Admiral T102 scored

[Tubejunke]

I take it that the diode has a similar forward resistance as the old wire-wound resistor had in order to maintain the proper voltage. I am sort of new to the whole concept of replacing one component with a totally different, more modern component. I have read up a bit on eliminating 5U4s or other tube diodes used in a rectifier configuration, and replacing them with silicon diodes and a resistor to drop the same voltage as the tube filament. I have seen a few sets with the selenium rectifier disconnected and some older (germanium?) solid state diode(s) wired in its place. I thought that selenium rectifiers tended to run a bit hot, hence the cooling fins. I KNOW that they smell terrible when the finally do burn up, but the few that I have seen burn up were caused by bad electrolytics.