2P29L DHT Preamp

The Mule saga continues and it was time to modify the 3B7 preamp and to test the 2P29L valve. This was quite easy as they both have loctal sockets. I had to modify the Rod Coleman filament regulator to set the filament current down to 120mA. Then a bit of wiring work, and in less than an hour a new preamp was ready. Job done, this is why I built the Mule:

The circuit is quite close to my original design time ago. I modified the filament resistor to use an existing Russian NOS wirewound part I had in stock and suit this preamp quite well. Added grid and screen stoppers as well:

 

 

The rest stays the same. The gyrator board is based around the BSH111BK and the top MOSFET is IXTP08N100D (with its own heatsink). 

I have a series of daughter PCB boards to adapt the BSH111BK to the gyrator PCB. I will be offering these shortly as pre soldered boards with the gyrator.

The 2P29L is run hot at is nearly maximum Pa. Well, I’ve got plenty of these so I won’t worry about it. It sounds better at 20mA in my opinion. If you can lower the HT a bit may help with power dissipation of the top MOSFET. I’d go for 200V to provide enough headroom.

Frequency response is really good, mind you there is no 100K load (I forgot to add it on my test) as in normal operation. When loaded it will reduce the response. However, this is really good. Gain about 18dB is as expected and similar to other DHTs I use. Enough to feed the output stage (4P1L PSE). 

Distortion is about 0.045% for 5.5Vrms and 0.12% for 11Vrms output.

How does it sound?

 Well, another great DHT in my opinion. Compared to the recent version of the 3B7, the 3B7 lacks of some warmth and or strong body sound I think. Hard to explain, I liked it but not as much as the other DHTs I have been using. This one has a powerful bass and clear treble. No coloration, great sound overall.

I wasn’t wrong when I said this was a good DHT to explore. Microphonic noise is minimal, surprising. No need of special arrangements. 

 

Author: Ale Moglia

"A mistake is always forgivable, rarely excusable and always unacceptable. " (Robert Fripp)

11 thoughts on “2P29L DHT Preamp”

  1. The 2P29L is one of the few good DHTs that has so far escaped my clutches. But I’ve now put this right with a preamp build using a Hammond 126C as plate choke and a couple of FT-2 caps giving me 0.2uF out. 150v A-K, 7v bias and a 62R Russian military cathode resistor in filament bias. Very simple build, and I wanted to use some of my 126C which have been on the shelf since they didn’t quite suit the 26. Well – they certainly suit the 2P29L at 15mA. Plenty of inductance at 106H. No hum, no microphony. Sound is great – extremely detailed with plenty of treble and bass. This tube is rather off the beaten track, but Ale has brought it to the table and I’m enjoying it! Thanks, Ale. This is a real contender, and 15mA is better for driving PSE 4P1L outputs than the 3mA or so out of the 01A, however wonderful that sounds. I’ve only listened for 15 minutes, but really liking what I’m hearing so far. Andy

    1. Hi Andy,
      I’m glad to hear you liked it. It was a great discovery in particular given the low requirements on filaments as well as its low microphony. I think is a great valve to use, in particular as a driver.
      I’ve played it for several weeks and I love its sound!
      Cheers
      Ale

  2. Ali
    Have you tried tying the suppressor grid back to the Kathode with a .1uf cap? Steve deckard does this on his Russian el84 amps. I tried it it does some nice things. I am getting to the 2p29l over the next holiday and I’ll try there too

    1. Hi David
      No, I haven’t. Would be interested in hearing your results and feedback once you build the 2P29L preamp. Thanks Ale

  3. Has anyone got the output impedance for this preamp (built according to the schematic above)? I have tried to do it myself using Ale’s blog on the subject but I’m no EE and maths isn’t one of my strengths – I used Ale’s ‘Proof of the PUdding’ example from his Zout blog to create a spreadsheet but I am just guessing with the values I need to substitute for the 2P29L use case.- I think Rp is 2K8 and Rs is 470R but Gm is a mystery to me?

  4. Hi Ale,

    I’m wondering … you mentioned changing Rod’s boards to accommodate the 2P29L filaments; what changes did you make?

    Thanks and Regards,

    Robert

    1. Hi Robert,
      The change as mentioned is to accommodate the current range, a simple current setting resistor as indicated by Rod. My “Mule” preamp has been bastardised after so many variations and tests. I hacked Rod’s boards to provide a simple way to connect different current resistor by plugging them with a 2mm gold connector (plug and PCB socket). That’s it.
      Happy building!
      cheers, Ale

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