Unused triode in Paramour II

Natural Sound · 3886

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Offline Natural Sound

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on: October 28, 2012, 08:04:51 PM
Could the unused triode in Paramour II (1/2 12AT7) be used as a shunt regulator?



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #1 on: October 28, 2012, 08:14:28 PM
Yup, but for the driver only.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline Paul Joppa

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Reply #2 on: October 29, 2012, 04:43:16 AM
Could the unused triode in Paramour II (1/2 12AT7) be used as a shunt regulator?
When the new power transformer was developed for Paramour II, the HV current rating was increased specifically so that this could be done. The Paramount "soft-start" kit would be a good way to accomplish it.

Paul Joppa


Offline Natural Sound

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Reply #3 on: December 13, 2012, 12:00:02 PM
Could the unused triode in Paramour II (1/2 12AT7) be used as a shunt regulator?
When the new power transformer was developed for Paramour II, the HV current rating was increased specifically so that this could be done. The Paramount "soft-start" kit would be a good way to accomplish it.
Paul,

I started looking a little deeper into this recently but I'm a little confused. I see no mention of the shunt regulation function in the item description on the product page. Can you elaborate a little when you have time? Also would moving to a 5670 be required if I made this modification on a Paramour II?

Thanks,
Tom

UPDATE: After I typed this I went over to the Paramount webpage and the answer to the shunt regulator was there.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2012, 12:08:14 PM by Natural Sound »



Offline Paul Joppa

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Reply #4 on: December 13, 2012, 06:15:00 PM
Haha! Yeah, sorry, it's getting pretty complicated to remember all the old amps and their many upgrades (and the many unofficial ones!) when writing copy! (Not that Doc B lets me write copy, I'm too scatterbrained).

Any version of the shunt reg'd board will work with the Paramour II; the "shunt reg" variation is the only currently available version. It comes with the replacement 5670 tube. Bottlehead doesn't offer all the endless variations due to the difficulty (i.e. labor) involved in either keeping the parts straight, noting manual differences, and fixing mistakes! So that is the easiest approach.

The 12AT7 has so much gain that it can't run well with 2.5v bias, which is the minimum available with the "soft-start" board. This is especially important with direct coupled amps, such as the 2A3 version of the Paramount. For a Paramour, you can retain the LED bias and still get perfectly good performance, since it is not direct coupled. Unfortunately this is one of the many possibilities that are too many and too complicated to include in the manual. We can help on the Board here (though no promises of how fast!) if you really want to keep the 12AT7.

Paul Joppa


Offline xcortes

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Reply #5 on: December 13, 2012, 06:45:18 PM
I have the six SR boards that I took out of my Paramounts when upgrading to the soft start. So it looks like a good idea to install them on the five Paramour iis in the HT. At the Paramour voltages I don't even need the string of zener diodes right? Seems like an easy upgrade. A free lunch?

Xavier Cortes


Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #6 on: December 13, 2012, 08:09:26 PM
Hola Xavier,

Were your Paramounts the original 12AT7 version?

That particular regulator regulated at 350V, which is a tad too high for the Paramour. 

On the C4S boards, there are two 174K resistors that setup that voltage, you can change those to 143K/1W resistors to get ~290V out of the regulator (from the 320V of DC available).  B8/Kreg will drop a little more, maybe to 4V or so.

You are correct, the zener string is overkill in the Paramour.

-PB

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man