Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
i should probably slow down, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll see how it works when it arrives
I Recently Became An Audiophile.
- Thread starter Yeeterkeeter
- Start date
DesertRatt
All Bark, No Bite!
Tube gear has become an initiation right into the inner sanctum of the audio hobby. Whether or not one sticks with it, you at least have to have tried it! To never try it would be like a trip to San Francisco without talking a cable car ride! And incidentally, tubes are about as old as cable cars.
One of the main attractions is the ability to select your own tubes! Baking your own cake from the thousands of possible ingredients can be fun or torture depending on the thickness of your wallet.
It's just one of the many deep rabbit holes available to audio hobbyists -- right up there with magic wires, capacitor chemistry, and turntable plinths!
One of the main attractions is the ability to select your own tubes! Baking your own cake from the thousands of possible ingredients can be fun or torture depending on the thickness of your wallet.
It's just one of the many deep rabbit holes available to audio hobbyists -- right up there with magic wires, capacitor chemistry, and turntable plinths!
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
I kinda like it. I can make the sound that my amp makes truly unique, which I like. I've always enjoyed the unique and the unusual, and I think that tube audio fits into that category
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
Also, what would happen if you took one of those vacuum tubes designed for radio towers and used it in an amp? I don't plan on doing this, but I am morbidly curious to see what would happen
There are some DIY amps using some of the "smaller" transmitter tubes (though they're huge by our standards), running at a couple thousand volts. You have to have nerves of steel to build something like that but they can sound pretty good.
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
and bars of gold...
Not commercial radio transmitter tubes but 6293 ham radio transmitter tubes:
You have to be really careful messing around with Tube amps. The voltages can kill and they can get you in some unexpected ways sometimes. Notice how that can capacitor on the left side has a cardboard tube over it and the one on the right doesn't. The reason for the cardboard tube is to insulate cans that are not grounded to the chassis. If the can isn't grounded to the chassis the can will have B+ voltage on it (600V in this case). In this case I gutted those cans and put new electrolytic capacitors inside and wired them so the cans were entirely removed from the circuit. During testing I touched that bare can and got a pretty good shock. I then measured the voltage on the can and it was at like 590V. I was able to fix the problem but just goes to show that you really need to know what you are doing with these things.
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Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
So I just realized something. My 8track player has the exact same connector as a vacuum tube. That connection is what’s used to connect the player to the rest of the device
I could, if I wanted too, turn my solid state amp into a tube amp. Not that I’m gonna, but I could and that’s what’s important, and unusual
I could, if I wanted too, turn my solid state amp into a tube amp. Not that I’m gonna, but I could and that’s what’s important, and unusual
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
I legit have never seen a connection like this before, and it doesn’t look like any DIN plug I’ve seen.
I have also never seen a Noval plug or one used as a connector.
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
So it’s not a tube connector
This thread is interesting to say the least.
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
I can't find much on that unit.
If, in your own words, "The connection is what’s used to connect the player to the rest of the device", what makes you suspect it's for a tube?
Yeeterkeeter
Kermit the Frog
I don’t suspect it’s designed for a tube, I wouldn’t recommend putting in a tube, as it would probably not work, and that’s a best case scenario. As for what it is, it’s a Noval plug, which are used for vacuum tubes. Why it’s being used to connect an 8track player to the stereo, I don’t know. Maybe ROSS in the 70’s (I can’t get an exact date on it, so I have no idea if it’s actually from the 70’s) had all sorts of leftover tube equipment and decided to repurpose it. Maybe it isn’t a noval connector at all, and some proprietary connection. Believe me, I’m just as stumped as everyone else here. All of this is a big mystery
