• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

PPP 6550C A to Z direct coupled

i built for a friend this double PP of 6550 100+100Watts rms

the particularity is that all the connections between the tubes are made in direct coupling and/or by inter-stage transformer.

on this amp I do not use transistors but conventional resistor biasing, and all stages are direct coupled

it's very rare these days I don't know of any commercial amp with this feature

in the good old days it was used for class AB2 professional amps of several hundred or even thousands of watts

input on transformer 1:0.5/0.5 high impedance 40K/20+20Kohm

first stage amplification E80CC audiogold cathode resistor non-polarized cathode capacitor 47uF 100V

followed by a buffered 6SN7 cathode follower i forget small neon lamp grid cathode
but HT switch allow tubes heat up

then a 6SNTWGT Sylvania brown base in differential inter-stage transformer driver 1/1:1/1

finely tuned with symmetry fine tuning.

in the secondary a last 6SN7 Foton in buffer and bias management to drive the double PP of 6550C svetlana.

each 6550C is fitted with a 10H 7W wire wound cathode resistor

res screen G2 1K 7W wound wire ultralinear assembly

res grid 1 2K2 ohm 2W wound wire

each phase individual bias settings

all these stages in direct connection no caps without feedback (feedback)
IMG_20220215_182854.jpg100_0868.JPG100_0868 jpg.jpgIMG_20220224_194617.jpg
 
Great job. I like your UL approach with no global NFB. What is the output impedance? What kind of speakers you are using with your amplifier?

I see that you are loading the secondaries of your input and interstage transformers. IMO, this is not necessary, unloaded transformers sound better.

What is your interstage transformer?

Is there any reason for using different brands of 6SN7 tubes in different positions?
 
loading the secondaries of input and interstage transformers its fondamental for stability linearity and thd
input 560Q and predriver 124F both Hammond
using different brands of 6SN7 tubes in different positions come from my sensibility and experience
6SNTWGT Sylvania recommended for heather cathode insulations
OTP its 1650T 1K9
 
An interesting approach, I'd be worried about DC condition's drifting as the valves age. Clever that you managed to use no transistors or silicon and to use direct coupling all the way through, but diodes and transistors have their place, a diode between grid and cathode of CF's for instance helps protect valves on power up. I see you've no cathode decoupling on the OP stage and are you running the heaters of the 6550's in series. What are the hum + N, frequency response & THD at full OP power? What are the OPT's: Hammond 1650 somethings? Not keen on the choc blocks.

Andy.
 
i built for a friend this double PP of 6550 100+100Watts rms

the particularity is that all the connections between the tubes are made in direct coupling and/or by inter-stage transformer.

on this amp I do not use transistors but conventional resistor biasing, and all stages are direct coupled

it's very rare these days I don't know of any commercial amp with this feature

in the good old days it was used for class AB2 professional amps of several hundred or even thousands of watts

input on transformer 1:0.5/0.5 high impedance 40K/20+20Kohm

first stage amplification E80CC audiogold cathode resistor non-polarized cathode capacitor 47uF 100V

followed by a buffered 6SN7 cathode follower i forget small neon lamp grid cathode
but HT switch allow tubes heat up

then a 6SNTWGT Sylvania brown base in differential inter-stage transformer driver 1/1:1/1

finely tuned with symmetry fine tuning.

in the secondary a last 6SN7 Foton in buffer and bias management to drive the double PP of 6550C svetlana.

each 6550C is fitted with a 10H 7W wire wound cathode resistor

res screen G2 1K 7W wound wire ultralinear assembly

res grid 1 2K2 ohm 2W wound wire

each phase individual bias settings

all these stages in direct connection no caps without feedback (feedback)
View attachment 1111690View attachment 1111693View attachment 1111694View attachment 1111708
Nice amplifier! It's nice to see that many glas bulbs on the chassis 🙂

Can you explain how this amplifier is DC coupled from A to Z? I see an interstage transformer at the input and there is one for driving the screen grids of the output stage. This is inductive coupled in my book, not DC coupled.

Fully DC coupled is possible, but IMO would take a very different approach.
 
An interesting approach, I'd be worried about DC condition's drifting as the valves age. Clever that you managed to use no transistors or silicon and to use direct coupling all the way through, but diodes and transistors have their place, a diode between grid and cathode of CF's for instance helps protect valves on power up. I see you've no cathode decoupling on the OP stage and are you running the heaters of the 6550's in series. What are the hum + N, frequency response & THD at full OP power? What are the OPT's: Hammond 1650 somethings? Not keen on the choc blocks.

Andy.
Only the VAS is DC coupled so I am not really expecting issue's with drift. I have designed and build several DC coupled amplifiers and never had much issue's with voltage drifting with small tubes. If you take proper care in your design then it should be no issue at all.
 
thanks Lechuck yes very good sounding amp , but i never said not writhe DC coupled, but DIRECT COUPLED no interstage caps
i do not try to pretend nothing just replay old professional hight power AB2 power amplifiers for home appliance
thats all. (power tetrodes also DC direct coupleds not only VAS)
the connections between the tubes are made in direct coupling and/or by inter-stage transformer.
i do not ask help no any idea for modifications, its well working from many months in my friend customer home studio
he having experience with very hig value amplifiers and feerless of HT tubes transmitting triodes and so on
have good journey cheers
claudiomas
 

Attachments

  • output.jpg
    output.jpg
    327.7 KB · Views: 68
Last edited:
thanks Lechuck yes very good sounding amp , but i never said not writhe DC coupled, but DIRECT COUPLED no interstage caps
i do not try to pretend nothing just replay old professional hight power AB2 power amplifiers for home appliance
thats all. (power tetrodes also DC direct coupleds not only VAS)
the connections between the tubes are made in direct coupling and/or by inter-stage transformer.
i do not ask help no any idea for modifications, its well working from many months in my friend customer home studio
he having experience with very hig value amplifiers and feerless of HT tubes transmitting triodes and so on
have good journey cheers
claudiomas
 
Both the input stage and the output stage are inductive coupled. The energy litteraly has to go through the air, how is this direct coupled? No offence, but direct coupled in my book means that they are truly directly coupled without a L or C in between them 😉
 
yes i writhe this first post
all the connections between the tubes are made in direct coupling and/or by inter-stage transformer
to resume the input transformer 1:0.5/0.5 splitter dephasing
E80CC-6SN7GT-6SN7WGT direct coupleds
predriver transformer 0.5/0.5:0.5/0.5
6SNTGT direct coupled to 4X 6550C
take easy i'm not pretending to invent hot wather
just i like amplifiers like this
low value grids resistors and no caps
even and uneven harmonics equilibre sound like very dynamic big triode SE
wen williamson and Co means lot of odd uneven harmonics