• 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.

Why does 6DK3 have a grid? It's a damper diode.

It appears to be around the heater. It’s not a grid as it’s not between Cathode and Plate.

Hopefully somebody who is familiar with this can shed some light on how this works, I’ve never used a tube with such.
 
Yeah after I posted post I saw it wasn't actually a grid but just looked like a grid. Maybe they coated a wire with insulation and wrapped it around the filament to prevent any chance of a short to the cathode? I see too the cathode is brought to the top cap, so tying one leg of the filament to the cathode might be a problem to build? Clueless.
 
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For the use as damper diode and the heater common with the other tubes there is a very high voltage on the cathode.That "grid" is to keep enough distance between heater and cathode.
You can connect it evt to the B+ for a better voltage distribution.
For an audio supply connect to the heater if separate heater or to ground with a common heater supply.
Mona
 

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