[sdiy] sort of OT: tube amp optimization for power tube distortion

[Travis Shire]

Higher plate voltage in the preamp increases headroom before clipping as
well as brightening up the sound. Cathode bias with lower plate voltage for
the output section will get more pwr tube break up with a (dare I say
this...) browner sound. Keep in mind that a cathode follower will lose a
little gain. Its mainly for driving tone stacks. With such a simple layout
I'd just stuff in a treble (read:tone) control after the second stage to
keep things simple a'la tweed deluxe. Look at the schemo for a Kalamazoo
model one. Very similar to what you are building and they sound great.


> I've read this before but can't find it. I'm building another amp: one
with
> 2 12AX7A's and an EL84.
>
> I want the amp to have mostly power tube distortion. Want I need to
remember
> is how to optimize the preamp to get such. Do you use higher plate voltage
> and less gain per stage? One of the 12AX7A stages is a cathode follower.
>
>
> aa
>
>