What kind of tube sockets are these?

[pullshocks]

The Tone King Imperial 20th Anniversary model was hand wired with some unusual tube sockets/turret boards (see picture).  Does anyone know what they are?  I'd love to track some down

[mresistor]

wow those are pretty weird..    definitely different.  I would say they are probably proprietary and made for them specifically.

[mresistor]

Here's a link where I found that picture - to me it seems they are using the vertical space in the chassis. Why, I have no idea.


https://www.tdpri.com/threads/tone-king-imperial-mk-2.836603/

[66Strat]

My dad used to buy military surplus radios. The circuit cards in those radios were generally mounted on edge. They could fit a lot of circuit in a small space. He gave me the task of unsoldering resistors (MIL Spec Allen Bradleys) for his inventory. He had some tank transmitters that could have made a really cool amp head.

[kagliostro]

That is a way to obtain shorter connections to the sockets (that are normal sockets)

There are older similar solutions in the Standel 25L15 amps, our friend TIMBO , some time ago, build an amp using similar architecture

At Tube Town you can find small circled PCB to perform Standel's style constructions

https://www.tube-town.net/ttstore/tube-town-turret-sockel-pcb.html

Franco

[mresistor]

cool kagliostro..    the OP said that they had turrets  but the Imperial in question hasn't turrets but eyelets.

[kagliostro]

Installing turrets is only an option

You can use the PCB as Is (no turrets, no eyelets, also the imperial use only the PCB without eyelets or turrets)

Look to the attached image in detail ....

Franco

[sluckey]

These Vector tube sockets were probably the forerunners of all those crazy sockets. They were available in 7, 8, and 9 pin sockets. Used extensively in '50s military mobile and aviation electronics. You could cram a lot of stuff in a small space. Difficult to replace parts for field techs. Mostly depot level maintenance if a tube would not fix.

[pullshocks]

Thanks for the replies.
I stand corrected, they are eyelet connections, not turret.
Sluckey raises a good point about access to components.  The tone king looks really cool at first glance, but servicing, debugging or tweaking would be challenging.
The Tubetown style (thanks Franco) might be a little easier to deal with.

[HotBluePlates]

... The tone king looks really cool at first glance, but ... debugging or tweaking would be challenging. ...

Because one has paid a lot for the Tone King, we would hope "debugging" or "tweaking" would not be necessary.

... The tone king looks really cool at first glance, but servicing ... would be challenging. ...

I would offer that it's rare to need to replace a preamp resistor, unless the thing has become noisy.  That should take a few decades regardless.  And it appears Tone King used metal oxide resistors, which are less likely to become noisy than carbon resistors.

Should replacement be needed, it appears Tone King has looped the leads through the eyelet and around the board.  In this case, simply use the flat side of some flush-cutting diagonal cutters to cut the lead and solder off the top-side of the eyelet.  When heated, the part and the remaining bent-lead should easily fall away.  So it's really not as difficult as it seems.

You may be thinking, "but what about measuring the voltage of certain tube-pins?". Once familiar with the amp, you get to know which part-lead is connected to the pin in question, and you measure the voltage there.  I've done the same with a construction style I've used in the past, where the socket is not directly accessible:

[kagliostro]

Tube Town didn't invented anything

see the attached image of old sockets with rounded small turret board

Franco

[pullshocks]

HBP, thanks for the comments, layout example, and work technique suggestions.
I don't own a TK imperial, but if I did, I agree, repair would be unlikely to be needed, (and for that amount of money, tweaking bleeping well better not be needed). 
And you're right, if component replacement became needed, it would be possible to do, and maybe not as "challenging" as I first thought.


Some wiring tasks just drive me nuts.  For example, heater wiring.  It drives me so nuts I would rather spend an hour making mini turret boards like the ones in the photo below


But I digress.  My interest in the Tone King wiring stems from needing to fit more components into an existing chassis.  I think the layout in your photo, and the Tubetown miniboards posted by Kagliostro would drive me a little less nuts than the ones in the Tone King photo.


And I'm really liking the idea of the Vector tube sockets for power amp tube grid and screen resistors.

[HotBluePlates]

Some wiring tasks just drive me nuts.  ...  My interest in the Tone King wiring stems from needing to fit more components into an existing chassis.  ...

FWIW, the guy originally behind Tone King doesn't use Tone King's layout method anymore, either.  There are a lot of approaches one could take; it's all about a balance between effort-to-implement and resulting advantage (if any).

[dwinstonwood]

Some wiring tasks just drive me nuts.  For example, heater wiring.  It drives me so nuts I would rather spend an hour making mini turret boards like the ones in the photo below.

Wow! What a great idea, I also hate making those 90 degree bends with twisted wires, trying to get the lengths just right, and the bends in just the right place so that all the wires line up.
Thanks for that!

[mresistor]

That's pullshocks amp  https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=26878.0

[HotBluePlates]

... I also hate making those 90 degree bends with twisted wires, trying to get the lengths just right, and the bends in just the right place so that all the wires line up. ...

If you look again at the photo I posted here, the black & green wires are the heater wiring.

I rotated all the sockets so the heater wiring runs in a straight line from right-to-left, and goes over the socket, in-between the pins.  No 90-degree bends, and the heater wiring mostly stays at a 90-degree orientation to other parts that might be a high-impedance to the heater-field (and so pick up hum).

[RadioComm]

Just read this post this morning, and really got excited about the idea of having turret sockets for my next build (a tube socket preamp --- Matchless Hot Box clone). Mostly as a space saver.

https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=30352.0

Went down to the workbench to figure out what I would need to rig one, stand off length, eyelet size, etc. and maybe even prototype one. Didn't get too far though until I started thinking... I really like tweaking values for tone, and with a turret socket, it's going to be unnecessarily hard to replace/tweak a component. And I remembered sluckey's quote from this thread: "Difficult to replace parts for field techs". Yep field techs and hobbyist alike.

I dumped the idea 

Fun to know about them. Thanks everyone for posting.

[kagliostro]

I think this approach fits better an in series construction than a build and try construction

May be this way can be adopted if you firstly had a long trial on a BreadBoard and have a definitive project

However I was just discussing this aspect with a friend and we arrived to say that a less compact Board on the socket, that permit a better access to the components may be a choice

Franco

[TIMBO]

Hey guys,
A cool idea
Many Vintage Aussie amps used this method, somewhat labor intensive.
One advantage the units could be assembled outside the chassis.
6G9 Build (el34world.com)

[kagliostro]

Ciao TIMBO

thanks for the link to your build

Franco

[TIMBO]

 

[pullshocks]

Hey guys,
A cool idea
Many Vintage Aussie amps used this method, somewhat labor intensive.
One advantage the units could be assembled outside the chassis.
6G9 Build (el34world.com)

One thing for sure: when you see Timbo post a build, you *know* it is going to be something unique and cool.
Thanks for the link. Some great ideas there.

[sluckey]

One thing for sure: when you see Timbo post a build, you *know* it is going to be something unique and cool.
Thanks for the link. Some great ideas there.

Absolutely! Timbo doesn't much care for ho-hum copycat amps. He leans toward unique circuits, or layouts, or cabinetry. Sometimes all in the same project. Whenever Timbo starts a new project I just pull up a chair and watch, knowing I will be entertained. I always expect him to close out a project with his countryman shouting "Are You Not Entertained? Are You Not Entertained? Is This Not Why You Are Here?"

Don't ever stop Timbo.

[TIMBO]

Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate it,
It's a labor of love for the old amps and the Enginuity and passion that started all this.
Again, there is a bunch guys here that were patient and very helpful in the beginning that helped get
 me to where I am today.