Tubes that perform at 9v power supply?

[toneless]

Does anyone know if there are any "tube" projects that can be used
with a 9vDc power supply?
Perhaps a 12AX7 tube used as a simple preamp or something???

Thanks for any info.

[smoguzbenjamin]

A starved-plate tube preamp will work I think, I don't know too much about tubes though :mrgreen: I'm sure someone else will be able to tell you a lot more

[Peter Snowberg]

http://amps.zugster.net/articles/tube-pedals/

Take care,
-Peter

[Nasse]

:shock: Yes, such tubes exists. There are special tube types, designed to work at low voltages. Maybe they are manufactured or available somewhere.

I once owned a very nice car, 1961 model and six volts electric system, it was equipped with fully working original car radio, all tubes

[The Tone God]

If all you have is 9v with 300ma of current then you could fire up a 12A*7. Divide or regulate the 9v down to 6.3v for the filimants and use the 9v for the plates.

You could take nine or ten 12ax7s and wire them in series off of house AC.

Andrew

[Arn C.]

http://www.muzique.com/schem/tubedrvr.gif

I have made a couple of these and they sound good.  I made one that switches between a 12AX7A, 6SN7 and 6CG7 (my favorite!)

Peace!
Arn C.

[puretube]

You could take nine or ten 12ax7s and wire them in series off of house AC.

Andrew

Andrew: don`t say this here! :

At switch on, the house will be dark, and the tubes (at least 1 of`em) will never glow again!

I once owned a very nice car, 1961 model and six volts electric system, it was equipped with fully working original car radio, all tubes

... there was a mechanical "chopper" voltage-converter in there (vintage version of switched p.s.), which outputted real-life high voltage.
(at least in most of them...)

[Aharon]

Ron Black's Tube Distortion (12V)
Aharon

[javacody]

I want to make something to give me a nice blues od sound, which design do you guys reccomend?

[toneless]

You could take nine or ten 12ax7s and wire them in series off of house AC.

Andrew

Hey!
Perhaps I'll even use your "Vanishing Point" project to make the tubes light at a random mode :lol:

[toneless]

Javacody I think that for a light overdrive blues tone you can get away with maybe only one tube.That means no big power trans and lethal voltages...
On the other hand most people claim that Matchbox is one of the best distortion units out there.

[MarkDonMel]

what's the matchbox?

I'm ready to try a tube stompbox, I was ready to build the tube driver but was discouraged by jd until if and when he has time to go through the build to fix some problems.  

Any other tube stompbox projects out there that are easy to follow for a beginner?

Thanks, Matt.

[toneless]

The tube driver at JD's site has problems?
Anyway I made a mistake here.What I really meant was the Matchless Hotbox that you can find at generalguitatgadgets.com

I think I'm going to make the Tube Driver and I hope the schematic doesn't have any errors...
http://www.muzique.com/schem/tubedrvr.gif

[Lonehdrider]

:shock:

I once owned a very nice car, 1961 model and six volts electric system, it was equipped with fully working original car radio, all tubes

I had a 1951 chevy truck with a tube am radio in it.. The tubes would get old and over certain bumps the microphonics of the tube (or whatever was happening) would give a lovely tremelo effect...

OT, but remember the old car reverb units in the 60's? Give your car that concert hall feel... haha...

Regards,

Lone

[Chris Goodson]

The tube driver at JD's site has problems?

Does it? :shock:   I tried building one and it didn't work.  But, I haven't really checked it for mistakes yet.  It would be cool to know if I'd be wasting my time.

[MarkDonMel]

Well, I started searching the posts on this site and read some archived posts about the tube driver on ggg.  I was reading that some people were getting hum and noise so I E-mail JD.

He told me that he wasn't happy with how it sounded and that there was some background noise although I can't remember what it was specifically that he said he thought the problem was.

So I have been basically sitting on my parts waiting to see if he updates it.  With all the help he has given me I am in no way going to keep bugging him or anything, but I can't wait to get one built.  Judging by all the recent updates he has done lately I suspect he is really busy too.

Matt.

[Dai H.]

Does anyone know if there are any "tube" projects that can be used
with a 9vDc power supply?
Perhaps a 12AX7 tube used as a simple preamp or something???

Thanks for any info.

is this because you're uncomfortable working w/higher voltages, or you are going for a "starved" voltage circuit? I think you can get the high voltage AC typically used for tubes (safely, cheaply) by using a common (wall voltage to 12VAC transformer), then another one (w/a 12V secondary to a primary Xfrmer hooked up backwards). I guess you operate the heaters off the 12VAC (heaters hooked up in series operate on 12.6V), and get the B+(high voltage) by rectifying the high voltage AC. One idea anyway. There are those who don't like the "starved" voltage circuits as "gimmicky", etc., but I think it can be a matter of preference, though the diff. in operating voltage do give real differences in sound.  For something easy, maybe you can find a Matchless Hotbox schemo on the internet.

[Ben N]

Toneless (I'm sure that's not really true),
I'm not sure what you mean by a "blues" pedal--that covers a lot of ground.  But assuming you mean a light-to-medium overdrive, the Tube Driver is not what you are after.  It does not deliver what I would think of as a blues sound, even with a 12au7 substituted.  I think the point of most starved plate designs is to get a lot of distortion without a lot of gain by limiting the voltage swing of the tube.  The McTube may be the ticket for you.  It's not a 9v design, but it does run off a wall-wart, albeit a 12vac one.  Check out the samples at Nachbauer's site.  
Ben

[MarkDonMel]

That hotbox looks cool.  I keep reading about high voltages that can kill me.  And, no surprise this has kept me from many projects.  

Can anyone recommend some reading?  I crave this knowledge as I'd like to someday be able to build these without the fear of death.  

Is there a simpler summary of these "don'ts when working with high voltages" that I can start out with?  Such as a "don't touch this and that" kind of thing? lol

Thanks, Matt.

[puretube]

may be of interest:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=19854