• 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.

What low Rp output tubes, like 1K or under, for a 3.5K SE OPT?

I have a nice pair of SE 3.5K OPTs, but no 4 ohm tap so I'm stuck with 3.5K. I want to use a higher gain tube in triode so I can use a lower gain driver. So not 2a3 or 300b.

I usually use trioded EL6 and EL12 types into 5K but they're 1.1K Rp and not so good into 3.5K. I was wondering about KT88 or 6550 but I read that they make poor triodes - no idea how true this is. Data suggests they're around 900ohms Rp in triode.

PSE is possible with EL84 or 6V6, which would come out at around 1K, but I'd prefer a single tube in triode. Looking for a dissipation of around 18W.
 
6P36S thread here. Looks interesting.

 
If you want to try these transformers with the tube you already have (EL6 and EL12) you could try adding CFB by connecting the secondaries between the cathodes and ground. By doing so the transformer impedance will increase to 3850 ohms from 3500 (as the transformers effectively becomes autoformers with a slightly higher turns ratio) and the local feedback will lower the tubes Rp a bit.
 
I mocked up a version of Michael Koster's Schadeode and tried it with several different tubes. My power supply maxed out at 550 volts and the output transformers were rated for 80 ma.

The following post has links to the schematics. A mosfet is used for the front end so I know this is not a design you prefer. But, it should be some indication of what you can do with a trioded KT88. I don't know what the ra was in Michael's design but according to the datasheet it is 650 ohms for a trioded KT88.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/set-build-recommendation.370350/#post-6599691 see post 18

After the post above I tried a KT88 at 80% plate dissipation and got < 0.1% distortion at 1 watt, 1% distortion at 10 watts and 3% distortion at 16 watts. I used a 5k impedance transformer for all tests. With a higher B+ voltage or a transformer rated for 100ma I expect I could have got 18 watts but the difference would be negligible.

These results were achieved with a Bud Purvine 5k transformer at 80ma and 470 volts Plate to cathode. Bias was 30 volts. I did not try this experiment with a 3.5k impedance transformer which might be more ideal for the KT88.

I liked the sound as much as all of my other all tube SE amps with the exception of my Mingda 300B amps.

Steve
 
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What about this one?
http://www.r-type.org/pdfs/s11e12.pdf

Apply 10-20% plate to grid feedback to lower the internal resistance. a pentode with unbypassed cathode resistor as driver (e282F,12gn7a...many high gm pentodes to choose from)
 

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