[gibosi]

And coincidentally, I've recently been running one in a Glenn OTL.

 

[JTbbb]

Have been rolling rectifiers recently in my 300b amp, including ones that I had long forgotten about. Amongst these is a Chatham 'Potato Masher' 5R4WGA that I didn't hold high hopes for, but surprisingly I haven't had the urge to swap it out yet. To me it is well balanced and there is something seductive about the lows, not the widest soundstage but good depth. It won't win any beauty contests granted but can be had for peanuts compared to some others.
Has anyone else tried this and been pleasantly surprised?

I just can't bring myself to put it into my amp at the moment .

 

[GPJ7]

Have been rolling rectifiers recently in my 300b amp, including ones that I had long forgotten about. Amongst these is a Chatham 'Potato Masher' 5R4WGA that I didn't hold high hopes for, but surprisingly I haven't had the urge to swap it out yet. To me it is well balanced and there is something seductive about the lows, not the widest soundstage but good depth. It won't win any beauty contests granted but can be had for peanuts compared to some others.
Has anyone else tried this and been pleasantly surprised?

I just locally picked up a NOS Chatham 5R4WGA and NOS Chatham 5R4WGB (yellow stencil on glass with identical internals) for $8 apiece for use in my WA22. Both are absolutely great. Feels like I could toss one down my street, go pick it up and put it back in the amp and it would play fine. From what I've read, the B model was a ruggedized version made specifically for use in B-52 bombers. They are not inferior to any others in their tube class, as good or better IMO. Really good value IMO.

 

[alvin sawdust]

I just can't bring myself to put it into my amp at the moment .

Have to agree, would spoil the look of your stunning amp. Is that a Brimar 5R4GY?

 

[JTbbb]

Have to agree, would spoil the look of your stunning amp. Is that a Brimar 5R4GY?

Yup, aka CV717

 

[gibosi]

Well, it's Friday night here and I decided to roll in a Valvo G4004 rectifier. By 1943, the manufacture of vacuum tubes for civilian purposes had ceased at Valvo's Hamburg plant and output was devoted entirely to the war effort. Given that there are no military markings (or date codes), this rectifier was likely manufactured before 1943. Further, I have seen no evidence that Valvo resumed the manufacture of this G4004 after the war. I really like this rectifier, but given it's scarcity, it spends most of the time safely stored away.



This is a rather large rectifier as you can see compared to old Soviet 6N5S from the 1950's. And to give a better idea of scale, below, compared to a Western Electric 422A.



I wish to caution you. This is a 4V rectifier. And even if you buy an adapter, it still draws 4A. Most amps can provide only 2A and a few can provide as much as 3A. The Glenn OTL is the only amp I know of that can provide 4 amps, and more, but I am sure there must be others. Anyway, exceeding the maximum heater current value could damage your amp, perhaps fatally, so I encourage you to be very careful.

Oh, it sounds great!

 

[tholt]

^ That's a tall tree! Looks awesome, love the history. Super cool

 

[MIKELAP]

It is a very nice rectifier that many people ignore. As a matter of fact I used it yesterday on my amp. I bought it about 5 years ago for $10.00.

I have several of those will give them a try again ,it's been so long