6550's in Ranger

[Tom W2ILA]

Has anyone stuffed a pair of 6550's into a Ranger as replacements for the 1614's?
Things to consider (other than fil current) ?

TM

[WB2CAU]

Hi Tom,

I believe the Timtron has routinely done that in his Ranger mods in the past.  

Eric  -  WB2CAU

[WD8BIL]

RangerTron Mods

[Tom W2ILA]

Yep,
I read the Timtron article on "how to replace everything in a Ranger".  But, I'm wondering if anyone has come closer to a plug and play 6550 for the lazy guys only slightly modified Ranger.

Tom

[W3BYM]

GO FOR IT,
I run a pair of KT88s in my Ranger. Was at first concerned about the filament current but it has been no problem for several years.. Also run Tim's full modulator ckt.

73,

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Sell the 6550's on Ebay to an audio nut and buy another Ranger.

[Tom W2ILA]

These are oxygen free 6550's too. The audio guys would pay big time dinero.

[wavebourn]

These are oxygen free 6550's too. The audio guys would pay big time dinero.

All oxigen had been pumped out using special medical grade sucking technology...

[K6JEK]

Has anyone stuffed a pair of 6550's into a Ranger as replacements for the 1614's?
Things to consider (other than fil current) ?

TM

I did.  I didn't just plug them in, though.  I did a whole pile of things.  I put in the TimTron mods, the W3AM mods, the K6AD mods, the K6JEK mods.  It was a junker.  I couldn't help myself.  I even had Dee, W4PNT, paint it which really improved the sound.

As Burbank Wrecking Crew Joe (W1GFH) can attest, Bob Heil called this exact Ranger, and I quote "The best sounding Ranger I've ever heard."   A proud moment which I take every opportunity to flaunt especially if Joe's within earshot.

Jon

PS. Joe sounds better than I do, but who notices?  Nobody.

[W1GFH]

Has anyone stuffed a pair of 6550's into a Ranger as replacements for the 1614's?
Things to consider (other than fil current) ?

TM

I did.  I didn't just plug them in, though.  I did a whole pile of things.  I put in the TimTron mods, the W3AM mods, the K6AD mods, the K6JEK mods.  It was a junker.  I couldn't help myself.  I even had Dee, W4PNT, paint it which really improved the sound.

As Burbank Wrecking Crew Joe (W1GFH) can attest, Bob Heil called this exact Ranger, and I quote "The best sounding Ranger I've ever heard."   A proud moment which I take every opportunity to flaunt especially if Joe's within earshot.

Yeah, well...I run General Electric 6550's in my Ranger...AND an Amperex Bugle Boy 12AX7 in the 1st audio stage...AND Randy KK7TV once told me "boy, that Ranger sounds like a million dollars". (OK, he may not be Bob Heil but he is a muoy macho W. Coast AM gangster) :badgrin:

*BTW, I hear Bob Heil tore KO6NM's RE-27 off the stand and hurled it in the pool that night. I believe Mike's running a Heil Goldmine™ now....

[K6JEK]

*BTW, I hear Bob Heil tore KO6NM's RE-27 off the stand and hurled it in the pool that night. I believe Mike's running a Heil Goldmine™ now....

I can't slip anything by you, can I?  The last time I heard Mike he said he was using a new Heil microphone.   This explains it.

I bought my 6550's as spares for my 100V but I couldn't stand looking at them sitting on the shelf.  They are genuine Sovtek tubes.

Jon

[wavebourn]

Mike always sounds great, but I thought it is because of a proper equalizer...

[W1GFH]

Mike always sounds great, but I thought it is because of a proper equalizer...

I believe the rack of Dorrough DAP stuff he uses employs gentle-slope filters rather than steep-slope ones, so when he sets cutoff at 7 khz it sounds more like 10 khz.

I hope your R392 will be able to hear it OK, Tolly. You know, it's impossible to fully appreciate the superior audio of Bob Heil-approved stations like JEK at 6 kc IF. :grin:

[wavebourn]

I hope your R392 will be able to hear it OK, Tolly. You know, it's impossible to fully appreciate the superior audio of Bob Heil-approved stations like JEK at 6 kc IF. :grin:

Don't you remember I use Fisher Hi-Fi AM receiver for the 2'nd IF converter & detector with my BC-348? :lol:

Really, BC-348 is a great half-rig, I mean RF & 1'st IF gear!

Speaking of R-392, I decided not to modify filaments, let it use 28V tubes except that pornographic 26A7. I am going to install a nice IC into it's socket, with one wire going to the socket for the 1'st AF tube. Let's Collins' fans will be proud of me. :lol:

[W8ER]

Tom W2ILA,

I might as well jump in Tom. I reworked the modulator section of my Ranger II and used EL34's (6CA7's). They were the tubes used in the Eico 730 modulator and the Apache. Physically they are tall and slender and fit much better in the space. Like the others, they are 6L6's on steroids and are much overkill for the rig. It sounds great though and has enough power to do 150% positive peaks with ease, when the final is fully loaded. Also as with the others, the sockets need to have a couple of changes to accomodate the only slightly different pinout.

--Larry W8ER

[Tom W2ILA]

Well, Here's the update and thanks for all your input.
I did the "simple mods" from the AM Window webpage plus I solid stated the HV (since I had a tubester handy).  All power supply caps got really beefed up and all paper caps were changed in addition to the cap changes on the Window.
First I ran 1614's.  The sounded ok but the resting current drifted up over a minute or two.  I suspect they either dont like the new HV or they are gassy.
Next I tried 5881's (beefier 6L6).  They sounded good and were stable.
Next I tried 6550 - These clearly had lots of talk power but they sounded a bit ragged.  I biased them to 100ma and fooled a little with that but they just seem to distort on peaks.  This pair has been hanging around for a long time and I wonder if they are beat.
Next I put in a pair of 7581 that came out of my BC transmitter.  These are beefier 6L6 with a 500V plate, 31 watt rateing (compared to 360v, 19W for the 1614).  I hear the 7581 is close to a KT66.  The 7581's seem to really like the setup, are clean and give lots of monkey swing.  I'm leaving them in.
Overall nobody said I sounded like a million bucks but this morning I got comments like "robust" "clean" "you are done" so I'm keeping the setup.  These mods are really simple to put in so if anyone wants to get a beater Ranger to a functional baseline before really changing things the recipie on the AM Window works well.

The last project is to add PTT and there are as many ways to do that as there are speech amps.  The trick is to make the PTT work and also still be able to run CW.

73
Tom W2ILA