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In the Forum: Melquiades Amplifier
In the Thread: Full range Melquiades implementation

Post Subject: Sockets cosmetics.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 5/30/2013

Interesting, in my amp the whiteness of the 6C33C sockets never bothered me. I think if it bother you then you might located the socket slightly below the top panel, this way you will not see them so easer. If you use ceramic base then ceramic is paintable. You might use silicone ceramic base high temperature paint, something like VHT FlameProof or Caswell coatings or alike. Be careful with spraying or brushing the socket as if you drop the paint into the pin-hole then you might say bye-bye to that socket.

Alternative option would be… to smoke the sockets. Close the pin-hole somehow and smoke the ceramic part of the sockets. You might use some kind of wick submerge info a baked of used-up durty engine oil that shall produce carbon black. That will be as black and it could be. Then you might spray it with any mat high-temperature polyurethane.

I think the negative impact of it will be that black sockets will absorb too much infrared from the tube and it will heat up the pins more than it has to be. I think 6C33C runs at 320 °C, I presume the sockets hit at the same but I will not be surprise if in black version then will go hotter. So, you need to be careful with soldering of the socket ping. Lead melts at around 330 °C and the combination of the materials the used for soldering frequently make the solder to melt much sooner sometimes as low as 200°C. So, make sure that you use a solder with high melting point or use welding.

The Cat

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