tube as diode

[bigsmitty]

has anyone tried using a tube as clipping diode in an overdrive/distortion unit ? Im guessing it doesnt sound good or everyone would be doing it.

[Gus]

A tube number like this?
http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/frank/sheets/021/6/6H6.pdf
look at the curves

[R.G.]

Most tubes aren't all that interesting as clipping diodes. They start conducting nearer 0V than semiconductors and don't have as obvious a clipping point.

[tackleberry]

Theres a section in the "tonnes of tone" books discussing this that its not that hard to just use solid state devices and get that rounder edged signal clipping of tubes alot cheaper to. You can use a fixed resister or a pot on the ground side of the diodes/LEDs, it will round the corners of the normally square wave clipping. Ive used the saturation control from AMZ with various diodes and gotten good results.