Chuck Guzis wrote:
Just before transistors began to be used in auto
radios, "space
charge" tubes made a brief appearance, running their plates and
heaters from the 12v battery. No vibrator supply. Some of the
earliest transistor designs used a transistor only in the audio
output stage, among them the Delco "Wonder Bar" models.
Jeff Duntemann has a nice page on this stuff, along
with datasheets:
Yes, I found that excellent site back when I was playing with low-voltage tube headphone
amps and I have a copy of the Tube Collector Magazine "Car Tubes" article cited
there. However, the tube amps I built from modern plans were ones that used common dual
triodes like the 12AU7 but with _very_ low plate voltages. The reason for this is the
scarcity and, as a result, expense of the low-voltage "car tube" types most
useful for audio amps and, unfortunately, logic circuits (12U7, 6GM8). If for some reason
I can't get any of the most common and cheapest high B+ dual triode tubes to work in a
logic circuit at low plate voltages, then I'll have to go with something like the dual
diode, single triode "space charge" car tubes that aren't in demand by audio
enthusiasts making them much more readily available and much cheaper. A functional
hobbyist demonstration of tube logic that's cheap and uses low voltages is my goal.