1300 watt tube amp using Eimac 3-400Z tubes. 3500 V plate supply!
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Pics of tubes....
- Thread starter rodl2005
- Start date
I read a book about that project, very interesting book.
Imagine you had a dud. It'd be like to trying to find the broken bulb in an old set of christmas tree lights!
At first the thing used to shut down at least every two days and actually more often usually, they had people who's jobs were constantly checking the tubes which were all diodes.
There's some interesting Reliability information on Wikipedia about the ENIAC from the co-inventor Eckert
ENIAC - Wikipedia
Useful info actually.
Avoid thermal shock, leave the thing on standby (must have had huge fans)
They could troubleshoot in 15 minutes. (imagine the tube cart)
They once achieved 116 hours of operation without failure (for that many tubes the above worked wonders)
They actually used some audio tubes as line drivers
IIRC they had air conditioning. Here's the book, it's not available for Kindles but I bought a paperback.
Eniac: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer
https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Computer/dp/0802713483
Here's another really cool book, it's about the analog phone hackers who could dial anywhere free by imitating the tones of the equipment along with other methods, one guy could whistle the tones. This one is available for Kindles.
Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws who Hacked Ma Bell
https://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Untold-Teenagers-Outlaws-ebook/dp/B009SAV5W0
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
The NORAD machines were part of the SAGE continental air defense system. A truly fascinating Cold War system. The computer itself was called the AN/FSQ-7 and was awesome. Long before the internet was invented, they had modems connecting all these computers together across North America, exchanging radar and other data, processing the radar returns of air traffic, tracking possible Soviet bomber raids, controlled surface-to-air missiles, and had data links between the computers and the F-106 jet interceptors, which also had vacuum tube computers and radar to intercept incoming threats. All built in the 50s/early 60s. Amazing.
And those were probably like 40K modems, if that. Talk about picking the right notes!
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
40k??? Try 300 baud, which was the same speed as the first modem I used.
Geez, and they attached to your phone with a suction cup! 40k would have been a godsend in 1990!
You are right! I started there to. And then 9600 was like light speed. Now around here 300 MEG is becoming normal.
Hey, can I hookup a modem to my 8:88? You know, for remote bias support?
What a fantastic thread!
My Vox AC15, in the best picture I've ever taken of it:
My Vox AC15, in the best picture I've ever taken of it:
Audio Research VT200 Power Amplifier
There were quite a few different types of magic eye tubes. The most popular seem to be the old 6E5 and 6U5s.
I used to use an old Leader frequency counter from the 70s that used Nixie tubes for the readout.
Old radios had magic eye tubes for tuning. I like the bar ones as VU meters.
HP frequency counters used nixie tubes as well.
Nothing beats the look of the tubes glowing on a Ampeg B-15N(C)
