical contact, which affects how much core loss happens. 2f the iron is roughly handled, it gets hardened and has more core losses and higher distortion, as well as ha#ing the o"ide scraped and or punctured, which increases eddy current losses. +hese will ha#e an effect. Jou can detect the changes in magnetic characteristics of transformer iron by testing the iron into a test coil, then stri ing it sharply 1$18 78<1. 23#e performed this test myself on occasion. <are in stac ing the iron and Hogging it together also has an audible effect. 2f the laminations are carefully Hogged together so the Hoints are as tightly fitted as possible, it runs the primary inductance up and the low frequency rolloff down, ma ing for a better bass response. All this sounds obscure, but is really much easier than learning to play guitar on an intellectual scale. 2t3s Hust another special language to learn. Most people Hust don3t go there, so it gets shrouded in myth. -/ 2 remember reading Matchless3s Dor others...E ad stating they copied the 7+ of an incredible sounding amp and that was the ey ingredient of their sound. >hat was it they copied, impedance or winding pattern? A/ +hey had to do both to get a good copy - as well as ha#ing to duplicate or appro"imate iron composition, thic ness, and stac ing.

-/ 2s hand winding superior to machine winding for output transformers? >hen a nown @good sounding@ #intage or modern transformer is duplicated, will modern equipment should be able to consistently reproduce them without #arying results? 2s hand winding being superior to machine winding is a myth? A/ +he de#il is in the details. Machines can produce goods with a consistency that a human hand)eye)brain simply can3t, so where pure replication is required, bet on the machine. >hene#er the materials)situation)adHustments, etc. require Hudgement and on-the-spot compensation, bet on the human - 2, the human is an e"pert at whate#er the situation is. 2 would say that historically, the real situation is that cheaply produced and poorly designed Dfor instance, non-interlea#edE machine wound transformers were accurately reproduced, and sure enough, the sound was reliably bad. A good hand winder repro-ing a carefully stac ed interlea#ed 7+ could, in spite of the ine#itable slight #ariations and flaws produce a much better sounding transformers - at a much higher price - in low quantities. A myth gets started - @2 used so-and-so3s hand wound 7+, and it ran rings around the machine-wound replacements,@ which is demonstrably true, but then the leap to myth is made @therefore only hand wound transformers are good.@ +his train of reasoning is so seducti#e in the @#intage-is-god@ en#ironment that it almost instantly becomes common wisdom, putting the merit on hand winding when in fact the differences were in different designs. ,or duplicating windings, a well made, well adHusted and well maintained machine will produce more consistently identical windings than a human. 8ote that 2 put a number of ca#eats on that statement. An e"pert human with little or no equipment will produce better, more consistent goods than a bored, ill-trained, poorly paid operator coping with the wrong wire size on a poorly adHusted forty year old machine, which is how some Despecially the cheaperE transformers get made. 9o - is the notion that handwound transformers are A:>AJ9 superior 51<AI91 they3re hand-wound a myth? Jes. Are hand-wound transformers 97M1+2M19 superior to machine wound? Jes, especially where the hand-winder is producing a different design from the machine. 23d call the quality pretty much the same for hand-wound and machine wound transformers where the hand-wound ones are produced in low quantity by e"perts Da ca#eat that e"cludes fatigue and s ills flawsE and the machine wound ones are made on modern equipment with s illed operators in large quantity Dwhich allows adHusting the machines for consistencyE.

-/ 23#e read references to modifying == 7+s, adding a mysterious @gap@ Dmysterious to me at leastE for 91 use. >hat does that mean? A/=robably this/ process of adding a gap means carefully unstac ing an interlea#ed == transformer, restac ing the 13s and 23s into non-interlea#ed chun s and reinserting the bobbin with a spacer. +his gets you a transformer that has a lower primary inductance, but that won3t saturate as easily. 2t3s probably not what you would originally ha#e designed for any gi#en 91 circuit, as the primary inductance is now lower, but it might wor . And it R1A::J appeals to the homehandyman tube hac er crafstman instinct. -/ >hat are @gaps@ in output transformers, and why are they good? A/ +he @gap@ in single ended transformers is Hust that - a space where there is no iron. +he way this is done with 1-2 cores is to stac all the e3s together and insert them into the bobbin in one chun , then put a paper or fiber spacer across the end of the @1@3s, and then the 23s are laid on in a chun . +he point of this is that there is now a gap where there is no iron bridging it that ma es the magnetic field Hump across. +his linearizes the magnetic properties of the structure as a whole, as the properties of the gap are so different from iron that they dominate, and the gap cannot saturate li e the iron can. +he o#erall primary inductance is much lower now than if you had interlea#ed the laminations, alternating the direction of the 13s in the center of the transformer, though, so you must use much more iron and copper to get as much primary inductance and low frequency response as you would ha#e had if you3d interlea#ed the laminations, so the transformer gets big e"pensi#e, and can support much less output power for its size than it might otherwise. +en watt gapped single ended 7+3s for instance may be four to si" times as hea#y as <lass A5 transformers designed for fifty watts out. -/ <an 2 use a push-pull 7+ in my single ended amp? 0ow about if 2 re-stac it to ha#e a gap? A/ +he use of == 7=+s for 91 is cautionary. +he problem is that you must run the bias current through the primary as 6<, and this offsets the core magnetically. A transformer which uses interlea#ed laminations Dalmost all == 7=+3sE has a much higher primary inductance, but is easy to offset and ma e the iron saturate. 2ntroducing a gap ma es the primary inductance lower, but ma es the transformer much more resistant to saturation, good for 91 7=+3s. Ising an interlea#ed == 7=+ in 91 use necessarily limits the amount of 6< bias that can be used without saturation and the corresponding distortion. 2t wor s if you eep the 6< bias current low enough to not saturate the core, but that limits the amount of power you can use. 9o in general it probably wor s if you use a 52G == 7=+ for a much smaller 91 amp. As a tube hac er, 2 can understand the urge to Hust hoo up whate#er you ha#e that might be a good output, but as a former transformer

designer, there are going to be cases where it will not wor or won3t wor well. 1"periment if you li e, but be prepared to toss the transformer and)or output tubes if they fry, or tear it all down if it Hust doesn3t sound good. -/ >hat is an @ultralinear@ output transformer? A/ 2t3s a transformer with a tap at about halfway between the 5R connection and the plate connection to which you can attach the output tube3s screen grid. +his connection pro#ides some feedbac to the screen grid as well as a bias #oltage and has been found to act li e a connection halfway between pure pentode modes and pure triode mode, with lower distortion than either. 2t3s almost a requirement for tube hifi ampliers. 5ass amplifiers use it to get large amounts of clean power. 2t usually sounds too @sterile@ or clean for guitar players3 tastes. -/ <an 2 con#ert an amplifier with an ultralinear connected 7+ to normal use? A/ Jes. ;ust disconnect the ultralinear taps and ma e sure they don3t short to something, then connect the screen grids to a screen #oltage supply. +his is a common mod to I: connected amplifiers for guitar use. -/ <an 2 substitute two single ended transformers for a single plate-to-plate transformer? A/ 2f you ha#e two single ended transformers, these are running effecti#ely in parallel. 2t ma es no difference whether you are dri#ing them from a phase in#erter or not, because the phase on the two DindependentE output windings can be changed either way by re#ersing the leads. +his is not going to gi#e you the same operation of either the transformers or the tubes as a true plate to plate transformer. +he real plate to plate transformer actually combines the tube power in the flu" in the iron, which can ne#er happen in two separate transformers. 0oo ing two transformers together to combine the output power is always tric y, series or parallel, because if you combine them wrong, there can be large circulating currents, which can ill the transformers. 0ow did you determine the proper phasing on the outputs when you connected them up? 2t is coneptually possible to series two outputs and ha#e e#erything wor , but in practice, it3s hard to do this well. ,or a series connection, you MI9+ get the secondary #oltages to add. 2f you get the secondary #oltages offsetting each other, the series connection is effecti#ely open circuited, no matter what load is on the series combination no current flows because the secondary #oltages cancel out. 2n this connectio, you probably ill the primaries by arcing o#er the internal insulation, possibly followed by burning the winding open when a turn or two shorted from the puncture in the insulation and the 5R caps dumped through that short.

+he safe way to find out the phasing is to use two resistor-loads, one per secondary, and then to connect one end of each secondary together4 dri#e the amp with a signal generator and measure the A< #oltage across the free ends. 2f the #oltage is %K the #oltage on either secondary, you3re phased correctly, and you can lea#e the center connection where it is, remo#e the resistor loads, and put one spea er across the free ends. 2f the #oltage across the free ends is smaller than the #oltage across either secondary, they3re phased wrong, and you need to swap the ends of one secondary. <ombining the powers of two 91 transformers is best done acoustically. 6ri#e a second spea er. -/ 23#e seen circuits that use re#erse biased diodes connected from ground to the plates of output tubes as @transient spi e pre#enters@. 0ow does this wor ? A/+he &8B''F3s ser#e mainly as an amulets against the #oltage gods in this case. An inducti#e flybac pulse will go to literally A8J #oltage until it finds a discharge path. 2deally, transients that would cause #ery high positi#e #oltages on one push-pull plate would cause high negati#e #oltages on the other plate, and the diodes on the negati#e going plate would clamp the #oltages on the positi#e going plate through the output transformer. +his does indeed happen for small, e"tremely-tightly coupled transformers. 0owe#er, any lea age inductance between the two primaries pre#ents the tight coupling that would let the negati#e going diodes protect, and worse yet, it3s the lea age inductances that cause the spi es on transients anyways. >hat really happens is that the first few flybac pulses that occur will brea o#er the &8B''F3s rather than than arcing the plates on the positi#e side, so there really is some protection, it3s not Hust where it loo s li e it is. 2f you3re luc y, the &8B''F3s brea o#er before the transformer insulation punches through, and all is well until the &8B''F3s go lea y or short. =robably better than nothing, but not a whole lot of additional protection, either. 0ec , amulets are not harmful, 2 guess. -/ <an 2 use an ordinary pushpull output transformer as a single ended ultralinear output transformer? A/ Maybe. 2t3s cheaper than getting one originally designed for that use, but you do ha#e to consider it as e"perimental - it may or may not return good results, and you may ha#e irretrie#ably damaged a wor ing 7=+, which may or may not be a tragedy, depending which transformer it was and whether you paid real dollars for it and how many. Jou can try it, but consider the transformer e"pendable. -/ >hat does the @impedance@ of my output transformer mean? A/ +ransformers don3t ha#e impedances, they ha#e impedance RA+27s. +his is an important distinction.

+ransformers transform impedances as a pure ratio. +hat is, a BB'' == to G ohm transformer ma es any load on its secondary loo li e it3s **' times bigger to a tube at the primary. An G ohm secondary load then loo s li e a BB'' ohm load at the primary. 2t also ma es a &C ohm load loo li e an GG'' ohm load if you hoo &C to it, %%'' if you hoo a B ohm load to it, and similarly for all #alues in between. =ower tubes ha#e a power output that depends on matching - that is, they ha#e sweet spot load that they do best on, most power out, and other loads will get less power because the tube itself limits how much power it will transfer out. SActually there are two sweet spots, one for highest power, one for lowest distortion4 the two spots are not the same for any nown tube. ,rom zero ohms loading up to some ill-defined number of ohms higher than the optimum power load, power tubes do not destroy themsel#es, they merely change how much they transfer to the load. 9o - if you ha#e a tube amp with a tap for G ohms, you will get the nominal power of the amp only with a @matched@ G ohm load. 2f you hoo &C ohms there, the power tubes @see@ a proportionately higher ohmage on their plates, and can only put out about half the nominal power. 2f you hoo up a B ohm load to the G ohm tap, the power tubes @see@ a load about half of the matched one, and again will put out only about half of the nominal power. +his @half the nominal@ power is not fi"ed because of the %/& change in load, but #aries from amp to amp and tube to tube, and may not be e"actly %/&. 2n addition, spea ers are 87+ single impedance loads. 2t is con#enient to thin of @G-ohm@ spea ers, but the plain fact is that the spea er3s impedance #aries with frequency and also with the acoustic loading Dcabinet and other thingsE that the spea er sees. +hat impedance meter is not going to be a huge help, because you ha#e to specify the frequency being tested as well as the impedance to ha#e something meaningful. -/ >hy do 2 ha#e to match spea ers to the output impedance of the amp? A/ Jou3ll get the most power out of the amp if the load is matched. -/>ill it hurt my amp)output transformer)tubes to use a mismatched spea er load? 9imple A/ >ithin reason, no. 9ay for e"ample you ha#e two eight ohm spea ers, and you want to hoo them up to an amp with B, G, and &C ohm taps. 0ow do you hoo them up? ,or most power out, put them in series and tie them to the &C ohm tap, or parallel them and tie the pair to the B ohm load. ,or tone? +ry it se#eral different ways and see which you li e best. @+one@ is not a single #alued quantity, either, and in fact depends hugely on the person listening. +hat #ariation in impedance #ersus frequency and the #ariation in output power #ersus impedance and the #ariation in impedance with loading conspire to ma e the audio response cur#es a broad hump with ragged, humped ends, and those humps and dips are what ma es for the @tone@ you hear and interpret. >ill you hurt the transformer if you parallel them to four ohms and hoo them to the G ohm tap? Almost certainly not. 2f you parallel them and hoo

them to the &C ohm tap? 1"tremely unli ely. 2n fact, you probably won3t hurt the transformer if you short the outputs. 2f you series them and hoo them to the G ohm or B ohm tap? Inli ely - howe#er... the thing you <A8 do to hurt a tube output transformer is to put too high an ohmage load on it. 2f you open the outputs, the energy that gets stored in the magnetic core has nowhere to go if there is a sudden discontinuity in the dri#e, and acts li e a discharging inductor. +his can generate #oltage spi es that can punch through the insulation inside the transformer and short the windings. 2 would not go abo#e double the rated load on any tap. And 81$1R open circuit the output of a tube amp - it can fry the transformer in a couple of ways. 1"tended A/ 2t3s almost ne#er low impedance that ills an 7+, it3s too high an impedance. +he power tubes simply refuse to put out all that much more current with a lowerimpedance load, so death by o#erheating with a too-low load is all but impossible - not totally out of the question but e"tremely unli ely. +he power tubes simply get into a loading range where their output power goes down from the mismatched load. At %/& lower-than-matched load is not unreasonable at all. 2f you do too high a load, the power tubes still limit what they put out, but a second order effect becomes important. +here is magnetic lea age from primary to secondary and between both halfprimaries to each other. >hen the current in the primary is dri#en to be discontinuous, you get inducti#e ic bac from the lea age inductances in the form of a #oltage spi e. +his #oltage spi e can punch through insulation or flash o#er soc ets, and the spi e is sitting on top of 5R, so it3s got a head start for a flasho#er to ground. 2f the punchthrough was one time, it wouldn3t be a problem, but the burning residues inside the transformer ma e punchthrough easier at the same point on the ne"t cycle, and e#entually erode the insulation to ma e a conducti#e path between layers. +he sound goes south, and with an intermittent short you can get a permanent short, or the wire can burn though to gi#e you an open there, and now you ha#e a dead transformer. 9o how much loading is too high? ,or a well designed Dequals interlea#ed, tightly coupled, low lea age inductances, li e a fine, high quality hifiE 7+, you can easily withstand a %/& mismatch high. ,or a poorly designed Dhigh lea age, poor coupling, not well insulated or pottedE transformer, %/& may well be marginal. >orse, if you ha#e an intermittent contact in the path to the spea er, you will introduce transients that are sharper and hence cause higher #oltages. 2n that light, the spea er impedance selector switch could ill 7+3s if two ways - if it3s a brea befor ma e, the transients cause punch

through4 if it3s a ma e before brea , the 7+ is intermittently shorted and the higher currents cause burns on the switch that e#entually ma e it into a brea before ma e. +urning the spea er impedance selector with an amp running is something 2 would not chance, not once. ,or why Marshalls are e"tra sensiti#e, could be the transformer design, could be that selector switch. 2 personally would not worry too much about a %/& mismatch too low, but 2 might not do a mismatch high on Marshalls with the obser#ed data that they are not all that sturdy under that load. 2n that light, pulling two tubes and lea#ing the impedance switch alone might not be too bad, as the remaining tubes are running into a too-low rather than too-high load. -/ <an 2 use two single ended output transformers in a push-pull circuit and then parallel the outputs? A/ >hat you3re ma ing really 29 two class A output stages run in parallel. >ith no magnetic coupling between the two half-primaries, there is no interaction on the secondaries, either. Jou ha#e to run them <lass A to eep from ha#ing distortion because they really are separate amplifiers. 2t3s not clear what happens if)when you try to use feedbac from the secondary into the DpresumablyEcommon dri#er stage. 7n the secondaries, you ha#e two G ohm outputs that you can connect in series to dri#e either two G ohm loads separately or one &C ohm by placing the secondaries in series4 the resulting power capability, gi#en that you get the rest of the circuit right, is the sum from each transformer, or about %K the power of each <lass A amp by itself. 8ote that this is far less than you3d get by using a proper push-pull 7+ and dri#ing it in <lass A5, probably Nfrac&B4 the power. 2f you try to parallel the two, you can get some interesting and possibly disturbing results. 2f the transformers really are 2618+2<A:, then for equal primary dri#e, you get equal secondary #oltages, and you could parallel them 7K to dri#e a single load. 2f there is a difference between primaries, secondaries or dri#e #oltages, then the secondaries try to ma e different #oltages, and fight it out. +he differences are reflected into the primaries as a ind of push-bac #oltage on the output tube plates. +ubes being the forgi#ing things they are, this will probably not ill anything, but it will at least act li e a different loading than you3re e"pecting on a per-tube basis. 23m not certain e"actly what effect this will ha#e on linearity or life. 2f you were dri#ing the primaries from a low impedance source, something would burn. -/ >hat are the things about output transformer that cause the differences in tone? 0ow do differences in output transformer construction combine with tubes to gi#e differences in tone? 0ow do 2 design)modify an 7+ for a tone 2 li e? 0ow do 2 duplicate the tone of a 7+ 2 already li e?

A/ >hat you ha#e as ed, translated into transformer-gee language, is @0ow do 2 completely describe the equi#alent circuit of a transformer and the circuit it resides in?@ +o be truthful, there isn3t all that much mystery about transformers, but it3s not li e the rest of your e#eryday electronic parts. +ransformers are susceptible to electronic modelling, and once you get the model correct, you can twiddle the #alues until you get the @tone@ you want, including nonlinear effects. +he later #ersions of 9=2<1 include nonlinear transformer models for e"actly this use. Jou won3t li e the answers, primarily because of size. +o understand a transformer3s effect on tone, you ha#e to be able to model the whole power amp)tube)7=+)spea er chain and account for the effect of changes in the 7=+ model, then synthesize bac to real hardware once you get the response you li e. Jou3#e as ed for a couple of semesters equi#alent worth of information on transformer modelling and design lin ed to a course on the design of the output stage of a tube audio amp. 2 suggest that if you really want to now this stuff, you find a copy of 8athan R. Grossner3s @+ransformers for 1lectronic <ircuits@, which is out of print, but a#ailable at many technical libraries. 2 put this reference in the +ube Amp ,A- to answer this ind of question. Jou can model any transformer as a shunt primary capacitance across the primary winding, a series lea age inductance to the primary winding, a series resistor equal to the winding resistance, a nonlinear inductance representing the primary inductance, with a nonlinear resistor in parallel with the primary inductance to represent core losses, primarily from eddy currents. +hen an ideal @perfect transformer@ to con#ert the #oltages and currents correctly, a series secondary winding resistance, a series secondary lea age inductance, and a shunt capacitance across the secondary. A shunt capacitor from primary to secondary completes the model. Get those component #alues correct, and you can accurately model e#erything about any transformer. +here are no mysteries hiding in there. +he component #alues are all measurable, and to a certain e"tent predictable from the start. Any transformer can be copied, ,ischer and his il to the contrary. 9o - tone effect of a 7=+? first - what does the base transformation ratio do to the reflected loading on the tubes as a function of frequency, including spea er loading. +his is fairly independent of the transformer model, depending only on that @ideal transformer@ in the middle, but has a big effect on how the tubes put out power. 8e"t - >hat are the #alues of the model components? +hat is, how much lea age inductance, shunt capacitance, and core loss is there? At what points in the

e"citation does the core start going into saturation, and from the composition of the iron, what is the irreducable energy loss per cycle to magnetizing losses, which shows up as pure third harmonic distortion. <ore saturation sounds li e any soft limit on a signal4 its effect on tone also depends on the symmetry of the limiting. Jou get primarily third, but smaller amounts of fifth and se#enth harmonics on pure tones. <ombine with the tone of the tubes? 2 ha#e a problem with that, and 23m not Hust being difficult. ,irst, define @tone@ unambiguously... +he power response of the tubes will be affected a lot by the degree to which the reflected loading on the plates matches the @power transfer sweet spot@ for the tube, and this is a function of frequency, depending ob#iously on the spea er impedance cur#e and the other parasitics in the model. +he size of the core and the number of turns ha#e a direct effect on the low frequency response, but they affect it by changing how much the primary inductance loads the tubes at the lowest frequency of interest. Good designs ma e this 87+ be a consideration in most cases. =oor designs ma e it a critical factor, and you hear the poor design as either core distortion or low frequency restriction. +he winding inductances are entirely subsumed into primary and secondary inductances and ha#e no effect on tone whatsoe#er - e"cept to the e"tent that the physical location and sectionalization of the windings contribute to the lea age inductance and shunt capacitances. +he effect of the loading on the plates 29 a maHor contributor. 1ach tube type has a power response cur#e, power out at a gi#en impedance. +here is also a cur#e of distortion #ersus loading. 2n general, the sweet spot of ma" power is not the sweet spot for lowest distortion, so changes in loading cause the amount of power out to change as the amount of distortion changes, too. <hanges in plate loading will cause big changes in tone and spea ers all by themsel#es ha#e impedance #ersus frequency cur#es that #ary by four or more to one. +o get a good grip, first get some good bac ground. +here is not enough room in this ,A- to type in what you3#e as ed. Get a boo , preferably Grossner, but any other that describes the basics of transformer modelling4 then 2 can point you to some boo s on transformer ma ing that will gi#e you an idea on how to change the things you do in ma ing one that can change those parasitics. A final thought. 2f the totality of what a transformer does to tone can be modelled by the ideal transformer and some non-ideal components, could you ta e a transformer with #ery small parasitics, close to ideal, and add in e"ternal @parasitic@ components and ma e it loo li e any one of a number of less ideal transformers? Jep. Jou can add inductors and caps to 7=+s to ma e them loo more li e some transformer you li e better, as long as you3re not ha#eing to add negati#e inductance and)or capacitance. +he iron alloy also has an effect, and it3s tied up in that business about the 50 cur#e and nonlinearities. 2f you dri#e a transformer from a #oltage source, ' ohms impedance, then there is no distortion of the secondary #oltage as a result of the 50 nonlinearities, as the source can pro#ide any current to eep the #oltage correct. 2f howe#er you use a source with a real impedance, li e the plate impedance of a pentode, then the nonlinearities demand current, and the plate impedance then limits the current a#ailable, so the

#oltage wa#eform is distorted on both primary and secondary. Infortunately, we need the transfomer 51<AI91 the tube has internal impedance, so we can3t Hust wish that away. As a sidelight, this is one of the classical arguments for triode output tubes o#er pentodes or beam power tubes during the golden age hifi years triodes ha#e a much lower internal impedance and hence lower the distortion of the transformer. >hat you <A8 do is to do some fairly simple tests to map the 50 cur#es of the iron you ha#e, Ssidelight/ if you find a @magic@ transformer, much more @tone@ Dwhate#er that means to youE than any other, you can do the wor to measure the 50 cur#e nondistructi#ely on the core properties that it has, and then go duplicate them.T and then either get different iron or introduce air gaps to change the effecti#e 50 cur#e of the iron to ma e a core nonlinearity that matches whate#er sounded good. Jou may not be able to match the iron perfectly, but it3s the core properites, not Hust the iron, that you3re loo ing for, and there are things you can do there. +here are a number of grades of transformer iron, but 2 doubt that there are larger laminations made especially for audio these days, as there is effecti#ely no money to be made4 the money is all in laminations for power transformers. +here are se#eral grades of good, linear, high permeability silicon iron made for power transformers, and 2 suspect that these are what A:: new manufacture 7=+3s come from. 8ote that this may Dand probably willE result in a core that is bigger than the one you3re copying, you may ha#e to rewor the windings to get the necessary primary inductance, shunt capacitancs, lea age, etc, etc. to duplicate the response of an iron core you can3t get. Also - there are other ways to introduce the specific nonlinearities that ma e for a good sound if you can e#er define what @good@ is well enough. Q9 'o2 can I tell if my output transformer is li:e or dead/ A/+here are some simple tests you can run to quic ly determine if a transformer is grossly bad. +his is much simpler than determining if it will wor well and sound @good@ for you. +he tests of relati#e @goodness@ are also possible, but require a lot of equipment and e"perience to do correctly. ,or the quic and dirty tests described here, you3ll need a means of measuring A< #oltage and current simultaneously, such as a pair of $7Ms or 6MMs, and a &&')&%' to C.($<+ filament transformer, and either a #ariac D#ariable transformerE or a light bulb soc et in series with the primary of the filament transformer to limit the power you put into the transformer under test.

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5oth the filament transformer and the transformer under test will ha#e at least A< line #oltage on them, an may well ha#e much higher #oltage, se#eral hundred #olts on one or more windings. Jou are therefore in danger of being ,I++ & if you are not both nowledgeable and careful about how you do these tests. &- $-T T#! T'IS IF !-) &- $-T 'A5 T' ,$-";'-" A$& <* #I $C T- "-#, SAF +! "IT' T' S 5-+TA% S6 IF !-) 'A5 A$! Q) STI-$ I$ !-)# MI$& "' T' # !-) CA$ &T'IS "-#, SAF +!, !-) CA$=T6 See7 experienced .elp if you .a:e any 8uestion in your o2n mind6 +he tests run li e this. 2dentify which wires are which by color code, circuit connection, or by using an ohmmeter to find which connects to which. :abel the wires. ,rom the same ohmmeter test, write down the resistances you measured on the windings. Generally, windings with resistances o#er a few ohms are high #oltage windings, either a power transformer primary or high #oltage output, or an output transformer primary. 8ote that it is common for primary windings on power transformers to ha#e from two to si" wires, with the wires o#er two being taps to adHust for #arious line #oltages from &&'-&&F-&%'-&%*-%'G-%%'-%B'. 9econdary windings on power transformers and primaries on output transformers will ha#e either two or three leads, and secondaries on output transformers will ha#e to to four leads. Also note if any winding is shorted to the transformer core. 9ometimes an internal shield will be deliberately connected to the core, but if a multi-lead winding is connected to the core, this is usually an internal short, and a dead transformer. 7nce you ha#e identified the windings, hoo up one and only one winding to either &)% of the C.($<+ or to the #ariac. +ry to select a low #oltage winding, one that has low resistance from the ohmmeter test. Ma e sure that no other leads are connected Dor shorted together, or touching your screwdri#er on your bench or... well, you get the ideaE. A turn of plastic tape on each wire end you3re not using at the moment is a good idea. 9et your #oltmeter on this winding, and the current meter to measure the current through it, and bring the circuit up. +he #oltmeter should measure ( #olts A<, the light bulb Dif usedE should 87+ be lit brightly, and nothing should be humming or smo ing 4-E. +here should be little current going through the winding. 2f the #oltage is lower than ( #olts, or you are pulling amps of current, then there is a load on the transformer, internally since you ha#e disconnected all the leads, meaning that there is an internal short. Jou should try

to select a winding for this test that is normally a low #oltage winding, either a filament winding in a power transformer, or a secondary in an output transformer. 2f all is well, measure the #oltage that now appears on the other windings. +he #oltages will be equal to the ratios of the #oltages that will appear on these windings in normal operations.

B6 ".ere can I get a good replacement output transformer for my :intage &oppelBanger amp/ 6i"ie 9ound >or s, Gunthers#ille, Alabama has a great reputation for DreEwinding quality #intage re-ma es. +he company that made the amp may ha#e ser#ice parts. +he quality is #ariable from company to company and time to time, though.

+here are a number of companies that ha#e entered the transformer mar et in the last year, so e"pect that there will be new places to get quality rewinds and replacement transformers <. 2 want to ma e my own power and output transformers. 0ow do 2 do this?) >here can 2 find information about this? 6esigning and hand winding transformers is not terribly difficult, but it does require information and s ills that are relati#ely hard to find. Jou are unli ely to sa#e a whole lot of money unless used or bro en parts are cheaply a#ailable to you. Jou may want to do this if you feel that you were selected by some deity to ta e this on as a life wor . ,irst, ta e a transformer apart. A burned out tube-type power transformer will do. 6o this carefully and slowly, imagining how you would ha#e put it together in the first place to get it the way it was. +his is an e"cellent introduction to the manual s ills and materials needed to successfully produce one on your own. :earn about how transformers are designed from one or more of the following, in this order/

&. @+ransformers for 1lectronic <ircuits@, Grossner Dchec your libraryE %. @Radiotron 6esigner3s 0andboo , fourth edition (. @Audio +ransformer 6esign Manual@, >olpert, M(C, pri#ately published, a#ailable from/ Robert G.>olpert *%'' 2r#ine 5l#d. U&'F 2r#ine <A .%F%'

B. @+he >illiamson Amplifier@ 6.+.8 >illiamson, reprint a#ailable from 7ld <olony 9ound :abs *. 0andboo of +ransformer 6esign and Applications by >illiam ,lanagan Dsecond ed.E C. @rewinding transformers with <A6@ by 0ugh >ells >C>+I 0am Radio 6ec 3GC p.G( F. @,ast 7ptimization of +ransformer 6esign@ 168 8o# 3C% by 6a#is, ;. 0. +hese sources will help. +hey are 87+ a complete coo boo . 8ote that it is #ery possible to ma e a transformer that will operate relati#ely well, but may brea down une"pectedly and K2:: you if it is not constructed with safety in mind.

&6 S.ould I replace my stoc7 transformer 2it. a ne20old0:intage0purple one for better clean0grunge0grit0etc6 sound/ Inless you R1A::J now what you3re doing and ha#e heard the transformer you3ll be swapping in and li e it, no. +here are a huge number of #ariables in the @sound@ of a transformer, and you should e"haust other means first. Jou might not get that magic sound after all that wor unless your ears - and amp tech - are really good.

Are potted 0 impregnated transformers better/ Is potting 0 impregnation necessary/ 8ecessary for function? 8o. 8ecessary for long term reliability? Jes. 2f transformers are not potted or impregnated in some way, they will e#entually ha#e problems with slight repeated mo#ements of the wire wearing the insulation and interlea#ing material, and with moisture infiltration. 2n some climates, moisture infiltration will let molds and mildew get started inside the transformer if it3s not used almost daily. @=otting@ is not the same as @impregnating@.@2mpregnation@ means getting some ind of insulating goo soa ed all through out the windings and spaces inside, while potting means putting the whole assembly in a can and filling the can Dand transformer, as in impregnationE with goop. +o be reliable for years of use, a transformer must at least be impregnated with #arnish or epo"y. Almost all commercial transformers of any size are treated this way.

A do-it-yourself way to do this is to dun the whole transformer in a buc et of #arnish and pull a #acuum on it to e"pand the air out of the windings. A few #acuum cycles will get #arnish well infiltrated into the windings. +hen ba e it at low temperatures Dunder &B' to %'',E for a long time, until the #arnish is truly hardened.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

".at is t.e easiest 2ay to get tube sound at a good price/

7btain an old piece of tube gear, perhaps intended for another purpose, li e mono hifi, at no or low cost. Modify this to duplicate to a certain e"tent the circuit of an e"isting amplifier. +in er to your heart3s content.

+here is a document on e"actly this at http/))www.wwu.edu)Ln.(B(&FC)docs)old%new.html +he document goes into e"cellent detail on the in3s and out3s of building from old tube gear and the possible and useful #ariations of which stages with how much gain go where in the amp.

5uild a tube preamp from scratch, and use this to dri#e another larger amplifier which does not necessarily ha#e to be tube based. 2 ha#e designed things li e this, so ha#e others. Good tube sound, and ine"pensi#e. Really con#incing tube distortion, especially if you add some lowpass filtering to simulate the high frequency cutoff of guitar spea ers.

+his is what the 0ughes and Kettner 5lues Master and <ream Machine tube preamps did Dthey3#e been discontinuedE. +hese were entire tube amplifiers with maybe % or ( watts output, a simulated load, and a line le#el output in addition to the spea er output. +hey did a $1RJ respectable Hob.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

'o2 can I modify my tube amp to 666 /

>also see recommended mods, belo2? %et lo2er .um/

Replace the defecti#e humming tube

Replace or impro#e the power supply filter capacitors ,i" the defecti#e internal ground wiring, as on a re#erb tan , or pre#ious @impro#ements@ and modifications Run the preamp filaments on regulated 6<, not A<, starting with the input tubes Rewire the grounding so the amp is star grounded, and does not use the chassis as a ground bus Mo#e the signal wires around, nearer)farther from the chassis or C' 0z A< carrying wires Ise coa" cable in the signal path, at least in the early sections where noise counts the most. +ie one end of the shield to ground and terminate the other end with some shrin tube so it cannot touch anything. +his way the coa" shield acts as an antenna and conducts the R, to ground Das well as ,araday shielding hum outE. 2f you tie both ends to ground you set up some capacitance Dand the possibility of ground loopsE you3re better off without. +he shield should be tied to the star ground point indi#idually, and bypassed to the chassis locally with a good R, cap of about '.''& to '.'&.

George notes @Jou may already use this in your own amps but 2 thought we might share it with the rest of the tin erers - it3s especially useful for people that are trying to add e"tra gain stages. 2 e#en use it between the input Hac s and the first stage since in most ,ender amps it has to tra#erse the width of the board. DKaschnerE

'a:e .ig.er gain0more distortion/

2nstall an e"tra gain stage by &. Ising an unused tube section if one e"ists %. Adding another tube to the chassis (. Ising the re#erb tubes as additional gain stages B. Ising a power M79,1+ as a cathode follower to dri#e tone control and #olume controls for lower loss *. Ising a power M79,1+ to replace an e"isting cathode follower, freeing up that tube section for more gain C. Remo#e the feedbac on the power amp stage4 newer ,enders and other amps use feedbac on the power amp to reduce distortion. Remo#ing this increases gain and and distortion, and ma es the distortion start at lower #olumes. 7n ,enders, it3s generally a white wire from the 3e"t spea er3 Hac to a %.% resistor. <ut this wire, or lift it at one end. +o be really slic , put in a toggle switch. D1delmanE

Ise the alternate channel for more gain, perhaps Humpering two channels together

.a:e a smoot.er, less bu@@y distortion/

Ise a lowpass filter somewhere inside the amp in the signal path to cut higher harmonics4 perhaps a capacitor to ground from the final preamp tube grid or plate -orIse series grid resistors to cut the high frequencies in and after distortion stages Ise a lowpass filter after the amplifier and before the spea ers to cut out some of the higher o#ertones.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

".en s.ould I bias my amp and .o2 do I do t.is/

A6 ".at is AbiasA/ @5ias@ in this conte"t refers to the amount of #oltage held on the grids of the output power tubes. +his controls the amount of current the output tubeDsE conduct e"clusi#e of the signal current, or, loo ing at it another way, the amount of o#erlap where both tubes are conducting simultaneously. 2 will tal about the output tube current since the terms @underbiased@ and @o#erbiased@ are confusing with tube amps. A technician who wor s with only tube amps will usually refer to the #oltage which sets the operating current in the tubes. 2n these amps, the bias is a negati#e #oltage, so @o#erbiased@ to such a technician would mean that the tubes are held in a condition of too little current, Hust bac wards from the solid state terms most of us are familiar with. @Inderbiased@ would mean that the tubes ha#e too little negati#e #oltage on their grids and are conducting too much current simultaneously. +he idle current in the output tube and the degree to which the output tubes o#erlap in conduction is what you3re trying to adHust, not how many #olts go on the grids4 you Hust ha#e to use the grid #olts to change the current and conduction angle. +he whole topic of bias is tied up with the @7perating <lass@ the power amp is designed for. +here are only three classes useful to us in tube amps, <lasses A, A5&, and A5%. <lass A means that the output tubes are biased so that both tubes are always conducting. 1#en on ma"imum signal pea s, the tube dri#en most @off@ will still be conducting some current. 2n both class A53s, the bias is set so

that on a signal pea , one of the tubes can be dri#en completely off for some part of a signal cycle. 2n class A5&, no grid current flows into the grid of the tube, and in class A5% some grid current is dri#en into the grid of the tubes. +here is a class 5, where both tubes ne#er conduct current at the same time, only alternately. +he point of all this is this/ +he <lass of the amplifier is determined by how much bias current is present. 2f there is a lot of bias #oltage, the grids are held 3way negati#e, then only the tube which is dri#en by the positi#e going half wa#e of the signal at any moment is conducting. +his is class 5. 2t sounds ugly because the point where the signal crosses o#er from positi#e to negati#e and begins to dri#e the other tube is not reproduced cleanly, and creates SsurpriseAT crosso#er distortion. Jou can loo at the output signal with an oscilloscope and see crosso#er clearly as you ma e the bias #oltage too negati#e for both tubes to conduct at the same time. As the bias #oltage is made less negati#e and allows both tubes to conduct a little, the crosso#er notch diminishes swiftly, and you are in class A5%4 a little less negati#e, and they both conduct more, and you ha#e class A5&. 2f you go further, you get to the point where both tubes always conduct, ma ing the amp wor in class A, which has the least crosso#er distortion of any of these operating conditions. +oo little simultaneous conduction in the output de#ices puts them in the most nonlinear region of their transfer characteristic, so crosso#er distortion is high4 but as you increase the amount of simultaneous conduction, the power used and dissipated by the outputs goes up, perhaps to a disastrous degree. Jou are trading standby current and power dissipation in the output de#ices off against distortion. 2f both outputs are biased almost totally off at idle, crosso#er distortion is #ery bad. As the simultaneous conduction is increased, crosso#er goes down rapidly, until it gets smaller than the residual +06 of the amp itself, and becomes much less audible. +here is a fairly broad sweet spot where the crosso#er distortion is comparable to the +06 and the idle current and idle power dissipation are reasonably low. +his is the region you3re loo ing for. :ots of bias, both tubes conduct all the time - and eat a lot of power, get hot, other <lass A inds of things. :ittle bias, both tubes o#erlap less, get less hot, put out more total power - and produce crosso#er distortion, which sounds especially unpleasant. =ower tubes indi#idually ha#e slightly different 6< gains, so the same bias #oltage on two different tubes produces two different current le#els. @Matched pairs@ are two tubes selected to be close together. Groo#e +ubes grades tubes from & to &' so that any two @(@3s for instance are close enough to sub for any other @(@, so you don3t need to rebias if you eep buying the same number from them. 8ote that you may not want matched pairs, depending you your taste. 9ee section 6. below.

B6 ".en s.ould I bias my amp/ Jou should re-bias the amp whene#er you change power tubes or modify the power amp circuits. 1ach power tube needs a certain bias current to eep it operating at the point where the amount and type of distortion under normal conditions is well controlled. 2ndi#idual tubes #ary widely in the grid bias that sets the correct idle bias current. 2f you change tubes or tin er with the circuit, you need to ma e sure the tubes are set bac into operation in a way that sounds good and does not coo the tubes. Amps typically pro#ide only one adHustment point for bias, assuming that you will ha#e bought matched sets of power tubes. 2t is possible to modify your amp to @match@ unmatched tubes by setting the bias #oltage and A< dri#e le#el of each tube indi#idually. +his may require some serious soldering, though. 9ee section 6. below for a discussion on matching, and the mods section for what you ha#e to change. C6 'o2 do I bias my amp/

CA)TI-$ CA)TI-$ CA)TI-$

Keep in mind that tube amps use high #oltages, and they can O illO you if you don3t now what you3re doing. 9o, if in doubt, lea#e the Hob to a qualified technician. 0ow do you correctly bias an amp? +here a few different approaches but first hoo up a spea er or a passi#e load to the output and remo#e any input signals4 tube amps need to ha#e a load or they can sometimes become unstable. <hec and ma e sure the proper size fuse is installed. -utput Transformer S.unt Met.od +he most common and simplest procedure is to hoo a current meter from the plate DanodeE across half of the primary of the output transformer4 this is called the @output transformer shunt method.@ +he idea here is that milliammeters commonly ha#e a #ery low series impedance so that when placed in parallel to half of the primary, almost all of the current flows through the ammeter. >hen you hoo things up this way, your meter is floating at the #oltage le#el of the plate, which is typically hundreds of #olts -- be #ery carefulA Jou could open the wire from each plate to the output transformer and hoo in a meter in series with

the plate temporarily, but that is a terrible amount of wor for the small gain in accuracy. AdHust the bias pot so that the current reading is the appropriate #alue for the type of tube Dsee the table belowE. :et the amp warm up and note if the bias changes significantly. 2f so, select a compromise bias point. Keep in mind that if your circuit uses more than one tube per side, the bias current you3re reading is multiplied by the number of tubes De.g., if you3re reading C' milliamps and there are two power tubes per side, if the tubes are matched each of the two are getting nominally (' milliampsE. <hec the other side of the circuit to confirm that the two sides are close Dwithin * milliampsE to each other. 2f your ammeter has too high a series impedance, the shunt method won3t wor because the bias current gets significantly split between the meter and the transformer4 the meter has no idea how much current is going through the transformer. Jou3ll now it3s not wor ing because the current #alues you3ll be reading will be much too low no matter how far you adHust the bias pot, the tubes will be glowing hot, and when you note that you3ll reach quic ly for the power switchA 2f you don3t reach it quic ly enough, you might blow a fuse. 6on3t despair/ you can use another method called the @cathode resistor method.@ Cat.ode #esistor Met.od 2f the circuit already has a resistor in-line between the cathode and ground, use it. 2f the circuit has the cathode hoo ed up directly to ground, insert a low #alue resistor Dsay & 7hm)& >attE Se#en &' ohms will wor well, as the currents in a tube circuit will cause only a #olt or so ma" across a &' ohm resistor, not enough to change the circuit operation a lot.T in between the cathode and ground. +his doesn3t ha#e to be a permanent change to the circuit4 you can ma e a little adapter that fits between the tube and its soc et that runs all the signals straight through e"cept for the cathode lead -- that path gets the low #alue resistor in-line. 2f you ma e the adapter, you don3t e#en ha#e to drop the chassis from the amp to set the bias. ;ust pull a tube, install the adapter, and adHust. 0oo up a #oltmeter across the resistor and measure the #oltage. ,or a & 7hm resistor, if you read (' milli#olts 7hm3s :aw says that you ha#e (' milliamps running through it. 2f you ha#e some other #alue resistor, ma e the appropriate calculation. 1asyA 5ut since the current at the cathode is the sum of the bias current and some other lea age currents, you need to compensate the reading a bit, typically * to &' milliamps. >hat3s nice about the cathode resistor method is that you3re not dealing with high #oltages. +he cathode sits #ery close to ground so the chance of a dangerous mista e is lessened. Jou3re also reading each tube3s bias current indi#idually.

-t.er Met.ods 9ome of the manufacturers say to set the bias #oltage to some specified #oltage, without any other measurements. =resumably some designer somewhere decided how much was good for you and wrote down @9et the bias to "" #olts@ as a good compromise for all the tubes s)he e"pected. +his method ignores the #ariability of transconductance in output tubes, and only gi#es good results for matched sets that happen to be e"actly li e the @typical@ ones the designer thought they3d get. 8ote that Gr!!#e +ubes tries to help by pro#iding matched tubes with a bias number from & to &'. 2f you ha#e G+3s with a @B@ bias number, and you replace with a G+ @B@ set, they will ha#e selected only tubes that are properly biased at that le#el, and no rebiasing will be necessary. 7f course, G+ e"pects to be repaid a fair profit for this ser#ice to you... Another way to set bias is to use a test signal, typically a sine wa#e. Monitor the output wa#eform on an oscilloscope and adHust the bias for minimum crosso#er distortion. +he ob#ious problem is when has it @Hust disappeared@? Most fol s do Hust a bit more than @Hust disappeared@ and get their outputs too hot causing shortened tube life and o#erheating. 8ot #ery accurate or repeatable. Jou can also use a special purpose instrument that nulls the input signal out of the output signal so that you can monitor Hust the distortion products. Jou then adHust the bias to get the distortion to a realistic minimum without ma ing it dramatically less than the residual +06. +his is the premium method, but requires a distortion analyzer - big buc s. +hese methods can be more accurate than the first two methods but they require e"pertise and tools that most fol s don3t ha#e. 2f you are a circuit hac er, and li#e on solder fumes and cold coffee, you can modify the amp with solid state ser#o bias adHusters that twiddle the bias to each output tube on the fly on a continuous, real time basis to eep each tube -O e"actly O- where it ought to be. 7nly recommended for real wiring fanatics... % $ #A+ BIAS %)I& +I$ S >from TremoluxBaol6com? <urrents =er +ube - <lass A5& 7peration Dmost musical instrument amps are designed to run in class A5&E C:C - (' to (* ma C$C - %% to %F ma 1:-(B)C<AF - (* to B' ma., sometimes e#en higherA C**' - B' to *' ma

1:-GB)C5-* - %% to %F ma <lass A currents will be higher. 1"ample is *' ma for a C:C. 6on3t try to run an amp designed for A5& in pure class A, it will o#erheat and probably blow. +o handle the higher idle currents, <lass A amps usually run at lower plate #oltages. &6 Matc.ed output tubes ; do you need t.em/ 6o 2 always ha#e to buy matched pairs of output tubes? +he issue of @matching@ output tubes, either by buying carefully matched pairs or by twea ing the bias le#els and dri#e signals per output tube is not a settled one. 2t used to be common wisdom to simply buy matched tubes. A few people noticed, howe#er, that they had a fa#orite pair of output tubes, which made their amp sound much better than others. +he common assumption was that these tubes were better matched somehow. >hen these tubes get measured, though, it usually turns out that they are 87+ matched, at least not matched for A< gain characteristics. +he concept of matched output tubes comes to us musical amp types from the hifi community, where they are trying to get the lowest possible distortion. +his was true from the start, when ,ender was trying to build low distortion amps and copied hifi circuits. +he concept has simply clung to us, largely through inertia. 2t is relati#ely well accepted e#en in the hifi circles now that e#en-order distortion is euphonic, sounds good to our ears. 2t is #ery li ely that the e#en-order distortion produced when mismatched output tubes are used sounds better than perfectly matched tubes. 2f you ha#e modified your amp so you can independently set the 6< bias and the A< dri#e signal, you can tune almost any pair of tubes into A< and 6< matching. Jou can also tune in a selecti#e amount of A< dri#e mismatch to e"periment with the selecti#e mismatching sound. +here are technical reasons for matching. Getting enough turns of wire on the primary of an output transformer to get the right primary inductance and still using as little iron and copper as possible to do the Hob properly is an engineering problem that almost always results in <lass A5 output transformers being smaller for proportional power outptu than a <lass A output transformer would be. +he Drelati#elyE smaller transformer and wire size ma es a class A5 Dmost guitar ampsE output transformer susceptible to burning out if one of the half-primaries carries too much current. 2f one side of the transformer carries significantly more current Dli e doubleE than it would otherwise in @normal@ operation, it is possible it will o#erheat or open, effecti#ely illing the transformer. +ubes that are so mismatched that to get the right total current for a pair means that one is carrying more than *'P o#er the nominal 6< current for a matched pair is getting into the region where you ought to worry about output transformer damage.

2f you mismatch, try to get the 6< current the same in both sides of the output transformer, and an imbalance in the A< gain of the tubes. +he logical limit of this A< mismatching is to remo#e all the A< dri#e from one output tube, which is a technique used by at least one commercial amp ma er. +his effecti#ely eeps the output transformer happy with respect to 6<, and gi#es you a single ended output stage4 this also costs you a large amount of your a#ailable output power, but, hey, we3re after tone, right? 8ote that the commercial tube suppliers ha#e good reason for wanting to sell us matched sets at a premium. 2 would e"pect their opinion to be that matched sets are absolutely crucial. As in all musical matters, let your own personal ears be your guide. 2f you ha#e a set of tubes you now are not matched, or if you ha#e modified your amp to be able to set the bias and dri#e le#els on each output tube separately so you can either match or not match the tubes at will, you might want to try unmatching them and see how it sounds to you. -/ 2 ha#e found that if the bias for push-pull with cathode bias design, is set with the bias at *' mA for 1:-(B tubes when idlingDi.e. no sound inputE, o#er time the cathode bias resistor will blow. >hy is this? A/ +his is true if the amp is cathode biased into <lass A54 in this class, the a#erage current in the outputs rises with signal. 7n <lass A biased amps the current is already at ma" for that bias point, and should not drift up e"cept if the tubes drift from thermal effects. 8ote that cathode bias of an amp into class A5 29 possible. <athode bias is not equal to <lass A. 9etting the bias point for a little less standing current Dwhich is an unambiguous description for biasE is an 7K solution if your cathode resistors are undersized as long as you can li#e with the increase in crosso#er distortion at lower sound le#els. +he @sweet spot@ is wide, so that may be fine. 2f you were pre#iously in <lass A and dropped the current a little, this can mo#e you slightly into A5 for large signals. -/ 6oes amplifier stability ha#e anything to do with the temperature of the output tubes? <an tubes go into thermal runaway? A/ Jes. 1mission in tubes increases with temperature, but not a whole lot, as the tube gets hotter. +he predominant effect is that as the tube gets hotter, you cause outgassing from the metal, glass, and other materials in the tube. +he gasses are attracted to the grid as the most negati#e point in the tube and stic to the negati#ely charged grid, causing a decrease in grid bias. 2f the tube is too gassy Dwhich it can get to by being too hotE you can get into a condition where the grid lea current changes the bias in the direction of more current, which ma es the tube hotter, which causes more current. +he solution here is to lower the #alue of

the grid lea resistors. +his increases the a#ailable current to the grids and eeps the tube out of runaway.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

Amplifier Modifications
A6 -,0#ecommended amp modifications Read the SAF T! "A#$I$% first, before you put your hands - or other personal parts - into a tube amp. =ut a fuse in the 5R line after the rectifierDsE and before the first capacitor filter. +his can sa#e burning out your power transformer and maybe your output transformer if you get a shorted filter cap, shorted output tube, or lose bias on an output tube. 2t -O might O- sa#e an output tube that has lost bias e#en though it also might not. +he fuse current rating should be slightly larger than the ma" current rating for your output tubes, generally much less than &A. =ut a &(' or &*' $olt M7$ surge protector across the A< line at the power transformer primary to absorb spi es from air conditioners and motors turning on and punching through the primary insulation. Recent articles say that &('$ M7$3s will e#entually short, recommending only &*'$ M7$3s. Get rid of all two wire line cords and line switching arrangements. Refit with three wire cords, tieing the safety ground to the chassis. Jou3ll lo#e this the ne"t time you touch a mi e or stand while holding a guitar. 8o shoc s. 7h, yeah. 6o it to A:: your equipment to be safe. <onsider putting a small fan in your amp to cool it. +ry a %B'#ac fan running from the &%' #ac line supply, which will run much slower and quieter than a &%'#ac one. 2nstall small cathode resistors and independent bias adHustment for each output tube to ma e biasing easy. 7pen the feedbac from the power amp output to it3s input for more power amp gain, more and earlier distortion. 7r better yet, put in a spst switch and you can pic the characteristics on the fly... ,or the ad#enturous, add a separate filament transformer)rectifier) filter capacitor to ma e .-&%$6< at se#eral amps and then use a three terminal rectifier to regulate this down to C.($6<, and feed this to your preamp tube filaments. 0um from filaments will drop right through the floor. :otsa wor , though.

=ut &*''$olt, &A silicon diodes in series with the two sections of your rectifier tube Dif you ha#e a rectifier tubeE so that if the rectifier tube shorts, the silicon will sa#e the output tubes, and power and output transformer. Gerald >eber ad#ocates using a %F'K)%FK resistor di#ider from 5R to raise the filament windings in a 6< sense abo#e ground. +his eeps electrons from the filament from hitting the plate, another source of hum. =ut &*''$olt, &A silicon diodes in series with the two sections of your rectifier tube Dif you ha#e a rectifier tubeE so that if the rectifier tube shorts, the silicon will sa#e the output tubes, and power and output transformer. +he 5R will go up about *'$ when DifAE the rectifier tube shorts, so the amp will ha#e a little more power and run hotter. +his can still hurt modern manufactured power tubes if it goes on too long, so chec the rectifier tube frequently. 5ill >ebb3s fa#orite tone mods for ,ender amps at the $ibrato channel3s second gain stage, change the ceramic '.'%u, coupling cap to polypropylene or polystyrene replace the coupling cap at the input of the phase in#erter with a better cap Dpolypropylene - polystyrene - mylar in order of preferenceE4 change its #alue to '.''& to ma e the amp @spar lier@ and to '.'& to ma e the amp sound bigger and more midrangy +he (.(M resistor which mi"es the dry and re#erb at the output of the (rd gain stage, #ibrato preamp, is paralleled by a &'p, ceramic cap. <hange this to sil#er-mica to ma e the amp spar lier +he power amp feedbac loop resistor is usually G%' ohms4 insert another G%' ohm resistor. +his reduces the feedbac , increases the power amp3s gain, and softens the onset of distortion. Remo#e the single bias adHust pot in your amp and put in two, connecting one to each output tube. Jou can now set the bias #oltage on each tube to be different, which can match the 6< currents for un-matched tubes, or un-match matched ones for more e#en harmonic distortion. +in er the dri#er circuit to let you adHust the relati#e amount of A< dri#e to each output tube. +his lets you match)unmatch output tubes in an A< sense Hust li e the bias mod lets you change the relati#e 6< points. C6 $-T #ecommended amp modifications +hese are li ely to be Hust plain bad, either grossly Dit dies soonE or subtly Dit dies slowly, eats tubes, or other sic nessesE. 6on3t do these or let a tech do them to... er... for you.

Ising a #ariac to run it at a higher or lower line #oltage. +his might be 7K e"cept that running it higher can o#erdissipate parts and burn them up or o#er#oltage things li e filter caps, which can short and burn out your -O e"pensi#e O- output transformers, as well as burning out your tube filaments by putting too much current through them4 and running it lower star#es the filaments for current, so they can3t put out enough electrons, and any remaining gas in the tube bombards the cathodes, poisoning the electron emitting materials on the cathode surface, and wearing the tubes out early. Adding massi#e amounts of capacitance to the power supply filters to reduce hum. =robably 7K with solid state rectifiers, but in amps with tube rectifiers this can cause current spi es in the rectifiers that e"ceed the instantaneous current rating of the rectifier and wear it out quic ly. 8athan points out @2 seem to recall one of my +ube Amp Mentors telling me that this is pretty much only the case with the first filter cap after the rectifier, and that the impedance of the power supply was high enough that you could dump hundreds of uf worth of filtering on latter stages Dthough the only place it3s of much benefit is at the power tube plate supply point.E replacing your rectifier tube with a solid-state plug in module replacement. +his effecti#ely Hust puts in a pair of silicon diodes which ta e the place of the tube. 5ut it also lets the 5R come up about *'$. +his won3t ill the amp immediately, but it runs the outputs hotter. ,ender often put more than the rated ma"imum #oltage on the output tubes to get moe power out of them4 old I9 and 1uro manufactured tubes would usually handle it Hust fine. 9ome lower cost modern manufacture tubes <A83+ stand the e"tra #olts as a steady diet, and can succumb to the 6ar 9ide of the ,orce - soon.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

Tube C.aracteristics and substitutions

9ome quic and dirty subs and some tube data such as recommended bias current and app" #oltages. +hese subs are all ta en from the +ube 9ubstitution 0andboo sold by Antique 1lectronics 9upply. or pro#ided from the net. A DshortE catalog of tubes you are li ely to see in a guitar amp/ &%AKFSA, >AT and substitutes - preamp and dri#er tubes &%A+F, &%AIF and subs, preamp and dri#er tubes &%AJF - dri#er tubes C1IF - dual triode used in some older amps for preamp tube

C:C types - power output tubes, up to *' watts)pair, a mainstay of ,ender 1:(B - 1uro power pentodes, up to *' watts)pair, many Marshalls C$C - smaller, lower power cousin of the C:C, &'-&B watts per pair4 used in smaller ,enders 1:GB - fits a . pin soc et li e a &%AKF but twice as tall4 miniature power pentode, good for &%-&G watts per pair4 used in smaller $o" amps, and a quad of these dri#es the $o" A<-(' for (' watts. Substitutions9 O means appropriate for parallel filament circuits U means may not wor in all circuits *reamp and dri:er tube substitutions9 &%AKF Dhigh gain dual triodes with pinout .AE
12AD7* 12AU7# 12AU7A# 12AX7 12AX7A 12AX7WA 12BZ7* 12DF7 12DM7* 12DT7 5751* 5751WA* 6057 6681 6L13 7025 7025A 7494 7729 B339 B759 CV4004 E83CC ECC803 ECC83 M8137

&%AIF Dmoderately high gain dual triodes with pinout .AE

12AU7[A,AW,] 12AX7* !" #$%# 5814[A,AW]* 5963 6067 6189 6670 6680 7316 7489 7730 ECC186 ECC802 ECC82 M8136

&%A+F Dmedium gain dual triodes with pinout .AE

12AT7[& !' #$(()*+#] 7492 6201 7728 6679 A2900 ECC81 B152 12AZ7[A]* B309 6060 B739 6671 CV4024 E81CC ECC801 M8162 ,A2406 ,B309

&%AJF Dlow gain dual triodes with pinout .AE

12A-7. !" #$(()*+#/ 2082

6072

*o2er tube substitutions9 C5-*)1:GB Dminiature pentode with pinout .<$E

6267 6B,5 6B,5WA 6115 7189 7189A 7320 E84L EF86 EL84 0709 Z729

C:C Dbeam power tube with pinout FA<E

6L6.& !' #$(()*+#/ 5881 5932 7581.A/ WT6 EL37

1:(B)C<AF Dpower pentode with pinout G1+E

EL34 6CA7 7D11 12E13 2T77 2T88

C**' Dpower pentode with pinout F9E

6550[A] 7D11 12E13 7027A# 2T88

Cautionary Tubes - these are #ery hard to find F*.&)F*.&A - legend has it that these otherwise e"cellent tubes were all bought up by an oriental buyer who toured the I9A paying cash for all of them he could find, then disappearing. Jou are li ely to only find used ones or the odd pair in some out of the way place. 6ealers will in general not ha#e them. 2 have personally seen trays full of 879 F*.&A3s for sale in the A ihabra electronics district in +o yo, lending some credence to the rumor. +hese were used a lot in old Ampegs. +hey are #ery small and high gain for their physical size, so there may not be a lot of room in a chassis for a larger replacement. +he *GG& will wor in some circuits, but has significantly lower transconductance. Rumor Ipdate/ +he rumor mill on the net says that the Russians will soon be ma ing F*.&3s soon. <ross your fingers... F&.. - combination pentode)triode used as a one-tube #oltage amp)phase in#erter)dri#er for a pair of output tubes in some Ampeg amplifiers 8ote/ +hese were once popular, but

are now getting rarer and more e"pensi#e. +here are a number of other pentode)triodes that can be substituted, but the pinouts are different and this will require require rewiring the soc et for the tube. 1"amples are the CA8G and the CIG. +here is a Russian tube that is labeled F&.. which may wor , although this is new. F'%F)F'%FA - this is a high power tube similar to a C**'. +he supply of these is #ery poor. F&G.)F&G.A - a higher power)#oltage #ersion of the C5-*)1:GB. 0ard to find. A stoc C5-*)1:GB may wor if the power and #oltage conditions in the amp are not right out at the limits of the tube design.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

Maintenance Issues
<ap ;obs - 6o 2 need one? 0ow often? >hy? >hat3s a cap Hob? A technician may recommend you ha#e a @cap Hob@. +his means that he will replace e#ery single electrolytic capactor in the amp, from the power supply right down to the cathode bypass caps. +his is because electrolytic DpolarizedE capacitors ha#e an inherent wear-out mechanism and will e#entually die e#en if you don3t play death)metal)country)barbershop through them e#ery day - in fact they may wear out sooner if you lea#e it sitting in the attic. 0ere3s why. A capacitor is essentially two conducti#e plates separated by an insulator. +he bigger the plate area and the thinner the insulator, the higher the @capacitance@ is. 1lectrolytic capacitors get a #ery thin insulator by @growing@ an insulating layer of aluminum o"ide on the outside of a rolled up piece of aluminum foil. +he o"ide layer is @formed@ at manufacture by feeding the aluminum foil a #ery small and carefully controlled amount of current. +he current causes a chemical reaction between the foil and the water solution DelectrolyteA ... hey... is that where they got the name?? yep.E which ma es an o"ide layer grow. As the layer grows, they use higher and higher #oltages to force the same small current through the layer, which gets thic er and more resisti#e with time. >hen they ha#e to use the full rated #oltage to get the forming current through, the cap is fully @formed@ and ready to ship. 2f the capacitor is used regularly, has #oltage applied to it, and does not get too hot, the o"ide film lasts up to a few decades. 2f the capacitor is not used much, or gets too hot, the o"ide film slowly un-forms, the lea age current goes up, and it will e#entually short.

1lectrolytic caps are designed to last ten years. 2t is a tribute to the quality of manufacture that they often last three, sometimes four times that. 7ld amps, particularly if they ha#e not been used regularly need to ha#e e#ery electrolytic cap replaced. +his cap Hob may be needed e#ery ten or so years. 8on-electrolytic caps do not ha#e this wear out mechanism, and do not need replaced for this reason. Modern capacitors can in some circumstances be much better than old ones, and you can sometimes get a clearer, more spar ly tone by changing the non-electrolytic caps - assuming that is something you want to do. 6o new caps need to be formed? +here3s a lot of contro#ery on @reforming@ replacement caps. 0ere are a few answers. Manufacturers of caps design their caps for a ten year wor ing life, and a fi#e year shelf life. +hat means that the stresses and heat of wor ing in equipment will lea#e the #ast maHority of caps functioning 7K after ten years of normal operation. After that, it3s gra#y to the buyer. +hey also design them to wor 7K after sitting on a shelf unused for fi#e years, meaning that the cap should not fail if it3s put into operation at rated #oltage after sitting unused for fi#e years. As noted abo#e, the caps do slowly un-form without regular use. 2f the electrolytic caps you use to fi" your amp are o#er fi#e years old as determined by the date code on them, you ought to at least worry about forming them, and if they3re o#er ten years old Dli e 879 multisection cansE, definitely reform them. 7ther than that, put them in and turn it on. 0ow do 2 @re-form@ electrolytic caps? Jou3ll hear fol s tal about @bringing an amp up slowly on a #ariac@4 this can wor but is not particularly good for your tubes. A better way is this/ =ull out all the tubes. if your amp has a tube rectifier, solder in temporarily some high #oltage silicon diodes across the tube lugs to be a rectifier that does not depend on the filament #oltages. 2f your amp has silicon diodes, you can s ip this. open up the wire that goes from the rectifier tube Dor solid state diodesE to the first power supply filter stage and solder in series with the wire a temporary &''K %- *> resistor. +his resistor will limit the current that can flow into the caps and the amount of #oltage that is applied to them to safe #alues that will cause the insulating layer to re-form. clip your #oltmeter across the resistor button it up. +urn it on Dno tubes in it, rememberE. >atch the #oltmeter. when the #oltmeter reading drops to less than %'-('$6<, your caps are formed.

open it bac up and pull out those diodes and resistor, putting it bac in original shape. +he forming could ta e hours to days. 9oc ets 9oc ets get dirty, corroded, bro en, and @arced@ +o recondition them, get a can of spray contact cleaner, the ind that says @no residue@. 9quirt some in each soc et hole, then insert that tube in the soc et, wiggle it around, and remo#e it se#eral times to get the crud off. +a e a thin tool li e a Heweler3s screwdri#er or ice pic and gently bend the contacts inside each hole so they hold the pins better. 2f the soc et is crac ed, or has blac ened lines from pin to pin Dwhere an electrical arc has actually burned the soc et into a carbon material that conducts electricityE, replace the soc et. -/ Are plastic or ceramic soc ets better, or is there any difference? A/ +he material is significant. +hermoset plastics are what are usually used for soc ets. +he blac -brown stuff most are made from is @ba elite@ a trade name for a ind of clay-reinforced phenolic. Maybe there3s a #ariety that is purer or more sturdy phenolic that is more resistant - 23m fuzzy on that one. All plastic soc ets are #ulnerable to arcing. >hen you get enough #oltage from pin to pin on an output tube to cause a spar to Hump from pin to pin Dli e when you run the output transformer unloadedE the spar runs along the surface of the soc et material and burns a trail on the surface. 9ince the plastics contain carbon, there is often a carbon residue left on the surface. +his residue is partially conducti#e, and ma es that path susceptible to arcing o#er at lower #oltages ne"t time4 this can be so bad that it interferes with normal operation. <eramics are not carbon based, do not burn in the normal sense, and don3t soften or melt at temperatures achie#ed in an arc o#er, so they are essentially immune to arcing unless co#ered with dirt and goo that can burn and lea#e stuff on the surface. 2 would class them as poorest - thermoplastic soc ets4 medium Dand most commonE - thermoset, which included phenolic4 best - ceramic. <eramics are the premium solution, 2M07. 6irt and 6ust +he dusty, hairy, oily layer that collects on the chassis can conduct electricity as it absorbs humidity from the air. $acuum it away periodically. 5lue Glow in tubes +he blue glow in power tubes is a flourescence from the few ionized molecules of gas that still e"ist in the non-perfect #acuum achie#able in tubes, dri#en to

fluorescence by the high #oltages in the tubes. Inless it is e"cessi#e, it is not harmful. +ubes with softer #acuums glow more. 7ther 2ssues :ots of good info is contained in ;ac 6arr3s @1lectric Guitar Repair 5oo @, if you can find a copy Dit3s now out of printE and in =ittman3s @+he +ube Amp 5oo @ and >ebers @6es top Reference...@. :oo for/ - chec ing for capacitor lea age ,rom watching a tech wor on ,enders, 2 pic ed up a nice tidbit. +he eyelet boards in ,enders ha#e most components mounted across the eyelet board. A #ery few parts run along the length of the eyelet board. 5ecause the eyelet board fle"es, there is a lot of stress on the solder Hoints at the end of these lengthwise components and the Hoints often crac . 1#ery time you open up a ,ender, ta e a loo and maybe a soldering iron to these Hoints. 2f it3s your personal amp, you might want to get a new part for these positions with long leads and bend a loop in the leads so that the leads can fle" and not put stress on the solder Hoints.

5ac to the G17 0ome =age

Appendix B6 Tube Ma7ers *roducing Today > ric Barbour ne2s posting?
D+he following is the te"t of a note posted to the alt.guitar news group by 1ric 5arbour Vs#etengr!earthlin .netit is also badly out of date, and will be upgraded by 1ric soon.E 6ifferent ma ers of tubes use different designs. +here are si" ma ers of common audio tubes right now/ 9huguang, <hina--good &%AKFs, so-so power tubes +esla, <zech--o 1:(Bs, preamp tubes #ariable Reflector, Russia Dsold under 9o#te brandE--good *GG&, 1:GB, so-so &%AKF Dthey came out with 1:(Bs recently---2 am testing themE Kaluga, Russia Donly a few types--sold under 9o#te , Audio GlassicE good *GG&s, not sure what else they ma e today 9#etlana, Russia--has a C**' now, good---will introduce an 1:(B soon 12, Jugosla#ia Din 9erbiaE--fair &%AKFs, fair 1:(Bs, future supplies are questionable because 9erbian products are under economic sanction4 than s to that 5osnia businessA +hat3s A:: there are right now. +hat3s it. Any 81> tube you buy is from one of the abo#e.

,or your guitar amp, 2 would recommend the @9o#te @ *GG&, it3s a really nice, rugged and smooth-sounding tube. 2t was a military type used in ser#o amps in Het aircraft, so it has to be good. 2f you ha#e a Marshall or other 1:(B amp, the 9o#te C<AF imitation Drecently releasedE is probably most rugged. 2f you want more distortion and a more bluesy sound, you want the s inny 1:(Bs. +he 9#etlana 1:(B will be a s inny type, it should be #ery good.