I play mostly Johnny Smith type stuff solo melody/chord arrangements of jazz standards on Gibson ES-175 arch top. Or Chet Atkins stuff. Or Jobim Bossa, Joe Pass, etc. I pulled the solid state rectifier out after 6 months or so because I missed the sag and color, but I also missed having the solid state module for one other thing in particular. I prefer the tube rectifier for all of the above solo melody/chord playing, its warm like Johnny Smith. But for rhythm comping I prefer no sag and less distortion as the chords sound more in-tune without the extra harmonics and more headroom. I rarely ever play to distortion, its all pretty clean. Ideally I should do the switchable mod someday.
I totally agree with that, what goes in should be what comes out except amplified. Nothing added nothing subtracted. Instrument amplifiers are just a blatant example of the rectifier effect.
Solid state diodes with 220 ohm resistors on each diode should come very close to the tube rectifiers. adjust the resistor value until the B+ measures the same as the tube.
the no load B+ will be higher, the full load B+ may go a little lower do to the tube's variable resistance.
the no load B+ will be higher, the full load B+ may go a little lower do to the tube's variable resistance.
Hi guys just a quick question. Ive bult a je labs simple 45 and it uses a 5y3 rectifier tube. I would like to use a 6087/ 5y3wgtb rectifier instead for a slower warm up. The question is, would it be a direct replacement? Do i need to change the filament wiring? Any response would be great. Thanks.
How is your unit wired? The B+ MUST be taken from pin 8 of the socket, when a cathode sleeve is present. Either end of the filament will do, when a directly heated type is employed, but the "best" way is a CT on the 5 VAC winding.
Well, the effects will be the same as if you put a 15 V power Zener diode between a SS rectifier and the first filter cap.
Best regards!
Hi, i have never heard of that tube rectifier before. I only recentlty got into tube gear diy builds and i really do love it all. Upon investigating its like no other rectifier tube ive ever heard of before, looks very interesting.I will consider it towards my next build for sure. Thanks Kay Piranha. Very much appreciate your input.
To each his own. Mercury (Hg) vapor rectifiers are a toxic hazard. I will not use them. Sooner or later an envelope will break. Heaven help you if a bottle breaks, while the device is hot.
If you are determined to experiment with Hg vapor rectifiers, keep some powdered sulfur readily available. Sprinkling powdered sulfur on spilled Hg quickly sequesters the metal as mercuric sulfide (HgS). HgS is about as insoluble as things get. Boiling concentrated nitric acid will not attack HgS.
If you are determined to experiment with Hg vapor rectifiers, keep some powdered sulfur readily available. Sprinkling powdered sulfur on spilled Hg quickly sequesters the metal as mercuric sulfide (HgS). HgS is about as insoluble as things get. Boiling concentrated nitric acid will not attack HgS.
When I was a kid my dentist used to give me a small plastic container with mercury in it to play with. As a youngster I used to touch the mercury. I'm still here today.
I'm deathly afraid of rattlesnakes but having moved to Arizona I find myself killing them in my yard and not the run of the mill rattlesnakes but the Mojave Green ones that pack a venom 16X more deadly than the standard. So, I guess you can be afraid of things even crossing the street or you can lay back and enjoy life. I for one enjoy the different sound of a 83 rectifier in my Aikido line stage and well if the tube breaks I imagine I'll live thru it.
How much Hg there's inside compared to a CFL bulb?
Some mercury rectifiers have a barely visible droplet or two.
Has someone died from breaking CFL bulbs?
Hg rectifiers operate under high vacuum in order to help the mercury evaporate. You can calculate, using the pV=nRt law, how much Hg will fly into the atmosphere in case a bulb breaks.
This is not a pressurized device.
You should be more worried about methyl mercury in fish in certain geographic locations instead of gas rectifiers.
There are some Hg rectifiers that contain a pea sized or two volume equivalent of mercury. The real hazard with these is to break one without being aware, storing it in your house for long periods of time.
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I am definitely reconsidering not using it on my next build due the health risks accompanied with those vapor rectifiers. I am a very health conscious person when it comes to materials that contain health risks presently or in the future, i dont think its necessary to use them for that reason, you can never know what will happen while in operation. Yes they do have great working parameters but there are up to date and nos tube rectifiers vastly available with good to great performance ratings.
You can get performance similar to Hg vapor from damper diodes, while avoiding both noise and poison issues.
JMO, a new power amp design should employ SS rectified B+. High PIV Schottky diodes are "noiseless" and rail ramp up can easily be managed.
I think in the small signal situation, a place still exists for "hollow state" rectification. Cheapskate that I am, moving off the beaten path appeals to me. A low cost vacuum rectified "300" VDC preamp supply is provided.
JMO, a new power amp design should employ SS rectified B+. High PIV Schottky diodes are "noiseless" and rail ramp up can easily be managed.
I think in the small signal situation, a place still exists for "hollow state" rectification. Cheapskate that I am, moving off the beaten path appeals to me. A low cost vacuum rectified "300" VDC preamp supply is provided.
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I tried drop in replacement ss rectifiers yellow jackets yjr, but didn't like the sound much, better performance was not noticeable at all i think the reason for that maybe, is because i used all mundorf tube caps in the psu stage i think it has provided top notch performance on its own over electrolytics. I bought the Mundorf tubecap based on all the positve reviews and it was not a lie these caps really hold there tight performance in line. My amplifier is single ended 45 tube amp1.5watts output paired with 98db tannoy HPD 315 and what i have noticed is how well it handles the low end notes under stress( bursting ear levels) without any major hint of distortion very clean and true to its natrual sound. Soon i may try elctrolytics in the psu to hear if it actually makes a difference to the overall sound. My next build will be a PP 100watts amplifier and i would definatley use SS rectification for that build.