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Silicon Rectifier conversion to Tube


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Hello guys, this time I've got a question that probably only one that has done the thing himself could answer to but anyway, I certainly think it's worth asking.

 

I have with me a Vox AC15c2.

 

As some of you may know since the early 90s Vox amps have switched the production models to having solid state rectifiers versus tube that was in the original circuit(and certainly there are many more things that differentiate early and current production models).

 

Anyway this is not a topic that I intend to discuss the pros and cons of each rectifying medium, I am already ear-convinced that a nice rectifier tube can squeeze the brains out of you, I would like to know if anyone here has done a conversion from silicon to tube and how it was done.

 

I know the problems that current production Vox amps have, some heavy filtering, cheap components, transformer and so on.

 

Since most of us don't have the money to buy the handwired version all at once, I guess we're left with doing smalls steps at a time, I think that this in particular is a huge step towards the authentic Vox tone.

 

Thank you.

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You will need to add a tube socket to the chassis, and wire it properly for the filament supply, which you can parallel off of one of the other tube sockets. The wires from the secondary of the AC power transformer that went to the solid state rectifier will now got to the Anode and Cathode of the rectifier tube pins, via the socket. A good start is to take a peek at an original VOX AC-15 schematic that had a tube rectifier and the changes will be readily apparent. You can add more filter caps in parallel with the existing one or replace it with a larger one for more "punch" and tone. Replace the on/off switch with a Carling 3 position on-on-off to get a standby feature, the filaments go to the first on position, the high voltage from the transformer to the anode of the rectifier go to the other on position.

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