Has anyone any experience with the use of grid chokes instead of grid resistors in a 300B amp ?
I was wondering what the sonic benefits are.
I was wondering what the sonic benefits are.
grid choke
I did one with the well known Opera Billie 300b.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/docto...iles/DIY MODS - Opera M500 mods/M500 6S45.gif
very worthwhile
I imagine mileage will vary w/ circuit, no?
I Don't have any other experience with grid chokes.
I'd go for it.
Craig Ryder
I did one with the well known Opera Billie 300b.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/docto...iles/DIY MODS - Opera M500 mods/M500 6S45.gif
very worthwhile
I imagine mileage will vary w/ circuit, no?
I Don't have any other experience with grid chokes.
I'd go for it.
Craig Ryder
I see no advantage to it unless you're drawing grid current and want to keep the DC level exactly where you want it, but to each his own I guess...
Tim
Tim
Tim, there are actually some benefits to using a grid choke. All tubes have a fractional amount of leakage current in the "grid circuit". The big old triodes have a bit more, and so you'll often see a limitation on grid DCR - and you'll see two numbers, one for self bias, and one for fixed - the value for fixed being a fifth lower usually. This is because in the self bias situation the tube can compensate for any change in it's grid-cathode voltage relationship, whereas in the fixed situation - it can't.
You might ask, what's the big deal? Well, even a small leakage across 1 meg can shift the bias enough to cause problems.
So.... we can use a choke between the grid and ground instead, and those teeny tiny currents will only see a few thousand ohms, instead of 500k, etc. Of course the AC signal sees the inductance of the choke as a high resistance, and away we go!
Make sense?
A Hammond 156C is a cheap $10 way to try them out for yourself.
You might ask, what's the big deal? Well, even a small leakage across 1 meg can shift the bias enough to cause problems.
So.... we can use a choke between the grid and ground instead, and those teeny tiny currents will only see a few thousand ohms, instead of 500k, etc. Of course the AC signal sees the inductance of the choke as a high resistance, and away we go!
Make sense?
A Hammond 156C is a cheap $10 way to try them out for yourself.

Sch3mat1c said:500k? Bah. Go look at my Rock Your World thread.
A 22k Rg seems like a waste of perfectly good signal voltage to me.
That amp is a perfect candidate for some grid chokes then Tim.🙄
Sch3mat1c said:I still maintain that some wimpy 12AT7 pushing 150W of output doesn't feel right
What are you referring to?
CHOKIES
Hi,
Well done Joel.You're spot on.
Cheers,😉
Hi,
That amp is a perfect candidate for some grid chokes then Tim.
Well done Joel.You're spot on.

Cheers,😉
The Hammond 156C as a grid choke?
Most applications I've seen use a billion billion henrys. Overkill?
I've been too lazy to do the design work required to become familiar with grid chokes, but I have some 156C's and it would be great if I can use them with some type 50's in S.E.
Most applications I've seen use a billion billion henrys. Overkill?
I've been too lazy to do the design work required to become familiar with grid chokes, but I have some 156C's and it would be great if I can use them with some type 50's in S.E.
Tim, there are actually some benefits to using a grid choke. All tubes have a fractional amount of leakage current in the "grid circuit". The big old triodes have a bit more, and so you'll often see a limitation on grid DCR - and you'll see two numbers, one for self bias, and one for fixed - the value for fixed being a fifth lower usually. This is because in the self bias situation the tube can compensate for any change in it's grid-cathode voltage relationship, whereas in the fixed situation - it can't.
You might ask, what's the big deal? Well, even a small leakage across 1 meg can shift the bias enough to cause problems.
So.... we can use a choke between the grid and ground instead, and those teeny tiny currents will only see a few thousand ohms, instead of 500k, etc. Of course the AC signal sees the inductance of the choke as a high resistance, and away we go!
Make sense?
A Hammond 156C is a cheap $10 way to try them out for yourself.![]()
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