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On Jan 26, 6:22*am, John L Stewart John.L.Stewart.
wrote:
;951090 Wrote:









On Jan 25, 6:37*pm, flipper wrote:-
On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:51:11 -0800 (PST), gjsmo
wrote:
-
First, let me say that I know almost nothing about amplifier design,
and tubes in general. However, I'm interested, and ready to learn.-
-
I have recently gotten two 760/6858 mercury thyratrons from a local
electronics shop which is going out of business. There's a data
sheet
here -http://www.classiccmp.org/rtellason/.../760_6858.pdf-
-
Would it be possible to make these into a push-pull guitar amp of
some
sort? They're quite big, and I imagine I might be able to get a few
hundred watts out of it. A bass amp might also be interesting. I
realize that they are thyratrons, not meant for audio use, but can
it
be done? And if so, how well would it work?-

A thyratron is an electronic 'switch', not an amplifier, which means
you can't make an amplifier with them because they aren't.-

A thyratron is a gas filled triode or tetrode tube that is on or off,
not linear. They can not be used as linear amplifiers but
theoretically could be used as a switchmode amplifier element: the
results would not be very good, I don't think. Some might be used as
rectifiers, but even there that isn't their first best purpose. There
were thyratron switched DC power supplies in the manner of ones using
SCRs or triacs today shown as DIY projects which might be interesting
to look at. Most thyratrons are either small signal devices used in
oscilloscopes and certain waveform generators or huge big bottles for
circuits with several kilovolts.

The 884/885 Thyratron was commonly used in the time base circuit of
scopes in the 30s & 40s. I can think of Dumont off the top. I think some
early Heathkits as well. The circuit was more or less free running but
could be synchronized by an external signal. Sweep speed was controlled
by the ramp produced by an RC circuit & then the C discharged by the
thyratron.

Finally Tektronix showed how a time base showed be built.

So often gas bags like Don Lancaster howl that Tektronix is the ONLY
scope. Hmmmm.