Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: dude on February 16, 2018, 08:30:53 am
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Finally getting to building an Allen Old Flame chassis, had bought the last chassis from Allen years ago with the old style non-slanted front chassis he used in his first amps. I put the sockets, PT, OT in, now time for the filament wiring. Allen uses the old Fender style over the top wiring. I have the thick green Fender style cloth wire, probably 16 or 18 gauge, and would like an opinion on over the top vs along the chassis. If I use over the top, I'll have to wire the filaments after I wire the sockets, much easier not to deal with the thick wire in the way. I would think if I wire the filaments along the side of the chassis, I would not use that thick green cloth wire, hard to get it looking neat. So what would be the best way, I figure it's a toss up...? And if I use the green thick cloth along the chassis would it need to be twisted tightly or could it be a little loose...?
Any opinions..?
al
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I do not go over the top simply because I prefer to bring screen wires over down and in. THis way I never have to cross a screen wire wiht another.
Some say twist and you can twist tightly. I have twisted up to the power tubes and then run parallel wires like a Soldano and it is quiet even in High Gain. Simply have to align pins. Mainly I do them as the Valve Wizard shows here
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/heater.html
It looks nice, travels over the socket as this is out of the way and it works everytime. Hard to beat.
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Any opinions..?
since I progressed to turret boards I do my fil wires 1st, I take the green cloth off, looks cleaner. here's my current build, you can omit the copper tube, just my aesthetic touch :laugh:, but run them in a similar fashion tight to the chassis. Inside the pipe is double insulated 20ga bell wire $8 for 25'
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My 2 cents - unless you want to go with a vintage look and suffer cramming that thick 18gauge stuff into small 9-pin sockets, keep in mind that 22AWG is rated at a whopping 5amps. I use 22gauge zip wire (i.e. lamp cord style) which doesn't require twisting. I run pre-amp tubes in parallel with the power tubes so even if you're using a pair of big draw tubes like EL34 or KT88, you can run wire to a pair for 3amps and then to 4-6 pre-amp tubes and still stay under 5amps.