Small tubes with the nicest glow. What is cheap and easy?

[martyh]

For small tubes the 955 acorn tubes have a nice oxide glow. Sockets are harder to find than the tubes unfortunately but only 150 ma heater current

 

[daqvin_carter]

I may use a 1B3GT on a next build. Intended to be a TV HV rectifier. Has a nice white glow an might be cheap. I am hoping I can keep it functional also as a bias supply rectifier.

 

[IamJF]

Behringer was heavily critized for putting orange led behind mic tube pre. Lots of people disliked the gimic.

Cause it looks horrible! Don't do that!
You could use normal ECC83, easy to get. But prices for these also doubled and they don't glow too bright.
I would probably hunt for some old, defect tube gear on the 2nd hand market and take whatever you find in there.

 

[Merlinb]

I can understand why some people don't like blue LEDs, but orange? Orange LEDs under tubes really do look like natural glow to anyone who isn't an actual tube geek. Just buy the cheapest tubes you can find (Chinese 6J1? TV tubes nobody ever wants?) and stick an orange LED under them. You can make the glow as soft and subtle or eye blinding as you like. Average Joe won't be able to tell the difference.

(I was watching All The Light We Cannot See on Netflix the other day and there's a transmitter that clearly has some uplighting under the valves to make them more 'tubey' on screen. Only nerds like us know)

 

[Lingwendil]

^this.

Grab a bulk lot of TV tubes from eBay and throw orange LEDs under them. I was considering doing this for some decorations on my bookshelves.

 

[Ixnay]

Like I said.

 

[yoaudio]

6CY7 tubes are cheap, small and have a nice glow.

Full read here -
https://diyaudioprojects.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5222

 

[DamonB]

This would be cheap and easy as I could use dead tubes, but I really want the heaters themselves to glow as opposed to an LED in the base.

 

[Merlinb]

Another trick you can do it to take a very visible tube like a TV pentode and run the heaters at like twice the normal voltage. No idea how long before they burn out though.

 

[wg_ski]

The heaters will last surprisingly long. Not good for the rest of the tube, but if it’s just for the light show it wouldn’t be an issue. Only problem is the 6 volt versions tend to be expensive. It’s the 21, 26, 36 volt versions that are cheap. And then you have to double that to light it up like a Christmas tree. Maybe instead of a pentode, go for a big damper diode with a top cap. They look pretty mean, and tend to run lower prices because nobody wants them.