How to Bias a Tube Amplifier

What is Bias?
Bias voltage is the voltage difference between a tube's cathode and control grid. Bias
current is the amount of electrons flowing from the cathode to the plate with no audio signal on
the control grid (idle current). An amplifier tube controls the flow of electrons running through it.
The tube can stop the flow completely (called cutoff) or let it flow at maximum (called saturation).
To amplify an alternating current (AC) guitar audio signal we need to set the tube's idle, or no-
signal electron flow at a point to keep from overheating the tube's plate. We normally want to
set the idle flow right in the middle between cutoff and saturation so there's equal room for both
the positive and negative voltage of the guitar signal. When the guitar signal is a negative
voltage it makes the control grid negative which repels the negatively charged electrons flowing
through the tube which slows the flow. When the guitar signal is a positive voltage (positive
voltage=scarcity of electrons) the grid goes less negative so there are fewer electrons on the
grid to repel the flow so the flow through the tube increases.

Tube manufacturers list the tube's max bias in the tube datasheet as maximum plate
dissipation given in watts. Remember watts = volts x amps. Plate dissipation is equal to the
plate-to-cathode voltage x plate current. The higher the plate voltage the lower the plate current
must be to stay under the plate dissipation limit.

We adjust the voltage difference between the cathode and control grid (bias voltage) to adjust
the amount of electrons flowing from the cathode to the plate. In fixed bias amps we adjust the
grid voltage to set the bias. In cathode biased amps we must change the cathode resistor
value to change the cathode voltage to adjust the bias.

If you bias an amp too hot the power tubes can "red plate." The plates glow red hot from too
many electrons pounding the metal plates.

Note that the maximum plate dissipation current does not equal the saturation current
(wide open current flow). With the plate dissipation (a heat limit) set at 100% the tube can still
flow more electrons so the saturation current is greater than the max plate dissipation current.
When an AC guitar signal is applied to the power tube grid the tube's current flow will fluctuate
above and below the idle current. As long as the average current flow does not exceed the
max plate dissipation the tube operation is safe. Saturation is an absolute current limit (the
tube is wide open) but max dissipation is an average heat limit.

Drawing Tube Load Lines

Using Them to Design Tube Circuits
To really understand how tubes work you need to learn to use the tool used by circuit designers
to build amp circuits--load line charts. You can't help but learn about tube circuit operation by
playing around with these charts. You'll get to know how all the basic parts interact like, "What
happens when I increase the value of the plate load resistor? How about decreasing plate
voltage? What supply voltage will give me the cleanest signal with the most headroom?" These
charts will answer those and many other questions about tube operation.

Looks complicated but it's not. Plate voltage on the bottom, plate current along the left and grid
voltage curves inside. Saturation (valve wide open) and grid clipping occurs near the 0V grid
voltage curve. Cutoff occurs at the bottom of the chart at 0 amps. Notice the curved grid voltage
lines? They are curved so they are nonlinear and always induce nonlinear distortion which also
causes harmonic and intermodulation distortion. This is why tube amps tend to sound "warm".
The distortion fattens up the tone of anything being amplified by a tube circuit.

Notice how the grid voltage lines are curved? Since the lines aren't straight we say they are
"nonlinear" and those curves cause nonlinear distortion even when the amp is played clean--
but that's not a bad thing. Nonlinear distortion generates harmonic and intermodulation
distortion and is what makes a guitar amp sound warm and thick compared to when you plug
a guitar into a Hi-Fi audio amplifier (if you haven't tried it it sounds terrible--thin and anemic). If
a tube operates in the lower, "curvier" part of the chart we'll get more nonlinear,
harmonic and intermodulation distortion.
 Deluxe Second Gain Stage

Let's draw the load lines for the 5E3 Deluxe second gain stage (V2A). It's a very common gain
stage that's used in many amps. The V2A gain stage uses a 12AX7 triode with a 250V plate
supply voltage, 100k plate load resistor and 1.5k cathode resistor. The following stage's
impedance load is made up of a 1M grid leak resistor + a 56k tail load resistor.

We'll be drawing the load lines for the second preamp stage V2A (center left).
 The Completed Load Line Chart

That's a lot of lines! This is what we'll end up with when we finish drawing. Note the color
coded legend at upper right. Load line in red, cathode load line in magenta, AC load line in
yellow and operating point in green

Draw the Load Line

We start our exercise with the DC plate load line. When you see just "load line" that's what is
meant, the "DC plate load line". The bottom point of the line is the plate supply voltage
(B+3) of 250 volts. We use the supply voltage because when current flow is cutoff by the tube
there well be no voltage drop across the plate load resistor so plate voltage will equal supply
voltage. The bottom of the chart is the 0 current (cutoff) line and at cutoff plate voltage = supply
voltage.

We calculate the left end of our line by using Ohm's law and dividing the supply voltage
by the plate and cathode resistors (100k plate load resistor + 1.5k cathode resistor)
 250V / 101,500Ω = .00246A or 2.46ma

We add the resistance of the cathode and plate resistors because all the current that flows
through the tube has to flow through those two resistors.

If we we're drawing a phase inverter load line we would include the "tail resistor" and presence
pot resistance in the equation.

Here's a simple Excel spreadsheet that will calculate the load line, cathode load line and
AC load line points: Calculate Tube Load Lines.xls

We then draw our load line from 250 volts on the bottom of the chart to 2.46ma on the
left side of the chart.

Load Line

The plate load line is drawn from our power supply voltage of 250V to our calculated plate
current of 2.46 milliamps.
Increasing the value of the plate load resistor will reduce plate current, make the load line more
horizontal and increase gain. You'll see why a more horizontal line increases gain below in
the Voltage Gain section.

Reducing the value of the plate load will increase plate current, make the load line more vertical
and reduce gain.

Increasing the supply voltage will shift the line to the right but it will stay pretty much parallel to
the original load line. If we change the supply voltage to 350 volts the load line would cross
more grid voltage curves. That means we'd have more grid voltage swing available with
more headroom.

Reducing supply voltage will shift the load line left and offer less headroom.

The slope of the load line is the primary indicator of gain. The steeper (more vertical) the
load line the lower the gain.

If we were designing a gain stage from scratch we could draw a line from our desired supply
voltage to our desired plate current then calculate the external plate resistance (plate load
resistor + cathode resistor) by dividing our chosen plate supply voltage by the plate current.
Using the numbers from the chart above we divide 250V supply by .00246A = 101.6k ohm plate
load which is very close to our actual plate load made up of the 100k plate load resistor and
1.5k cathode resistor.

Draw the Cathode Load Line

Cathode Load Line
I plotted two points, one on the -1V grid voltage line and one on the -2V line, then connected
them to draw the cathode load line.

Our 5E3 amp's second gain stage uses a 1500Ω cathode resistor. We'll plot two points, one
on the -1V grid line and another on the -2V grid line.

-1V grid line = 1V / 1500Ω = .67ma and plot this point on the -1V grid line.

-2V grid line = 2V / 1500Ω = 1.33ma and plot this point on the -2V grid line.

We then draw the cathode load line between the two plotted points.

The size of the cathode resistor sets the operating point (intersection of the plate and
cathode load lines detailed in the next section) along the red plate load line which
affects headroom. For the most clean headroom we want the operating point halfway
between the 0 volt grid line (saturation and grid clipping) and the bottom of the chart
(cutoff). If we want less clean headroom we can shift the operating point away from the
mid point. The Cold Clipper further down the page does just that by placing the
operating point very low in the chart.

A smaller cathode resistor will warm the bias and increase gain (see the Voltage Gain section
for an explanation). A larger cathode resistor will cool the bias and decrease gain.

When plotting these points you may have to use other grid voltage lines. For example when I
plotted the Marshall cold clipper stage further down the page I had to plot using the -2 and -
3V grid voltage lines to get the cathode load line to cross the plate load line. For an 820 ohm
cathode resistor I had to use the -.5 and -1.5V grid lines.

For fixed bias amps we can't calculate a cathode line because we can't divide by 0
ohms of cathode resistance. We simply pick the point along the plate load line that
crosses the grid voltage. For example, if our fixed bias grid voltage is -0.5 volts we
would use the intersection of the red plate load line and the -.5v grid curve.

Draw the Operating Point

The operating point is the intersection of the load line and cathode load line. The operating
point is also known as the bias point, idle point, no signal point, quiescent point and Q point.
 Operating Point

The operating point is the intersection of the plate load line and cathode load line. Notice how
the bias point is just about in the middle of the load line from the 0 grid volt line to the bottom of
the chart. That means this triode is close to being "center biased" which minimizes distortion
and allows the maximum plate voltage swing before symmetric clipping begins. This chart says
our triode should idle at the green lines, 159 plate volts, .88 milliamps of plate current and a
bias voltage of -1.3V. Beam resistance at idle is: 159V / .00088A = 181k.

A lower value cathode resistor will "warm the bias" by shifting the operating point to the
left and up along the red load line. A higher value cathode resistor will "cool the bias"
and shift the operating point down and to the right. Moving the operating point away
from the mid point between the 0v grid line and bottom of the chart will
reduce clean headroom which is often desired in guitar amplifiers.
If we boosted the supply voltage to 300 volts but left the plate load at 100k and cathode resistor
at 1.5k our load line would run between 300V and 2.96ma (300v / 101.5k = 2.96ma). The chart's
grid voltage curves are straighter along this 300V load line so we'd get a little less distortion.
We'd also get a little more headroom from the extra length along the load line between the 0V
grid line (saturation) and the bottom of the chart (cutoff) for more available grid voltage swing
and headroom.

Internal Plate Resistance

To calculate internal plate or anode resistance, called ra or rp or rip we'll move +/-25
plate volts from the operating point paralleling the nearest grid voltage curve and read
the plate current at +25 and -25 plate volts.

We then divide the plate voltage change of 50 volts by the plate current change of .85ma
to get the internal plate resistance:

50V / .00085A = 58.8kΩ rp

Internal Plate Resistance

The cyan lines translate +/- 25 plate volts from the operating point to plate current. 1.69ma -
.84ma = .85ma of plate current change for a 50 plate volt change. Note this chart is from the
"Warm Biased 12AX7" section below.
 Draw the AC Signal Load Line
Before we can determine our triode's AC signal voltage gain we must first plot the AC load line.
Why is the AC plate load line different than the DC plate load line? Because the coupling cap
connected to the plate stops the flow of DC. The DC load line isn't affected by anything
beyond the coupling cap but the AC guitar signal passes through the coupling cap and
gets loaded down by the impedance in the following circuit so we must consider the
impedance beyond the coupling cap to draw our AC load line.

AC Load Line

The AC (signal) load line in yellow is slightly steeper (meaning less voltage gain) than the DC
load line.

The AC load on our triode equals: plate load resistor + in parallel with the impedance of the
following circuit. In the 5E3 the following circuit is the phase inverter with a 1M grid leak resistor
and a 56k phase inverter tail resistor. Note that we don't include the V2A cathode resistor
because it has a bypass cap around it which allows AC to go around the resistor.
 plate load 100k || 1M grid leak + 56k phase inverter tail resistor. The || means "in parallel
with".

The equation for parallel resistance is: 1 / (1/100 + 1/1056k) = 91.3k impedance (hint: use
your calculator's 1/x inverse key)

We then calculate the AC current: 250V / 91,300Ω = 2.73ma

We now draw the AC load line from 250V on the bottom of the chart to 2.73ma on the left.

Now this is the tricky part, we must slide the AC load line to the left until it intersects with our
operating point (shifted line shown above in yellow). This is easy to do in some programs
like Adobe Photoshop but others like irfanview don't allow it. Keep the AC load line's slope the
same, just slide it to the left. You can also draw a second AC load line paralleling the first, but
run it through the operating point, then erase the first line if possible.

The heavier the load of the following circuit, the steeper the AC load line becomes which
reduces voltage gain.

Note: Since the 5E3's V2A gain stage's following circuit is a "bootstrapped" cathodyne phase
inverter its input impedance is in reality much higher (around 10M) than our calculated 1056k
so the true AC load line pretty much overlies the DC load line. This occurs because the input
signal on the phase inverter grid is also present at the top of the tail resistor. This in-phase tail
resistor signal reduces signal loss through the grid leak resistor which greatly reduces the load
shown to our V2A gain stage.

Draw the Voltage Gain

Voltage Gain
The operating point is at -1.3 grid volts. Go .5 grid volt left and right of the operating point along
the yellow AC load line (gold lines) then drop down to get the plate voltages: -.8 grid volts = 130
plate volts. -1.8 grid volts = 188 plate volts. 188 volts - 130 volts = a voltage swing of 58, so for
a 1 AC volt peak-to-peak change on the grid we'll get 58 volts of plate voltage change. In other
words, 1 volt in is amplified into 58 volts out.

We can see from this chart that a heavy load from the following circuit, such as a TMB tone
control, will make the AC load line more vertical and offer less voltage gain.

A higher value cathode resistor will shift the operating point down and to the right along the
plate load line and since the grid voltage curves are spaced tighter down low we will get less
voltage gain. A 2.7k cathode resistor will lower the voltage gain from 58 to 52. This is why a
cold clipper stage with an unbypassed 10k cathode resistor has such low gain.

Max Voltage Swing

Max voltage swing (in light blue) runs along the yellow AC Load Line from the 0 Volt grid line
on the left (representing saturation or grid clipping) to 0 milliamps of current at the bottom of
the chart (representing cutoff). 372V - 64V = 308 volts of maximum voltage swing from this max
effort preamp stage with 410V plate voltage, 270k plate load resistor and 4.3k cathode resistor.
We have 188 plate volts from the 252v idle point to saturation at 64v and 120v from idle to
cutoff at 372v. A perfectly centered bias would have the operating point at -2.3 grid volts
allowing a -2.3v swing to the 0v grid line and a +2.3v swing to cutoff. A 3.9k cathode resistor
would get us close to that and also slightly increase gain.

Max Plate Dissipation Curve

Some Average Plate Characteristics charts include a maximum plate dissipation curve but
many do not. If you need to plot the dissipation curve just divide the tube's max dissipation watt
rating found in the datasheet by the plate voltage to get the current and then plot the points.

To plot the max dissipation at 500 volts you divide the 12AY7's max dissipation rating of 1.5
watts (each triode) by 500 volts:

1.5W / 500V = 3 milliamps and plot the intersection of 500V and 3ma on the chart

1.5W / 450V = 3.33ma and plot the intersection of 450V and 3.33ma on the chart

1.5W / 400V = 3.75ma and plot it

and so on, then connect the dots.

To find where the curve hits the top of the chart at 7ma you can divide 1.5W by 7ma =
214.3 volts and plot 214.3V and 7ma.

12AY7 Max Plate Dissipation Curve

 You can see the max dissipation line is very high on the chart and isn't normally a
concern unless you are using the tube as a power tube.

Transconductance (gm)
Transconductance expresses the relationship between voltage change on the grid to the
change in plate current. We see below that moving +/- .5 volt on the grid voltage curves results
in plate current going from .28ma to 1.69ma or 1.41ma per volt.

Transconductance

The operating point is at -1.3V grid volts and we go +/- .5V for a 1 volt change on the grid (-
.8V to -1.8V). This one grid volt change gives us a change of 1.69ma - .28ma = 1.41ma of
plate current change per volt (shown in orange).

.00141A change * 1V change = .00141 mho of transconductance.

mu (µ)
mu is the tube's amplification factor and is a constant. The 12AX7 datasheet lists it as 100. mu
is determined by the physical construction of the tube. A fine, closely spaced control grid placed
very close to the cathode will generate the maximum mu. You don't need to graph the mu
when you plot load lines, I just want to show how mu fits into the Average Plate
Characteristics chart.

mu

These mu lines show how it fits into the Plate Characteristics chart. We keep plate current
constant at .88ma and move from the -1V grid line to the -2V grid line and get 100 volts of
change. For a 12AX7 triode mu is always 100. mu represents the maximum possible gain the
tube can deliver. To get a voltage gain of 100 the AC load line would have to be horizontal
which is practically impossible. This is why a tube circuit's gain is always less than the
tube's mu.
 The Finished Product

Load Lines and Operating Point

With no AC guitar audio signal on the grid the tube idles at the operating point shown in green.

When an AC guitar audio signal hits the grid the tube's plate voltage and plate current
will move along the yellow AC load line.

When the positive voltage half of the guitar signal hits the grid the grid voltage increases
which means electrons are pulled from the grid wire. With fewer electrons on the grid to
repel the free electrons given off by the cathode more of them will flow through the grid
to the plate--the electrons are attracted to the plate's high voltage. More electrons
flowing onto the plate = more plate current. More plate current increases the voltage
drop across the plate load resistor--this change in voltage drop is the amplified guitar
audio signal.

When the negative voltage half of the AC guitar signal hits the grid the grid voltage drops
meaning electrons are pushed onto the grid wire. These extra electrons on the grid repel
more free electrons and the flow of electrons through the grid decreases which reduces
plate current. Less plate current causes the voltage drop across the plate load resistor
to decrease. Again, this change in voltage drop is the amplified guitar audio signal.

A small guitar audio signal on the grid is amplified by the tube and plate load resistor.
The plate load resistor changes the tube circuit from a current amplifier into a voltage
amplifier.

For more info on how tubes work see How Tubes Work.

Real world 5E3 voltages. V2A's B+3 plate supply voltage is 247v, the plate voltage is 164v
and the cathode voltage is 1.2v.

Our load line chart predicts an idling (no signal) plate voltage of 159v compared to 164v
measured. It also predicts a cathode voltage of 1.3v with 1.2v measured. This is pretty
close considering the imprecise nature of tube construction and carbon composition resistor
values.
 The Marshall Cold Clipper
Lets do a load line plot for the Marshall cold clipper gain stage. It's designed to generate early
distortion and asymmetric clipping by clipping on the cold side of the operating point. It uses a
12AX7 with a 280V supply voltage, 10k unbypassed cathode resistor and a 100k plate load
resistor. The following circuit load is a 470k attenuator resistor and 470k grid leak resistor in
series for a total impedance of 940k.

V1A Cold Clipper In the Marshall JCM800

The cold clipper gain stage is shown at center. Note the 10k unbypassed cathode resistor.
 Draw the Load Line
We start with the DC plate load line. The bottom point of the line is the plate supply voltage of
280 volts. We calculate the left side point by dividing the supply voltage by the total resistance
(100k plate load resistor + 10k cathode resistor)

280V / 110,000Ω = .00255A or 2.55ma.

We then draw our load line from 280 volts on the bottom of the chart to 2.55ma on the left side
of the chart (shown below in red).

Marshall Cold Clipper Load Lines

The operating point (intersection of green lines) is very low in the curvy end of the grid voltage
lines so the negative half of the guitar audio signal is distorted even before clipping occurs.
Guitar audio signal clipping will occur with the negative lobe of the signal voltage much earlier
than the positive lobe. This gain stage's cold bias will lead to early, sweet sounding
asymmetric cutoff clipping.
 Draw the Cathode Load Line
Our cold clipper stage uses a 10,000Ω cathode resistor. To draw the cathode load line we'll plot
two points, one on the -2V grid line and another on the -3V grid line. When I first drew this chart
I tried the -1 and -2 grid voltage lines but the cathode load line didn't cross the plate load line
so I had to use the -2 and -3V grid voltage lines to find the triode's operating point.

-2V grid voltage line = 2V / 10,000Ω = .20ma and plot this point on the -2V grid line.

-3V grid voltage line = 3V / 10,000Ω = .30ma and plot this point on the -3V grid line.

We then draw the cathode load line between the two plotted points (shown above in
magenta). Notice how this very high cathode resistor value flattens the cathode load line-
-it's almost horizontal.

Draw the Operating Point

The operating point (no signal idle, quiescent point or Q point) is the intersection of the plate
load line and cathode load line. It sits at 250V and .252ma with a bias voltage of -2.8V (shown
in green above). Notice how low the operating point is in the chart. Down low in the chart the
grid voltage lines are very curvy so even when played with no clipping the cold clipper will
generate a lot of nonlinear distortion which also generates harmonic and intermodulation
distortion. There's very little headroom below and to the right of the operating point
causing signal distortion and clipping which is the primary purpose of the cold clipper.

Draw the AC Load Line

Before we can determine cold clipper voltage gain we must first plot the AC load line. The AC
load on the cold clipper equals: plate load resistor + cathode resistor in parallel with the
impedance of the following circuit. In the JCM800 the following circuit's impedance is 940k as
discussed above.

plate load 100k + cathode resistor 10k || following stage 940k (we include the cathode resistor
because it is not bypassed with a cap)

The equation is: 1 / (1/110k + 1/940k) = 98k impedance

We calculate the AC current: 280V / 98k = 2.84ma

We now draw the AC load line from 280v on the bottom of the chart to 2.84ma on the left.

We then slide the AC load line to the left until it intersects with our operating point (shown above
in yellow). Keep the AC load line's slope the same, just slide it to the left.
 Chart the Voltage Gain
Go .5 grid volt left and right along the AC load line and drop down to get the plate voltages. 267
volts - 225 volts = a voltage gain of 42, so for a 1 AC volt peak-to-peak change on the grid we'll
get 42 volts of plate voltage change. 1 volt in is amplified into 42 volts out. This voltage gain
is quite a bit lower than our 5E3 gain stage above of 58. The primary reason for the lower gain
is the tighter spacing of the grid voltage curves down low in the chart. The 10k cathode resistor
shifts the operating point down and to the right compared to the 5E3 Deluxe's 1.5k cathode
resistor. As you move down and to the right in the chart the grid voltage curve spacing becomes
much tighter which reduces voltage swing and therefore voltage gain.

Cathodyne Phase Inverter

The cathodyne phase inverter circuit in the Fender 5E3 Deluxe is used in many other amps. It's
primary advantage is it only requires one half of a preamp tube (one triode). The cathodyne
phase inverter is very similar to a simple cathode follower except half of the load resistance is
placed on the cathode and half on the plate so half of the voltage swing is on the cathode and
half on the plate.

The cathodyne phase inverter's total differential gain is slightly less than 2.

To draw a cathodyne phase inverter's load lines we have to consider the tail load resistance
and how the tail load resistor affects the cathode and grid voltages .

V2B (upper center) is the cathodyne phase inverter circuit.

 Draw the Load Line
We start with the DC plate load line. The bottom point of the line is the B+3 supply voltage of
250 volts. We calculate the left side point by dividing the supply voltage by the total resistance
(56k tail load resistor + 1.5k cathode resistor + 56k plate load resistor)

250V / 113,500Ω = .0022A or 2.2ma.

We then draw our load line from 250 volts on the bottom of the chart to 2.2ma on the left side
of the chart (shown below in red).

Cathodyne Phase Inverter Chart

12AX7 with 56k tail load resistor, 1.5k cathode resistor and 56k plate load
resistor.
 Draw the Cathode Load Line
The 5E3 cathodyne phase inverter uses a 1,500Ω cathode resistor (we ignore the 56k tail load
resistor for now). To draw the cathode load line we'll plot two points, one on the -1V grid line
and another on the -2V grid line.

-1V grid line = 1V / 1,500Ω = .67ma and plot this point on the -1V grid line.

-2V grid line = 2V / 1,500Ω = 1.33ma and plot this point on the -2V grid line.

We then draw the cathode load line between the two plotted points (shown above in magenta).

Draw the Operating Point

The operating point (no signal idle, quiescent point or Q point) is the intersection of the plate
load line and cathode load line. It sits at 153V and 0.85ma with a bias voltage (voltage
difference between the cathode and grid) of -1.25V.

Draw the AC Load Line

Before we can determine cathodyne phase inverter stage voltage gain we must first plot the
AC load line. The AC load equals: tail load resistor + cathode resistor + plate load resistor in
parallel with the impedance of the following circuit. In the 5E3 the following circuit's impedance
is set by the two 220k power tube grid leak resistors. To be completely accurate we need to
calculate the impedance for the cathode and plate separately and then add them together:

Cathode

tail load 56k resistor + cathode resistor 1.5k || 220k grid leak resistor ( || means "in
parallel with")

The equation is: 1 / (1/57.5k + 1/220k) = 45.5k cathode impedance

Plate

plate load resistor 56k resistor || 220k grid leak resistor

The equation is: 1 / (1/56k + 1/220k) = 44.6k plate impedance

We can now calculate the AC current:

plate supply voltage / (cathode impedance + plate impedance)

250V / (45.5k + 44.6k)

250V / 90.1k = 2.77ma

We then draw the AC load line from 250v on the bottom of the chart. 250 volts is the B+3 plate
supply voltage and represents the triode in cutoff (no current flow so no voltage drop across
the plate load resistor).

The other end of the AC load line is the calculated 2.77ma on the left edge of the chart.

After drawing the AC load line we must slide the line to the left until it intersects with our
operating point (shifted AC load line shown above in yellow). This is easy to do in some
programs like Adobe Photoshop but others like irfanview don't allow it. Keep the AC load line's
slope the same, just slide it to the left.

Chart the Voltage Gain

This is where things get tricky with a cathodyne phase inverter. We have to consider that
the voltages on the cathode and grid are affected by the voltage drop across the tail load resistor
but the grid voltage curves shown on the chart are simply the voltage difference between the
grid voltage and cathode voltage. Because of this we can't calculate gain the same way we
graphed it out with the normal gain stage shown above in the first section.

To determine the cathodyne gain we find the point where the AC load line crosses the chart's -
1 grid curve, move left on the chart to get the plate current of 1.02ma (tan line on chart). The
cathode resistor current and tail load resistor current are also 1.02ma.

Cathode voltage = 1.02ma x 56k = 57.1V

Grid voltage = voltage difference between the grid and cathode + cathode voltage

Grid voltage = -1V + 57.1V = 56.1V

Now we do the same thing on the other side of the operating point and use the chart's -2V
grid curve. We find the point where the AC load line crosses the -2V curve, move left on the
chart to get the plate current of 0.44ma (tan line on chart).

Cathode voltage = 0.44ma x 56k = 24.6V

Grid voltage = voltage difference between the grid and cathode + cathode voltage

Grid voltage = -2V + 24.6V = 22.6V

Now we can calculate the cathodyne phase inverter's gain:

Gain = change in cathode voltage / change in grid voltage

Gain = (57.1V - 24.6) / (56.1V - 22.6V)

Gain = 32.5V / 33.5V = 0.97 (slightly less than unity or 1)

 We calculate the cathodyne phase inverter's differential gain by adding the
plate gain (slightly less than 1) and the cathode gain (slightly less than 1) which equals
slightly less than 2. A typical Long Tail Pair phase inverter has a differential gain of
around 30.

We need to do two more simple calculations to come up with our actual cathode and grid
voltages. Our chart above shows the operating point at 153 volts but when we measure the
actual plate voltage of a 5E3 Deluxe cathodyne phase inverter we find it is typically 200v. That's
because we have to add the voltage drop across our 56k tail resistor.

Operating Point Cathode voltage = Operating Point current x Tail Load resistance = 0.85ma
x 56k = 47.6v

Plate voltage of 153v + Operating Point Cathode voltage of 47.6v = 200.6v which matches
our real world measurement.

Our grid voltage will be:

Cathode voltage of 47.6v - Operating Point Bias voltage of 1.25v = 46.35v

Note that it is not possible with most multi-meters to accurately measure the grid voltage.
The meter's impedance will throw off the measurement.

There's a dual action going on at the grid. An AC guitar signal on the cathodyne's grid changes
the current flow through the tube like normal but that current flow causes a voltage drop across
the tail load resistor that changes the cathode voltage. This cathode voltage swing is what
allows the cathodyne to pass an undistorted signal that is many times greater than the 1.2v
bias voltage would imply.

The voltage difference between the grid and cathode makes the current change and the
cathode voltage moves at 0.97 of the grid signal (3% loss).

The action on the plate is much more conventional. The plate resistor converts cathode current
into voltage drop by Ohm's law just like a normal gain stage.

The voltage drop caused by the 1.5k cathode resistor causes most of the -3% signal loss
through the 5E3 cathodyne phase inverter. The signal on the cathode tracks the signal on the
grid minus the loss from the cathode resistor. The cathodyne's differential gain will always be
less than 2 (2 x unity) due to the loss caused by the cathode resistor and its bias voltage. We
can use fixed bias on the cathodyne grid and eliminate the cathode resistor and get closer to
100% signal output (unity gain) but internal losses in the tube itself prevent us from attaining
unity.

56k tail load and plate load resistors work well with 6V6 and EL84 power tubes. To drive big
bottle power amps like the 6L6 moving up to 100k tail and plate loads will provide more voltage
swing. Gain will still be below 1 but a larger signal on the cathodyne grid can pass through the
phase inverter to hit the power tube grids harder. The gain stage prior to the cathodyne phase
inverter must provide the signal swing to drive the power tubes because the cathodyne will add
little gain.
Tubes with low internal resistance like the 12AU7 will also have a gain of less than 1 but they
can give more voltage swing into low impedance loads.

The Lead Channel Mod

The "Lead Channel Mod" for the 5E3 Deluxe, blackface, silverface and many other amps
changes one channel's first gain stage to use a 12AX7 with a 2.7k cathode resistor, 220k plate
load resistor, smaller .68uF cathode bypass cap and a smaller .0047uF coupling cap. The mod
adds some gain and early harmonic distortion and makes asymmetric clipping distortion more
likely.

The lower "Lead" channel has a 2.7k cathode resistor and 220k plate load. The following
circuit impedance is made up of two 1M volume pots in parallel. The schematic shows a
12AY7 tube but a 12AX7 is a common substitute for higher gain players .
 Draw the Load Line
We start with the DC plate load line. The bottom point of the line is the plate supply voltage of
250 volts. We calculate the left side point by dividing the supply voltage by the total resistance
(220k plate load resistor + 2.7k cathode resistor)

250V / 222,700Ω = .00112A or 1.12ma.

We then draw our load line from 250 volts on the bottom of the chart to 1.1ma on the left side
of the chart (shown below in red). Notice how this very high plate load resistor flattens out the
load line for more voltage gain.

Lead Channel Mod Chart

12AX7 with 2.7k cathode resistor and 220k plate load resistor.
 Draw the Cathode Load Line
The Lead Channel stage uses a 2,700Ω cathode resistor. To draw the cathode load line we'll
plot two points, one on the -1V grid line and another on the -2V grid line.

-1V grid line = 1V / 2,700Ω = .37ma and plot this point on the -1V grid line.

-2V grid line = 2V / 2,700Ω = .74ma and plot this point on the -2V grid line.

We then draw the cathode load line between the two plotted points (shown above in magenta).

Draw the Operating Point

The operating point (no signal idle, quiescent point or Q point) is the intersection of the plate
load line and cathode load line. It sits at 135V and .5ma with a bias voltage of -1.3V.

Notice how there's 2.7 volts from the operating point to the 0V grid curve and 3.4 volts from
the operating point to the bottom of the chart (cutoff). A larger cathode resistor of 3.3k would
get us closer to center bias for a little more headroom but the purpose of the Lead Channel
mod is to add gain AND distortion.

Draw the AC Load Line

Before we can determine Lead Channel stage voltage gain we must first plot the AC load line.
The AC load equals: plate load resistor + cathode resistor in parallel with the impedance of the
following circuit. In the 5E3 the following circuit's impedance changes with the volume setting.
With the Lead Channel volume pot at max the impedance is 500k (impedance of both 1M
volume pots in parallel) so we'll use this for the chart.

plate load 220k || 500k

The equation is: 1 / (1/220k + 1/500k) = 153k impedance

We calculate the AC current: 250V / 153k = 1.63ma

We then draw the AC load line from 250v on the bottom of the chart to 1.63ma on the left.

We must slide the AC load line to the left until it intersects with our operating point (shifted AC
load line shown above in yellow). Keep the AC load line's slope the same, just slide it to the
left.

Using a higher value plate load resistor will boost gain but it also adds impedance making our
guitar audio signal "thinner" with less current backing up the signal voltage swing.
 Chart the Voltage Gain
Go 1/2 grid volt left and right along the AC load line and drop down to get the plate voltages. 164
volts - 103 volts = a voltage gain of 61, so for a 1 AC volt peak-to-peak change on the grid we'll
get 61 volts of plate voltage change. 1 volt in is amplified into 61 volts out. Using a 220k plate
load resistor gives us slightly more voltage gain than the factory gain stage of 58.

Warm Biased 12AX7

Let's draw the load lines for another common gain stage, a 12AX7 with an 820 ohm cathode
and 100k plate load resistor.

Draw the Load Line

We start with the DC plate load line. The bottom point of the line is the plate supply voltage of
280 volts. We calculate the left side point by dividing the supply voltage by the total resistance
(100k plate load resistor + 820Ω cathode resistor)

280V / 100,820Ω = .00278A or 2.78ma.

We then draw our load line from 280 volts on the bottom of the chart to 2.78ma on the left side
of the chart (shown below in red).

Warm Biased 12AX7 Gain Stage

12AX7 with an 820Ω cathode resistor, 100k plate load resistor and 280V supply voltage. The
bias point is further up the load line at -1V on the grid so the AC guitar signal can swing from
0 grid volts to -2V without clipping. The positive half of the AC guitar signal will be clipped
earlier at saturation or grid clipping before the negative half of the signal is clipped at cutoff.

Draw the Cathode Load Line

Our 12AX7 is warm biased with an 820Ω cathode resistor. To draw the cathode load line we'll
plot two points, one on the -.5V grid line and another on the -1.5V grid line.

-.5V grid line = .5V / 820Ω = .61ma and plot this point on the -.5V grid line.

-1.5V grid line = 1.5V / 820Ω = 1.83ma and plot this point on the -1.5V grid line.

We then draw the cathode load line between the two plotted points (shown above in magenta).

Draw the Operating Point

The operating point (no signal idle, quiescent point or Q point) is the intersection of the plate
load line and cathode load line. It sits at 154V and 1.25ma and -1V grid voltage with a bias
voltage of -1V.

Notice how there's 1 volt from the operating point to the 0V grid curve and 2.6 volts from the
operating point to the bottom of the chart (cutoff). The operating point is higher and to the left
in the warm bias region. An overdriven guitar signal will clip at saturation and grid clipping (0
volt grid) before it is clipped at cutoff (bottom of the chart).

Draw the AC Load Line

The AC plate load equals: plate load resistor + cathode resistor in parallel with the impedance
of the following circuit. To keep things generic we'll say there is a 1M grid leak in the following
circuit.

plate load 100k || 1M

The equation is: 1 / (1/100k + 1/1M) = 91k impedance

We calculate the AC current: 280V / 92k = 3.07ma

We then draw the AC load line from 280v on the bottom of the chart to 3.07ma on the left.

We must slide the AC load line to the left until it intersects with our operating point (shifted AC
load line shown above in yellow). This is easy to do in some programs like Adobe Photoshop
but others like irfanview don't allow it. Keep the AC load line's slope the same, just slide it to
the left.
 Chart the Voltage Gain
We go .5 grid volt left and right along the AC load line and drop down to get the plate
voltages. 184 volts - 122 volts = a voltage gain of 62, so for a 1 AC volt peak-to-peak change
on the grid we'll get 62 volts of plate voltage change. 1 volt in is amplified into 62 volts out.
Using a warm bias with an 820Ω cathode resistor gives us slightly more voltage gain than the
typical gain stage with a 1.5k cathode resistor's voltage gain of 58.

As we warm the bias the operating point moves left on the graph where the grid curves are
wider spaced. With this wider spacing a warmer bias yields higher gain because the wider
spacing gives you more voltage swing.

As you cool the bias the operating point moves right on the graph where the grid curves are
spaced closer together for less voltage swing and gain.

12AX7 Max Gain Stage

Here's a max effort to get the most gain and clean headroom out of a preamp stage by using a
12AX7 with a high supply voltage of 410 volts, a large 270k plate load resistor and 4.3k cathode
resistor. Although the 12AX7 datasheet lists the maximum plate voltage at 300 volts these tubes
run fine with much higher plate voltages (see the Fender tremolo oscillator below with 415V on
the plates). We'll say the following circuit has an impedance of a 1M grid leak resistor.

A very high supply voltage, large value plate load resistor and cathode resistor yield a voltage
gain of 69 and we have a very wide grid voltage swing available of 0 to -4.7 volts for lots of
clean headroom. This gain stage is center biased at -2.4 grid volts allowing a 4.7V peak-to-
peak signal before symmetric clipping occurs.
DC plate current = 410V / (270k + 4.3k) = 1.50ma

Cathode load line points

-2V / 4300Ω = .47ma

-3V / 4300Ω = .70ma

AC plate current = 410V / (1/( 1/(270k) + 1/1M)) = 1.92ma

Voltage gain = 283V - 214V = 69 with 100 being max theoretical gain (12AX7 mu)

AB763 Tremolo Oscillator

Fender AB763 blackface and silverface amps use a 12AX7 as a tremolo oscillator with a very
high supply voltage of 415V, a large 220k plate load resistor and 2.7k cathode resistor. The
following circuit has an impedance of 429k. The 12AX7 datasheet lists the maximum plate
voltage as 300 volts. This is the hottest factory 12A*7 gain stage I know of.

AB763 Tremolo Oscillator

An extremely high supply voltage, large value plate load resistor and cathode resistor yield
a voltage gain of 64, not that much higher than the typical gain stage's 58. This gain stage is
near center bias at -2.2 grid volts allowing a swing from 0 to -4.4 grid volts before saturation
or grid clipping occurs near 0 grid volts.
DC plate current = 415V / (220k + 2.7k) = 1.86ma

Cathode load line points

-1.5V / 2700Ω = 5.56ma

-2.5V / 2700Ω = 9.26ma

AC plate current = 415V / (1/( 1/(220k) + 1/1M)) = 2.3ma

Voltage gain = 269V - 205V = 64

This stage is pushed well beyond the max plate voltage of 300 volts but the tubes hold up well
in blackface and silverface amps.

5E3 Deluxe 6V6GT Power Tube

Plotting the load lines for a pentode power tube used in a Class AB push-pull amp like the
Fender 5E3 Deluxe is a little more complex than plotting the load lines for a triode.

My 5E3 Deluxe plugged into a 125V outlet has a B+1 voltage of 368, plate voltage of 360, plate-
to-cathode voltage of 340, screen-to-cathode voltage of 300 and 20 volts on the cathode (-20
volt grid bias). The cathode resistor is 250 ohm 5 watts and the output transformer plate-to-
plate impedance is 8k (RLoad).

The 5E3's cathode is at 20 volts so our plate-to-cathode voltage is 360 - 20 = 340 volts.
We use the plate-to-cathode voltage in the chart because the voltage difference between
the plate and cathode is what matters. If our 5E3 used fixed bias the cathode would be
grounded at 0 volts so the plate-to-cathode voltage would equal the plate voltage of 360
volts. We start by drawing our bias line (green) vertically up from our plate-to-cathode
voltage of 340.

The typical 5E3 is biased with 20 volts on the cathode. The grid voltage is at -20 volts
compared to the cathode so we come up along the bias line from 340 volts until we
intercept the -20V grid curve. That point, the idle point, bias point, quiescent or Q point
is at 95% of the 6V6GT 12 watts maximum dissipation rating. The Max Dissipation line
on the chart represents 100% of the 12 watt max dissipation rating of the 6V6GT. For
Class AB cathode biased amps 100% is the max safe dissipation. For fixed bias Class
AB amps we would set the bias point around 70 to 85%, the max safe dissipation.

If we move left from the idle bias point we find our 6V6GT will idle at 32 milliamps (green
line). To determine the perfect cathode resistor value we can use: 20V bias / .032ma bias
current = 625 ohms. Since we have two power tubes the cathode current will be double so we
cut the calculated resistance in half to 312 ohms for our ideal cathode resistor. The 5E3 actually
uses a 250 ohm cathode resistor which seems would yield a very hot bias but in reality the
6V6GT is rated somewhere between 12 and 14 watts so a 250 ohm cathode resistor works just
fine. Different manufacturers' 6V6 data sheets use two different max dissipation ratings which
list 12 and 14 watts with 12 watts I believe being very conservative.

To find the cathode resistor power rating we take our idle bias voltage * idle current and
get 20V * 64ma = 1.28 watt. To find a safe watt rating we double the calculated idle
wattage: 1.28w * 2 = 2.6 watts so a 3 watt resistor would be adequate but I like that Fender
went with a larger 5 watt cathode resistor for increased reliability and longevity.

5E3 Deluxe 6V6GT Pentode Power Tube

The green idle lines show the idle bias, quiescent or Q point. The tube will idle at 340 plate-to-
cathode volts and 32ma. The pink line is the temporary Class A plate load line which runs
from 340 volts to 85ma. We slide the line up to meet the idle bias point so the red line is
the actual Class A plate load line. The blue line is the Class B plate load line which runs from
340 volts to 170ma. The point where the blue Class B line intersects the 0 grid volt curve
gives us maximum output power. With a voltage swing of (340V - 97V) * 122ma / 2 = 14.8
max watts of output at the speaker.
The 5E3 uses a Class AB power amp so we have to draw two plate load lines, one for
Class A operation and one for Class B operation.

During Class A operation both power tubes are conducting so each tube sees 1/2 RLoad:
8k / 2 = 4k.

We divide the plate-to-cathode voltage by the RLoad = 340V / 4000 ohms = 85ma. We
draw the initial or temporary Class A load line (pink) from 340 cathode-to-plate volts at
the bottom of the chart to 85ma on the left. This gives the correct line slope but we have
to slide the line up, keeping the slope the same, to intersect the load line with our idle
point (green). This is our actual Class A load line (red).

During Class B operation only one power tube is conducting so half of the output
transformer windings "disappear". Since the impedance ratio is the square of the turns
ratio the operating tube sees only ¼ of the transformer's plate-to-plate resistance so
we'll use an RLoad of 8k / 4 = 2k for Class B operation. 340 / 2000 = 170ma. We draw
the Class B load line (blue) from 340 volts to 170ma. Since 170ma is off the chart we have
to estimate where the line intersects 170 on the left side of the chart.

To calculate our approximate maximum output power we find where the Class B
load line crosses the 0V grid curve. We use the Class B load line because at maximum
power the amp will be in Class B operation. At the intersection of the Class B load
line and the 0V curve we get 122ma of peak current and a 97 volt minimum swing. The
total rms output power is then approximately:

Max Class B Power = voltage swing * peak current / 2

Max Class B Power = (cathode-to-plate voltage - minimum voltage) * peak current / 2

Max Class B Power = (340V - 97V) * .122A / 2 = 14.8 watts

We can calculate maximum power in Class A mode by looking at the Class A load line between
B+ voltage of 463v to the intersection of the Class A and Class B load lines. At the intersection
we have 215v and 64ma so the voltage swing is 468v - 215v = 253v. So 253v * .064a = 16.2w
/ 2 = 8.1 watts of Class A power.

The finished chart shows that a 5E3 Deluxe plugged into modern wall power of around 125v is
biased on the warm side. It is permissible for the load lines to creep inside the maximum plate
dissipation line and again the real rating of 6V6 tubes is somewhere between 12 and 14 watts.
If 5E3 amps were burning up their power tubes at an excessive rate we could bump up the
cathode resistor to 270 to 330 ohms to cool the bias or use Zener diodes to drop some B+
voltage but that doesn't seem to be a problem so I recommend keeping the 5E3 circuit as
designed.