Would I benefit from Elrog 274B?

[Fishfood]

I would be replacing a NOS testing Mullard 7 notch 5AR4. I'm using the AN4300B not ER300Bs, which I will get eventually but for now the 274B is in my budget range.

I would appreciate some opinions on whether once you have a good rectifier tube, a better rectifier tube actually makes a sound difference.

 

[VinylSavor]

Hi!

5AR4 and 274B are very different rectifiers with different specifications and are not interchangeable unless the circuit is explicitly designed to work with both. And even then the circuit would only work ideally with one of them since these tube types have different internal voltage drops resulting in different voltage to the circuit.

If tubes have the same pinout this does not mean they are interchangeable. If the circuit makes use of the 5AR4 maximum ratings, using the 274B will result in short tube life.

Unfortunately it became a recent trend to blindly swap rectifier tube types without taking technical parameters into account.

Best regards

Thomas

 

[Fishfood]

Well, thank you so much Thomas! I will leave well enough alone and continue saving for the ER300Bs and a trip to my tube tech to make sure the filament voltage is ideal for them.