To Hot to Handle?

My folks live in the Nor'east in VT Matty, but I'm clear across the
continent in Seattle. Now if you're having a BBQ with two six packs that
may entice me to come out there on a whim. Those sixers oughta put
some nice KT88 burns so make sure to have twelve of'em on hand come
February. The EL34 option just doesn't get those top layers seared quite
enough. KT88's are easier to grip too and you'll get those nods of
recognition every time you roll up your sleaves.

Good on'ya Bumpkin. That Dennis Had knows which end of the
soldering iron is hot! Heard good things about AES. Let us all know how
it all sounds when you hook'em up and find out what music really
sounds like. Hope you got something tubearific to feed it with?! Yeah,
music really doesn't need to sound like nails on a chalkboard, and you
can stop buying that Costco-sized bottle of Advil every month for those
headaches you were wondering about. Why the savings alone oughta
start you on your way to saving up for those Bernings I see in your
future. Crimighty folks, my laptop battery is dying and my dog's asleep
at my elbow and it's bloody hot here in Seattle. I ougtta wrap this up
and get my silly ass to bed. Night all........

Marco

I solved the problem by sticking with a SET 300B amplifier and using headphones when it is too hot to run the amp! That is only a couple of weeks per year in the SF Bay Area thank The Gods (for they are many).

What generates the heat in a tube amp? I know that the tube filiaments, turned on all the time even with no signal, generate a lot of heat. That is their purpose...to "boil off" electrons. The power transformer heat will vary somewhat with signal, as the current draw varies. There are probably a few resistors that dissipate power.

What else generates heat, and what are the relative amounts?

Actually, the filaments do not make most of the heat, which is a common misconception. The tube conducting makes most of the heat- by that I mean the tube conducting as a matter of its class of operation (class A or AB for example), and conducting due to the signal it is amplifying.

If you disconnect the B+ from the tube so that it is merely lit up but not conducting, you will find that most of the heat is gone.

One exception to this is the 6C33-BC power tube, which has a prodigious filament circuit (which overloads the socket that the tube uses and leads to the failure of the socket; the extreme heat that the socket otherwise sees in service contributes to a large degree to that too, so the smaller pins usually fail first).

So other then the 6C33, the filament is about 15-25% of the heat of the tube. The more class AB the circuit is, the larger the proportion of the heat is filament (since class AB circuits run cooler).

Just an update...

Rec'd my AES Six Pac's yeserday, have them set up and running.

Boy, break out the weenies, they a little bit warm to say the least. However it is workable, fan for the window, etc.

Thank you everyone for your opinion. Maybe I will invite you all to a BBQ over the amps....

Regards,