Happy new, everyone! Been meaning to use an OT i have, that has unused UL taps on the primary. This got me pondering possible connections.
If g2 screen tied to plate approximate a triode (btw shouldnt g3 be tied in as well, for closest approx? i digress), then g3 suppressor tied to plate (instead of g2) would reasonably approximate a tetrode.
Have never heard/played a tetrode but the kinks at lower plate volts usually look extremely non-linear (see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrode#/media/File:RCA_24-A_Screen_Grid_tube_anode_characteristics.jpg), which ofcourse could sound/feel like shit. Or since the kinks appear predominately at lower plate volts, im guessing theyd be a more prominent part of the sound signature under overdrive than normal conditions, as well as with higher loads and or limited damping (if reactive load). Which atleast possibly could sound interesting? Any experience or thoughts on tetrodes in guitar amps?
Onwards, if g2 screen tied to say 50% UL taps approximate a half breed pentode-triode, then wouldnt g3 suppressor tied to UL taps (instead of g2) approximate a 50-50 pentode-tetrode mongrel? Anyone tried this?
In my minds eye this looks particularly interesting since the g3 voltage would be approaching cathode/ground the lower the plate voltage gets, thus reasonably tempering the wild kinks when they are at their wildest, and presumably need tempering the most? I.e. ~half tetrode at small plate swings, ~mostly pentode at big plate swings?
Furthermore, what if both g2 and g3 were tied to UL taps? This would atleast improve speaker damping which would reasonably further temper the tetrode kinks at their most extreme.
Are any of these connections possibly hazardous? And if experimenting with this, would one need g3 stoppers for tube protection; if so what range would you roughly reckon for EL34s??
The two g3-to-UL scenarios above are of primary interest to myself, but i can think of atleast two more connections possibly viable:
1. What if g3 would be tied to normal g2 supply instead (UL taps left alone), what would this half breed topography resemble? I suppose a sort of tetrode kink tempering as in the g3-to-UL connection proposed above, but instead of directly dependent on plate voltage, now only indirectly, and more precisely correlated to g2 current, thus more specifically tempering tetrode kinks at overdrive conditions rather than normal operation plate swing. I.e. ~half tetrode at normal operation, ~mostly pentode at overdrive?
On second thought, lower screen voltage would force plate down too, so perhaps ~half tetrode at normal operation, ~mostly triode at overdrive?
2. Lastly, another (perhaps even less interesting?) possibility is g2 to UL taps and g3 to plate, which i guess would make a half breed tetrode-triode approximation.Hope this wasnt to scatter-brainy to properly follow. Any thoughts of yours are greatly appreciated!
Many thank /kw