Equipment with fake tubes in it!

The Secret Weapon?
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JJ2013
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Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:16 pm

Equipment with fake tubes in it!

Post by JJ2013 »

Hi y'all,

I would imagine that Bellaris RP520 etc. have REAL TUBES in them? It appears that a lot of gear advertise as being tube gear but the tube is sitting there only for decorative purposes, ie. the filaments may glow nice and bright but properties of tubes are really not exploited at all. They use the term tube for marketing purposes only which is misleading to say the least.

A ham wrote to me that "much equipment like this is fake. The tubes don't do anything in the circuit other than illuminate and do nothing except a pass-through into the solid state circuitry. It's similar to an inline fuse ;)"

Awaiting a barrage of comments on this most exciting of topics :lol:

73 de JJ
NI2M

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Post by Voodoo Guru »

It's not "fake", just a different way of using the tubes. They call what their doing with the tubes "Starved Plate". They are only running about 50V on the plates of the tubes. This does add a bit of tube warmth to the mix, but it's a far cry from actually using the tube to its full capability.
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JJ2013
Voodoo Audiophile
Posts: 141
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:16 pm

Post by JJ2013 »

Boy, "Starving" may be the word as I am looking at my MIC2200 and can hardly see any glow and to me it doesn't seem to really be a filament or plate either........Maybe I need better eye-glasses :?

73 de JJ

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