Wiring heaters : Ideas about the metal rod method ?

[Pat_rocks92]

Hi

I just saw that FXamps uses a metal rod to wire its heaters. It looks cleaner and it seems to avoid hum issues.

Do you think that using a metal rod instead of wire for the heaters could affect the tone or the way an amplifier reacts/feels ?

Despite some advantages i can see some security drawbacks in the case the amp falls and the heater pins break...

I want to give it a try in my current build any thoughts and opinions about this method, or did anyone already tried it ?

 

[charlie chitlin]

Heaters!
I get it.
It took me awhile.
Looks clean.
I don't know enough to know if there's a sonic advantage.
I once got a roll of thick... maybe 14ga... silver wire that an audiophile had been using for grounds.

 

[Wally]

Soldano uses that method…which makes me think that FX Amps got the idea from Soldano. Much of what I see there reminds me of the build in a Soldano…pre-BAD Soldano. I have not seen a BAD Soldano circuit.

 

[2L man]

Perhaps filament is rectified and filtered and possibly regulated?

 

[corliss1]

Perhaps filament is rectified and filtered and possibly regulated?

Looks like it could be - look at the larger 470uF cap with some diodes on the right. Also looks like it could be an LED pilot light assembly, which further supports this theory.

 

[Dan_Pomykalski]

Hi

I just saw that FXamps uses a metal rod to wire its heaters. It looks cleaner and it seems to avoid hum issues.

View attachment 1052331

Do you think that using a metal rod instead of wire for the heaters could affect the tone or the way an amplifier reacts/feels ?

Despite some advantages i can see some security drawbacks in the case the amp falls and the heater pins break...

I want to give it a try in my current build any thoughts and opinions about this method, or did anyone already tried it ?

I just spent 15 minutes admiring that photo…

 

[Pat_rocks92]

I just spent 15 minutes admiring that photo…

Yeah the guy is a french engeneer that got enough of his job left everything went to greece and now he builds amps as a living. The guys says he is nuts about order which we can clearly see in his amps.

AMPLIFIERS – Fxamps

www.fxamps.com

they seem to sound good and are not that much expensive for the quality of build.

Sometimes your are tempted to buy just to reverse engeneer x)...

 

[Wally]

So, the novals are heated with DC. The power tubes heaters are wired
for AC. Cathode biased output. good looking amp….interesting.

 

[Pat_rocks92]

Soldano uses that method…which makes me think that FX Amps got the idea from Soldano. Much of what I see there reminds me of the build in a Soldano…pre-BAD Soldano. I have not seen a BAD Soldano circuit.

yeah you were right ! it's interesting that they used to shield some of the metal rods to avoid danger hazards.

 

[Lowerleftcoast]

.

it's interesting that they used to shield some of the metal rods to avoid danger hazards.

The FXamps wire has an enamel coating. It is insulated. It appears to be 10AWG or 12AWG Magnet wire, not some special metal rod.

 

[dan40]

I'm am currently building a Soldano SLO from a kit that I purchased from C3 amps. It also uses the bare 18awg bus wire for the heaters and they power all of the tubes with AC voltage. It will be awhile before I can fire it up and test for any heater noise but many of these kits have been built with this method and most folks report that the amp is pretty quiet. The new Soldano's that are built by BAD do employ DC heaters on the preamp tubes so it's possible that they felt the need to do this to help keep filament noise at bay.

 

[Dacious]

If the heaters are far away from the audio bits why not. Old Fenders like Champs have one leg of the Noval heaters through the chassis, the other was a straight wire. The two I had were dead silent. Ditto Tweed amps.