The Davoli Model 207 amp has a split, plate-load phase inverter with, R1 (56KΩ) and R2

(100KΩ).

AC Ground
One cathode connection from the phase inverter is connected between these two resistors
through a 4μfd blocking cap. Without this connection, V1a is a standard voltage amp with
a global-feedback connection to V1a cathode, RK1, yellow dot, from the OPTFM. For
analysis, let's simplify the circuit to help understand the main features.

DC Operating Conditions
The 0.01μfd cap (green-highlight), blocks DC voltage from V1a’s (orange-highlight) plate
to V1b’s (blue-highlight) grid, with the 500KΩ and 2K7kΩ resistors forming the DC
operating point for the PI.
Determine the DC operating conditions and convert to an equivalent AC circuit.
RK1 provides a bias of -1.6VDC for V1a, as shown on the loadline, RH above.
The AC load is light, so a random value is entered to provide a convenient benchmark for
the DC bias-point.
The phase inverter has a 33KΩ plate and 56KΩ cathode resistor for a total of 89KΩ. It is
biased colder than the first triode, with plenty of swing to drive the power amp to full
power.

AC Operating Conditions
The 4μfd cap blocks DC and acts as a short circuit to audio signals down to 82Hz. The PI
grid draws no current with the 500KΩ resistor passing very little current; the 2K7Ω grid-
bias resistor is much smaller than the 56KΩ cathode resistor and the plate supply is
virtually at AC ground. These conditions, can be simplified for AC analysis.
Considering unloaded gain, should simplify some calculations. The 2K2Ω cathode resistor
is unbypassed, causing a reduction in gain due to cathode degeneration. There is negligible
negative feedback and a cathode bypass capacitor is unnecessary however, let's assume
the cathode resistor is fully bypassed by a large-value cap, shorting the cathode to ground
for audio signals.
The phase inverter has slightly less than unity gain with the 56KΩ cathode resistor. For
the connection: green-dot to green-dot, the AC voltage at the top of resistor R2 is almost
the same as the first triode's AC plate voltage and the AC voltage across the resistor is
virtually zero so, the AC current through the resistor is practically 0. For guitar signals, the
resistor acts as an open circuit and no current flows. For the voltage amplifier, the voltage
level at the plate is equal to the voltage level at the grid multiplied by the triode's
amplification factor which is 100. The voltage gain of the first stage is almost 100 which is
high for a triode. Using feedback from the second triode to achieve this result is known
as bootstrapping.
The voltage gain from the input to each of the outputs for this equivalent AC circuit,
accepting that the 100KΩ resistor is an open-circuit for audio signals, are:

µ2 ×𝑅1 ×𝑅𝐾2 µ2 (𝑅1 +𝑅𝐾2 )𝑅𝐿

𝐺𝑜𝑢𝑡1 = 𝐺𝑜𝑢𝑡2 =
𝐷 𝐷

Where 𝐷 = 𝑅1 𝑅𝐿 + 𝑟𝑃 𝑅1 + 𝑅1 𝑅𝐾2 + 𝑅𝐾2 𝑅𝐿 + 𝑟𝑃 𝑅𝐾2 + µ𝑅1 𝑅𝐾2

Since μ = 100 and the values of R1 and RK2 are large, the last term of D dominates the
others and the gains are approximately:

µ(𝑅1 +𝑅𝐾2 )𝑅𝑅𝐿

𝐺𝑜𝑢𝑡1 = µ 𝐺𝑜𝑢𝑡2 =
𝑅1 𝑅𝐾2

To produce a voltage gain of μ at the second output, we need to set the value of the plate
load resistor RL equal to:

𝑅1 ×𝑅𝐾2
𝑅𝐿 =
𝑅1 +𝑅𝐾2

The resistors R1 and RK2 have the same value so, the plate-load resistor value required to
achieve balance is:
𝑅1
𝑅𝐿 = Half of 56KΩ is 28KΩ and the schematic has 33KΩ.
2

Circuit Simulation
A simulation using an AC equivalent circuit with an estimated voltage gain of 100 or 40dB
and the approximate formulae. An AC simulation indicates that if we remove the
assumption that the cathode resistor RK1 is fully bypassed then, the unloaded gain is
almost the same, verifying that a bypass cap is not required.
The solid traces are for gain in dB (LH axis). The dotted traces are for phase in ° (RH axis).
Here are the gains when loaded by the 220KΩ grid-leak resistors.
The difference between loaded gain and the estimate of unloaded gain is less than 2dB.
Power supply

Front end
 Tremolo

Output stage