Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Crack => Topic started by: Jimb0 on June 06, 2024, 06:53:24 AM

Title: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Jimb0 on June 06, 2024, 06:53:24 AM
Could the 237-ohm resistors on the small circuit board be replaced with 220-ohm resistors, or does the value need to be closer to 237ohm?
Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Mucker on June 06, 2024, 10:33:10 AM
I'm assuming you have one of those resistor kits with values that are not the same as the Bottlehead ones. I have those kits too and what I usually do is use an additional resistor in series to get close until I can order the correct value. So say a 220 in series with a 22 will get you to 242.

The old Speedball big board used to use 2 resistors to do just that. (top photo)

Of course the 220 may work just fine. PB could answer that for sure.

You can also use resistors in parallel (bottom photo) to get the needed value. I did that with the small Speedball board in the past until I ordered the correct values. This was necessary for 12BH7 and E80CC usage.

If you used two 470 ohm resistors in parallel, the value would be 235. Pretty close to your 237.

Handy calculator for series and parallel determination: https://www.calculator.net/resistor-calculator.html



Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Jimb0 on June 06, 2024, 04:27:11 PM
Thank you for the info and calculator. Actually I have some spare 220R Shinkoh resistors that I've been wanting to try. Unfortunately I do not have 470 ohm Shinkoh's otherwise I would have used them in parallel.
Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Paul Joppa on June 06, 2024, 05:49:38 PM
It should be fine - it's only 7% different, and will decrease increase the plate voltage of the driver about 5%. Tube parameters alone typically vary 20% or so.
Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Jimb0 on June 06, 2024, 06:06:28 PM
Thanks Paul!
Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Paul Joppa on June 06, 2024, 07:04:03 PM
Mistake - I'll edit my post above. It will increase the pate voltage, not decrease it!
Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Jimb0 on June 07, 2024, 05:52:41 AM
No problem, thanks again!
Title: Re: Speedball Resistor Upgrade Question
Post by: Paul Birkeland on June 07, 2024, 06:56:31 AM
You could also use a 240 ohm resistor.