6fa7 frequency divider ? possible octave down pedal ?

[zambo]

So i got some 6fa7 tubes http://www.shinjo.info/frank/sheets/049/6/6FA7.pdf they have two tetrodes and a diode in them. I am trying to figure out how to use one as a frequency divider. is it possible with the parts there? would love the octave down. a frequency doubler would be ok to for octave up. I thought about just using a twin triode (12a*7) using v1a as a cathode follower into v1b as a split load phase inverter then rectifying. not sure which route to go. tried some searching and with no real results. my experiments with octave pedals to date have been unimpressive Very ring modulator ish and not useful for me. I only have 1n4007 and 1n4148 diodes to work with which may be the issue. have not tried the tube methods mentioned already. Has anyone done this succesfully?

[PRR]

They have -one- tetrode with -two- plates. (And the diode cathode IS the tetrode cathode.)

These come from organs. The frequency is "fixed". They drive the grid with 1,760Hz and use two tuned-circuits at 880Hz and 440Hz to get a couple of "A"s in one bottle. By intent, the "A" will be 439Hz-441Hz, not far off from the factory tuning.

You are asking about a divider which will "follow" arbitrary pitches over musical ranges, at least a few semi-tones, preferably some octaves. That's very different from a machine worked to specific pitches.  

Sure you can use it "some how". Tubes is tubes. But being basically one control path per bottle, anything non-trivial will need a lot of bottles. I'm aware there are scads of these tubes being thrown-out, but still a ton of work.

> a cathode follower into v1b as a split load phase inverter

What's the point of the cathode-follower?

[zambo]

I thought that was going to be the case but you know, dont ask, dont get lol. Thanks for the explanation on that.

I was questioning the cathode follower myself while going to check this thread for responses. It doesnt make sense. i thought driving the pi with more juice etc would help it, but no. it doesnt make my puny guitar signal any bigger. I would need to drive the pi with the hottest signal possible without causing a lot of distortion in the pi if it was going to work well without a lot of extra harmonics etc. in there. thats what causes the ring mod type sound right? so really it shouold be a center biased gs>pi> rectifying diodes> whatever mixer i use for blending octave with dry signal> output volume control >

I was also trying an experiment by cold biasing a gainstage cold enough to make the 2nd harmonic very pronounced.... not working well either. Next thought was building a ltpi over biased to see if that would work.

I dont know what compels me to do this stuff. I think its strong coffee and a borderline unhealthy obsession with those little glass bottles!