20W SLO project

[chunkitup]

I finished building my PP 6V6 HiGain ball buster and I wanted to check the rail voltages without the tubes. They all read the same (435VDC) Plates, Screens, B+2, B+3, and B+4. Is that correct?

[stokes]

With no tubes installed you have no load drawing current,therefore you will get no voltage drop across the dropping resistors in the B+ rail.If you do see a voltage drop with no tubes that would indicate a short drawing current,usually a shorted or leaky filter cap.What you are seeing is normal in a healthy power supply.

[chunkitup]

Nevermind, duh!!! Many hours of soldering and scanning for mistakes leaves one racked out.

[chunkitup]

Stokes, with the tubes in I dont get much drop.
Plates-412
Screens-411
B+2-406, B+3-396, B+4-392
The dropping resistors are 100-1k-2k-2k all caps are 47u450v, no choke
What is the max V for 6v6GT's? I have them running rather cold at 18.6ma and 19.6ma. And should I drop more voltage down the rail? I just cant find good info on power supply theory. So I sort of guess on the dropping resistors. I havent had much luck with Duncans PSUD either.

[stokes]

The recomended max plate volts for the 6V6 is around 350v's,but most 6V6's will take more,the Blackface Deluxe puts about 415v's on the plates.As for dropping more volts down the line,it depends on what you are going for,and what you are getting at the plates of the tubes down the rail,higher value resistors will drop more volts.Personally,I like to see a couple of more volts between the plate and screen,maybe the 1 or 2k here and then a 5k or even 10k feeding the preamp filters.I like the plates of my 12AX7's to be under 200v's,but as long as you are under about 300v's on the AX7's and you like what you are hearing you are okay.I find the higher volts here make the tone too brittle.