More tubes

[Doug Tymofichuk]

Greetings, all,

Wow, there sure is a lot of excitement in tubeland these 
days. :)

Over the weekend I built a dual VCO module based on Eric 
Barbour's design. Construction was straightforward, mount 
the tube sockets and connector strips, solder all the parts 
in place, insert tubes, and power up. Worked flawlessly, 
first time. Love that warm, rich sound!

As I had the parts laying around, I built a separate power 
supply for this module, so it is all self-contained. For 
the rest of the modules, however, I probably will build one 
big power supply for all of them.

I'm finding that I really enjoy this type of construction. 
In the time it normally takes me to breadboard a 
solid state circuit I can have a tube circuit built and 
ready to go. No more etching pcbs, sweating over layout, 
etc. And modifications are a snap. I am eager to begin my 
next module.

Patch cords are an issue I had not considered yet. 
Converting all of the inputs and outputs to lower voltages 
seems impractical to me, so maybe some type of mechanically 
shielded connector would be needed to prevent electrical 
shock. I was planning on using standard 1/4" jacks, I may 
have to rethink that. Any suggestions for reasonably 
priced, safe connectors? BNC perhaps?

BTW, I have just been the lucky recipient of a couple of 
boxes of old, surplus tubes. They contain everything from 
diodes to pentodes, sub-miniature to high power, with nixie 
tubes and photomultipliers as well, over 150 tubes in all! 
Heating my house should be no problem this winter. :)

I am going to be taking pictures of my efforts so far with 
a digital camera. If anyone is interested, let me know and 
I can send them to you. Or maybe someone would like to post 
them on a web page or something.
----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca