2E26's

[rsumperl]

Greetings everyone,
Has anyone played with 2E26's in P-P? I found 12 new RCA's that I bought for some project, though not sure what that project is at this time. RCA claims 54 watts in AB2 with 500v. Question is, can AB2 yield some good clean sound?

Thanks,
Ray

[DF96]

Unless you are very careful, AB2 is more suited to public address than hi-fi.

[SY]

Originally Posted by rsumperl

Question is, can AB2 yield some good clean sound?

Yes, but... you must have a good, low impedance driver that is not fazed by having to pump current on part of the signal cycle. A high current, high gm cathode follower can work, but in these days of modern times, when you can't tell the ACs from the DCs, a MOSFET source follower is the overall best choice. When they first came out, I used IRF820s in my AB2 amp, and the performance was considerably better than the 6SN7 cathode followers they replaced.

In "Valve Amplifiers," Morgan Jones dismissed AB2 operation, but I think you'll hear a different tune when the 4th edition comes out.

FWIW, 2E26 is a "baby" 6146.

edit: Might be a candidate for screen drive.

[isaacc7]

There's a thead in the tubelab forum about using 6146's and in it the poster also talks about using 2e26's. It's single ended, but you might get some info from it. You don't hear much about those tubes in audio.