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In Reply to: 1-meg grid resistor: not a problem as long as one stays in class-A posted by Thom_M on May 26, 2009 at 15:28:46:
Awhile back I asked the same question. Not only does it sometimes sound better, but bypassed topo seemed to be a little less sensitive to the operating points of the specific make of power tubes. Anyhow, I was directed to this site. Quote:
"Since cathode biasing eliminates the need for a special negative DC bias supply, why don't all amplifiers use cathode biasing? Well, cathode biasing is not without its faults. It turns out that in order to keep the DC bias supply voltage at the cathode constant while the input signal is changing, the cathode resistor must be bypassed with a large capacitor. This capacitor effectively "shorts" the AC signal component to ground, while allowing the DC voltage to remain relatively constant. If the capacitor is removed, the cathode DC voltage will have a signal voltage superimposed on it, which will subtract from the grid-to-cathode signal voltage, and reduce the gain of the stage.
The problem comes in when there are large signal level changes, and the average DC level of the cathode voltage changes. This causes a bias shift, usually in the direction of a colder bias point. This bias shift can be audible, but is sometimes desirable for guitar amp use, as it adds varying harmonic overtones to the sound. If the bias shift is severe, the tube will go into cutoff, and large amounts of "crossover" distortion will occur. In addition, the current flow through the cathode resistor generates a necessarily large bias voltage on the cathode for proper tube operation (typically 30-50 volts for most higher power output tubes). This voltage subtracts from the total plate voltage, which decreases the available output power. Between this voltage decrease and the bias shift, the output power in cathode biased operation is reduced when compared to fixed bias operation. Therefore, fixed bias is usually used for higher power amplifiers (50W and higher), and cathode bias is usually used for lower power amplifiers.
Preamp tubes are almost universally cathode biased, because they are used for signal amplification, not power amplification, and the side effects of cathode biasing are not as important. Also, cathode biasing makes the circuit less dependent on tube parameters, and more forgiving with respect to bias point. This allows replacement of tubes without having to rebias the amplifier stage. Output tubes that are cathode-biased should always be checked when replacing tubes, however, because they vary widely in terms of idle current for a given cathode resistor value, and it may be necessary to change the cathode resistor value to return the output stage to it's proper bias current."
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Follow Ups
- why cap bypassed sound better - FenderLover 19:38:06 05/26/09 (0)
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