HEATER WIRES

[RCGPNY1]

What's the general consensus on how to run heater leads? Fender and others, most significantly Fuchs et al run the leads "high and tight". Marshall and many of the "Wreck" style builds I've seen here have them lying on the chassis.....Andy Fuchs told me "I like 'em high and tight cause it's quieter". When I was doing the wiring of 'mods" for Andy..thats how we did them I did a very tight twist with the leads above the tube sockets....Thoughts?

[cbass]

I recently did Marshall style heaters never again much easier to go over the sockets .
I believe its quiter too.

[NickC]

I generally do the "high and tight" approach. I chuck both wires (different colors to keep phase correct) in a drill, and use it to wind the pair. Then hold the windings tight using nylon zip-ties.

[RCGPNY1]

In fact many of the Wreck builds I've seen here, I would call "low and loose"(lol)..If, in Wrecks especially the express, we are concerned about noise etc then why the low and loose heaters. Is the only reason people do it that way is because Ken Fischer did it that way? (although I havent seen gut shots of enough of his amps to make that judgement)...

[xtian]

I like to twist tightly in a drill chuck, and put the pairs low, against the chassis. This suits my style, because I like to fly the leads from the turret board down toward the socket pins.

[ToneMerc]

I done chassis laydown filament wiring like Tweed Fenders and Marshall which have turned out quiet as a mouse and done the overhead high and tight schemes. I've come to the conclusion that if you have at least 3-4 crossover wraps in between sockets, I don't think it matters that much.

However, I think the biggest influence in reducing hum is a careful grounding scheme free of ground loops.

TM

[wyatt]

The reason we twist wires is to keep them close and parallel to one another. It's keeping heater wires parallel than reduces noise, I don't think the wires themselves can be mechanical twisted tight enough to actual reduce radiation.

That's why Soldano can get a quiet high-gain amp with something like this...
http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx19 ... G_6141.jpg
http://www.c3amps.com/Photos/SLOBuildLo ... /Bias1.jpg
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll21 ... terior.jpg
http://stevesegal.hypermart.net/SLO100serial93995.JPG

The rest is all lead dress. It's much easier to keep the heater wires perpendicular to the others when they are running vertical and the gird, plate, etc are all running horizontal. But if you pay attention to how you route the wires, you can do it several ways with great results.

[RCGPNY1]

So...as with so many things about amps..it's subjective

[wyatt]

So...as with so many things about amps..it's subjective

That may not be the right word, "subjective" implies everyone feels their way is better than another. It's not a worst to best progression; instead it is a threshold...it either works right (quiet)...or it doesn't (noise). The rest is ergonomics.

[xtian]

I think the biggest influence in reducing hum is a careful grounding scheme free of ground loops.

I'm with you.

In a couple of cases where I was trying to solve hum, I replaced a run of heater wire with a much longer length of wire, and then while the amp was running, moved this loop of wire all around the circuit, especially moving it close to the grids of the first stages. I could not get the system to hum any louder!

[RCGPNY1]

So...as with so many things about amps..it's subjective

That may not be the right word, "subjective" implies everyone feels their way is better than another. It's not a worst to best progression; instead it is a threshold...it either works right (quiet)...or it doesn't (noise). The rest is ergonomics.

I think you better check Webster's....lol I used the word properly

[randalp3000]

I started using parallel wiring on my preamp tubes with very quiet results.

[Phil_S]

I prefer what Nick does. I prefer solid core and skip the zip ties.

There are several ways to successfully install the heater wires. The main thing is to keep them away from the signal wires. I recently did a PTP build in an old PA chassis. Though I rarely do it, much of the heater wiring got tucked into the fold of the chassis (Marshall-ish), but I got to one socket where that was not going to work, so I went up in the air at a certain point.

I've seen all sorts of layouts. I've got two mid '60's Gibson amps that had no twist at all. They simple routed wires on the chassis floor by the most direct route from one socket to another. Wires are a good inch apart or more, and these amps work just fine.

Some people use zip cord (lamp cord) because that keeps the two wires parallel, and then you unzip it at the socket for attachment. I don't like that stuff because the wire is a bit much to thread into a noval socket, but it's a great ideal.

And then there are the builds (I think Mesa does this) where sockets are aligned to permit solid copper to run in a straight line through the pins. You can sleeve it with heat shrink if you don't like so much exposed copper.

Bottom line, do whatever works well for you.

[NickC]

So...as with so many things about amps..it's subjective

That may not be the right word, "subjective" implies everyone feels their way is better than another. It's not a worst to best progression; instead it is a threshold...it either works right (quiet)...or it doesn't (noise). The rest is ergonomics.

I think you better check Webster's....lol I used the word properly

Seems to me a better word choice would be "Objective" rather than subjective. The "object" is to have a quiet amp, and best practices for how to attain that are also objective. While there are different ways to achieve the objective, ultimately it either works properly or not. It's "subjective" whether the amp operates quietly enough for the user.

[randalp3000]

to be clear this is what I was referring to as parallel for the preamp tubes.