DC Heater Supplies

[CJ]

DC Heater Supplies

Here are some cool circuits for tube heaters, reposted from before.

 

[sismofyt]

I would have to disagree CJ. Those circuits are not cool, they're all unregulated and the voltage is very dependant on the current draw and the mains voltage. This is one place where hollow state Vregs excel. Trimming the voltage to exact 6,3V or a bit under extends tube life...

 

[CJ]

Well, Jeez, Eric Barbour did most of them, and he forgets more about tubes in a week than all I will ever learn!
There very well proven.

Regs are a pain in heater supplies. They can get B+ on them. Makes a very unreliable supply.
Not to mention noise.
Tubes don't need exactly 6.3.

 

[sismofyt]

I know he knows more than I ever will know :green: But I also know those circuits are designed for specific tubes and current draws. Vregs ain't that hard ol' buddy :razz:

If you get B+ on you heater supply the tubes go too :shock:

An overvoltage of 10-20% do shorten tube life and I think Eric will agree with that.. Also tubes can sound funny with a too low heater voltage, in my experience.

 

[sismofyt]

A lowlife 7806 will do the trick if you current draw is below 1A. I'm pulling almost 12 amps in my pre and I'm still using Vregs. No sweat...

 

[CJ]

I'm sure Eric has been down the 78xx road before. He must have his reasons.
I will see if I can get him over here.
Those were published in Vacuum Tube Valley, one of the best damn magazines I have ever purchased.
Have you tried any of those circuits?
(insert peace symbol here!)

 

[sismofyt]

I have tried many of his circuits and he's is da man! I also did subscibe to that mag.. if you could get him over here it would be awesome :green: :shock: :grin: :thumb:

I've said many times I don't like those Vregs for audio, but this is a place I like them! I'm sure Erics reasons are purely sonically... which is the only way to do it. So what am I arguing? I dunno. Maybe because those moster cap PSUs aren't exactly kosher in the Pro world. I dig 'em though :green:

Check this from The AUDIO CYCLOPEDIA

 

[sismofyt]

Any/many whats the dif, it's just a letter.. I've done the unregulated heater PSU and it never lives up to my expectations

 

[sismofyt]

Actually, I did something similar, Eric style, in this PSU:

The big heatsink in the middle is for the dropping resistor and the big 100.000yF cap to the right is for the heater too.. But I've since changed it to a Vreg :wink:

 

[deanp920]

Just use AC heaters and forget it :green:

Dean

 

[CJ]

what about a car battery?
I can run some jumper cables to the parking lot!
:razz:

 

[shoreditch reader]

how about current regulation?
has its restrictions(chiefly that it's pretty much one reg to one valve)but also its advantages the valve is slowly lit(hopefully improving filament life).

hello CJ,if i wasn't headdown in analog synth territory,i might have the time to devote to my valve preamp.I wanted to try a 7810 on the psu distributing to individual 317 current regs for each valve.The necessary info is at

http://www.tubecad.com/july2000/

Robert

 

[thermionic]

Slightly OT, but have you seen Mr Barbour's new product? http://www.metasonix.com/TX1.htm

Taken from product description:

Think of the TX-1 Agonizer as a magical 1965-era industrial-music sonic reducer. It screws everything down to a nice, crunchy sonic pureè with aluminum shavings and broken glass mixed in. Yum. Please understand, it?s not a nice, sweet, well-behaved pussy-pussy ?vintage tone? effect. You simply can?t get a simulation of a Fender Super Reverb out of this horrible yellow box. Trust us. If you're another one of those little obedient, cowardly, sniveling "tone lovers", the TX-1 is not for you to snivel over, so don't buy one. And if you worship METALLICA, perhaps you should buy some nice pink fairy wings instead of a TX-1.

I suppose you think the TX-1 is sorta, dude, like one of those digital effecto thingies, dude man? Hah, don?t make us laugh, monkeyboy. We schmutz on your little head and then wipe our behinds on your Commodore 64. This thing doesn?t even vaguely resemble digital noise. The TX-1 is the exact opposite of digital: it is entirely analog, and entirely made of vacuum tubes, and does not make anything even slightly resembling 1980s pseudo-nostalgia video-game noises. We hate the 1980s, we hate Super Mario, and the Autobots suck fried maggots. Rainbow Brite and her little Smurf cartoon buddies all deserve to be raped and murdered, and the Agonizer is willing to help. You aren't one of those pathetic creatures who hangs out on eBay constantly, bidding furiously on Rainbow Brite wallpaper, are you? If so, then I suggest you join the METALLICA fans in the pink fairy shop down the street. Ha ha ha.

Looks like Barbour went to the same school for salesman that CJ attended :green:

J

 

[dale116dot7]

The Lambda unit is (obviously) regulated - it's a switching supply. The 150 watt modules will kick out around 23 amps at 6.3 volts. They are switchers so a bit of additional filtering may be prudent, though in my experience the output of the Lambda modules is pretty clean. There's also the LZS1500 module for the serious audiophile - 230 amps at 6.3 volts. That oughtta be enough for, well, anything I can think of... :shock:

There's a couple places for DC filaments... if you're using cathode feedback or any stage you're not running with a cathode bypass capacitor, it'll pick up hum. Also, a tube condensor pretty much needs a DC filament or it'll buzz. I've usually heard more buzz than signal in that application.

 

[sismofyt]

Yeah, that's a hilarious ad! :green:

 

[rafafredd]

It also sounds hilarious!