rectifiers

[Mysterious Mose]

I'm interested in doing some simple experimentation to learn about vacuum tubes, hands on.  I'd like to start with rectifiers.  Any recommendations on tube and necessary accessories (socket, power supply, etc.)  Where do I get them?

Most important, please refer me to a more appropriate forum and web site.

Thank you.

[RayP]

You could try the power supply forum at diyAudio.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/power-supplies/

There is a wonderful tool called PSUD that helps you design power supplies.

http://www.duncanamps.com/psud2/

Try looking at the power supply of different schematics and using PSUD to simulate the results.

You could try another forum at Tube DIY. If you can ignore the argumentative tone of some of the posts about how to design power supplies, there is actually a lot of information there on how to use PSUD. The search tool is your friend.

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/tubediy/bbs.html

Before you start buying sockets, transformers etc, do a lot of research. And of course the power supply is just one part of an amplifier.

ray

[mcandmar]

I think your starting at the wrong end, and the more difficult (and dangerous) end of things.  I tend to work it the other way around, build the audio amplification section, figure out what voltages/currents your circuit needs, then work backwards and design the power supply to support it.  I have only recently started playing with tube rectifiers and they are a fickle beast.

For me the Bottlehead Quickie is where i learnt the most about simple amplification design, how to work out load lines and resistor values to set it up, and what each part in the circuit does.  Its only $99, sounds great, and runs on batteries so it wont bite you. Highly recommend you start there.

[Mysterious Mose]

Thank you for your suggestions.  In fact, I just finished building a Quickie.  I don't want to unsolder from the tube pins.  Also, it seems a bit complicated using pentodes.  However, I've started Crack, intend to leave the tube pins unsoldered and work from there.  It uses two triodes.

[Paul Birkeland]

  Also, it seems a bit complicated using pentodes. 

They are wired as triodes.  There isn't anything tube related that's much simpler than a Quickie.