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.
I have noticed that some tube sockets have a center post. Since this is not connected to anything on the tube itself, what is this post used for. I suppose that it goes to ground, but what does it do?
When grounded (as it always should be) it reduces capacitive coupling between tags/sockets. Most important for RF; less so for audio. Some RF circuits may use it as a local star point, as RF often uses a star per stage.
