LED lighting for tubes

[runmikeyrun]

I had a neat idea based on the Indian pedal i saw on the valvecaster thread.  I was trying to light up my twincaster tubes from the bottom with LEDs instead of putting an LED on the face of the pedal to indicate the on/off status.  I drilled out the socket and have the LED up against the bottom of the tube but i still don't have enough light getting through. 

Anyone else tried this with success?  I know the Indian's tubes are inside the enclosure and mine are outside, maybe that's my problem- too much ambient light outside the box for it to show up.  Maybe i need an LED with the more focused light?

[German]

Use ultrabright led..
Give more current for led..

[earthtonesaudio]

maybe that's my problem- too much ambient light outside the box for it to show up.

Probably.

[runmikeyrun]

I think i have a narrow angle yellow at home, i'm gonna check it out tonight.  As for ultrabright i think i have to pick one up.  I'll see what the max current ratings are for the ones i have and see what happens.  I really wanted to use these red/green ones at the store but they're frosted and standard brightness so i don't think they'll work.  Maybe the next one i do i'll put the tube inside with a window.

[Minion]

All Of my Low voltage tube projects (12ax7) allready glowed , if you are giveing the heaters the correct voltage they should glow....

[ianmgull]

Anyone else tried this with success? 

Behringer tried this with some success. Caused quite a stir if I remember correct.

[km-r]

laser LED's?

[runmikeyrun]

I tried several different LEDs last night and the water clear ones worked best.  In the dark the red, yellow, and blue showed up but blue was the only one that worked with the lights on.  Most of the light is blocked by the bottom mica spacer, so the blue LED mostly lights that up.  I'm going to go to the electronics store today and check out their selection, they have a display board where you can light them all up.

[jayp5150]

Anyone else tried this with success? 

Behringer tried this with some success. Caused quite a stir if I remember correct.

Which I've always found amusing, because Engl does it, too, and no one bats an eye... 

It's just aesthetics.

In those instances, though, the LED was behind the tube, and the wall glass is a lot thinner than the base glass, isn't it? That might be the big difference.

[runmikeyrun]

I found green "ultra bright" LEDs made by NTE, 10,000 mcd, as opposed to usual 2500-3500.  You can run them at 4v and let me tell you, no problems seeing those light up!

[puretube]

Somewhere in this forum, there`s a link to the "lightupyertube-led"-patent... 

looks like  E-H currently is the only guys that use a "Zerode" * (as opposed to: "heptode", "pentode", "triode", "diode"...)
in the background of X-boxes to "lighten up your soundz"... 



*: "Zerode" = no electrode at all, just a filament in a glassbulb...

[Valoosj]

Is it something like this you want to do?

[hday]

Ugh, that is so cool looking. 

Blue LEDs + Tubes = More Mojo than I can handle