3.6.

1    Fixed bias for vacuum tubes

The fixed bias for vacuum tubes schema is given in Figure 11. Two different power
supplies are used. PS1 gives the high-tension V+ to the anode of the vacuum tube,
through the load. The negative of PS1 is connected to ground. PS2 produces the needed
grid bias voltage Vg. The negative grid bias -Vg is obtained by connecting the positive of
PS2 to ground. In this way, the positive of PS2 is at ground level and the negative is at –
Vg with respect to ground. The grid receives the -Vg bias voltage using a resistor Rl.
Given that no current goes through the grid, in normal operations, the resistor Rl does
not affect the voltage seen by the grid. The cathode is also connected to ground so that
the grid is at –Vg with respect to the cathode, as needed.

The usage of resistor Rl will be better discussed in Section 4.1.1. For the moment, we

just mention that one of the purposes of Rl (also called the grid leak) is to provide the
input signal, received from previous stage, with a high impedance path to ground.

The capacitor Cd, from the grid leak resistor to ground, decouples the residual input
signal, that traverses Rl, from the bias voltage supply. Consider that, generally the bias
power supply provides bias voltage to several vacuum tubes in the amplifier. For
instance, in a stereo amplifier, both left and right channels are sometimes biased by the
same power supply. The residual input signal, which traverses Rl, is added to the bias
voltage and goes also to the other channels, where it is amplified by the other vacuum
tubes, creating problems of cross-talk. In order to avoid that, the capacitor Cdforms, with
the resistor Rl, a low-pass filter that shorts to ground the residual input signal. The value
of this capacitor should be large, so that even very low frequencies are shorted to
ground and do not go to the grid of the other vacuum tubes.

Example 3: Determining the decoupling capacitor for fixed bias

Suppose, for simplicity, that Rl is the only resistance seen by the capacitor Cd, and
suppose its value is 200K Ohm. In order to have a low-pass filter with a very low cut-
off frequency, for instance 1 Hz, we use the low-pass filter equation and we obtain the
following capacitance:

.
 Figur
e 11: Fixed bias schema.
Fixed bias can be obtained by using two separate power supplies. PS1 produce the high-
tension V+ to be given to the vacuum tube anode. PS2 produces the voltage Vg for the
grid. The negative voltage -Vg is obtained by connecting the positive of PS2 to ground.
Also the negative of PS1 is connected to ground. In this way, the negative of PS1 and the
positive of PS2 are at ground voltage, the negative of PS2 is at -Vg and is connected to
the grid.

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 3.6.2    Cathode bias or self-bias for

vacuum tubes
 Negative voltage between grid and cathode can also be obtained by connecting
the grid to ground voltage and by elevating the cathode voltage. This technique
is generally referred as cathode bias or self-bias. The cathode voltage is elevated
by connecting it to ground through the resistor Rk, generally called the cathode
resistor, as shown in Figure 12. Given that, generally, there is an anode current
also at the quiescent state, the resistor Rk produces a voltage drop from the
cathode to ground so that the cathode voltage is above ground. The grid, being at
ground voltage, is negative with respect to the cathode.
  Note that, also in this case, the grid is not directly connected to ground. Rather, a
grid leak resistor Rl is used to provide the input signal with a high impedance
path to ground, as we already discussed for the fixed bias. Since there is no
current flowing through the grid, it is at ground voltage.
 The value of Rk can be computed using the Ohm law by knowing the bias
current, that is the cathode current at the operating point (quiescent state), as
shown in next Example.

Example 4: Determining the cathode resistor for self-bias

Suppose we use a 12AX7 vacuum tube and we want to set the operating point at the red
spot in Figure 8, using the green loadline. This corresponds to a bias current of 0.75
mA. Using the average anode characteristics graphs, we see that a grid voltage of
-1.5V, with respect to the cathode, is needed to obtain a current of 0,75 mA. Using the
Ohm law, we find that the resistance needed to elevate the cathode at 1.5V, when the
current is 0.75 mA, is:

 It is important to mention that the cathode resistor introduces a form of local

negative feedback. In fact, when the current increases, the cathode voltage
increases as well. In this case, the grid becomes more negative, with respect to
the cathode, and tends to reduce the vacuum tube conduction. When current
decrease, we have the opposite effect and the grid becomes less negative,
increasing vacuum tube conduction. In other words, the cathode resistor tends to
oppose the amplification of the signal and reduces the gain of the vacuum tube.
In order to mitigate and almost eliminate this effect, a bypass or decoupling
capacitor Ck, is generally introduced in the circuit, as shown in Figure 12. The
bypass capacitor compensates the cathode voltage variation trying to maintain it
as stable as possible, when amplifying a signal. In this way, local negative
feedback is significantly reduced and gain significantly increased, as discussed
in next Section.
  Figure 12:
Cathode or self-bias.
The negative voltage of the grid, with respect to the cathode, can be obtained by
connecting the grid to ground voltage and by elevating the cathode voltage by
means of a resistor called the cathode resistor. By computing the resistor value,
according to the wanted bias current, the cathode voltage is elevated so that the
grid has the correct negative bias voltage. The cathode resistor can also be
bypassed by a bypass capacitor to reduce the negative feedback, introduced by
the cathode resistor, and increasing gain.
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3.6.3    Gain of the voltage amplifier with

self-bias
The cathode resistor, used for self-bias, introduces a form of local negative feedback:
when the current increases, the cathode voltage increases as well reducing the grid to
cathode voltage, and vice versa. The result is that the gain of the voltage amplifier with
self-bias is reduced. This local negative feedback can be significantly neutralised by
using a bypass capacitor connected in parallel to the cathode resistor.

The gain of the voltage amplifier with self-bias can be determined using the equivalent
circuit shown in Figure 13. Let us first suppose that no bypass capacitor Ck is used.
Similarly, to what we discussed in section 3.4, when we estimated the gain of the
voltage amplifier, the vacuum tube is represented by an AC power supply, in series with
the anode resistance ra. Let Vin be the voltage of the input signal measured from the grid
to the ground, that is from the grid to the terminal of the cathode resistor Rk opposite to
the cathode. The voltage Vfb measured between the two terminals of Rk, corresponding
to the voltage drop introduced by Rk itself, is the feedback voltage. The grid to cathode
voltage  , resulting from the combined action of the input and feedback voltages, is:

The above equation can be better understood using the equivalent circuit in Figure 13,
as we already did in Section 3.4. In the circuit, power is supplied by the AC power
supply, replacing the vacuum tube. Voltage drops, through the resistors in the circuit,
proceeding clockwise. Suppose highest voltage is at the top of the AC power supply
(the anode of the vacuum tube), and lowest voltage is at the bottom of the AC power
supply (the cathode of the vacuum tube). Vin is the voltage difference between the
input in and the cathode resistor end, opposite to the voltage source (opposite to the
cathode). The voltage difference between the input in and the other cathode resistor end
(between the grid and the cathode) is higher than Vin, because of the voltage drop
introduced by Rk. Given that the voltage drop is Vfb,   will be equal to Vin plus Vfb.

The AC power supply produces a voltage equal to  . As we said in Section 3.4,

the minus sign here indicates that the phase of the AC power supply is reversed with
respect to that of  . The output voltage  is taken between the two ends of the
load RL and can be computed using the voltage divider equation as

.
 Figure 13:
Equivalent circuit of the voltage amplifier with cathode resistor
The AC power supply produce a voltage equal to the amplification factor μ times the
voltage between the input (grid of the vacuum tube) and the lower extreme of the
voltage source itself. The minus sign indicates that the phase is reversed, with respect to
the input signal. Each resistor introduces a voltage drop along the circuit, in the
direction of the red arrow. The output signal is taken at the extremes of the load resistor
RL. To neutralize the local negative feedback, a capacitor Ckcan be connected in parallel
to Rk.

Using the voltage divider equation again, the feedback voltage Vfb is

Replacing Vfb into the equation for   and simplifying we have:

Now we can replace this into the equation for   and we obtain:
 .

Finally, we can express the gain of the voltage amplifier, with local feedback introduced
by a non-bypassed cathode resistor, as:

As we said in Section 3.4, we do not consider the phase so we omit the minus sign.

Let us now consider the case where a capacitor Ck is used to bypass the cathode
resistor Rk, as shown in Figure 13. The impedance of the capacitor depends on the signal
frequency f and is

The impedance of the cathode resistor in parallel with the bypass capacitor is

The gain of the voltage amplifier, with local feedback introduced by a cathode resistor
and bypassed by a capacitor, is obtained by replacing Rk with Zk in the equation for Afb.
We obtain:

The value of the gain  depends on the frequency and on the capacitor. It ranges
between these two extremes:

Minimum gain, equal to the non-bypassed cathode resistor, occurs when the capacitor
impedance is maximum (at very low frequencies and/or very low capacitances).
Maximum gain, similar to the circuit without cathode resistor, occurs when the
capacitor impedance is minimum (at high frequencies and/or large capacitance).

The value of the capacitor should be chosen so that gain is maximum even at very low
audible frequencies, as discussed in next example.

Example 5: Gain of a voltage amplifier with self-bias

Let us consider again the configuration of a voltage amplifier with the green loadline
in Figure 8. In Example 1, we set the load RL to 150K Ohm. In Example 2 we
determined that the anode resistance ra is 75K Ohm, and the gain of the amplifier at the
operating point identified by the red spot, with no cathode resistor, is 66.6. In Example
4, we determined that the cathode resistor needed to set the operating point at the red
spot, using self-bias, is 2K Ohm.

Remember that he amplification factor of a 12AX7 vacuum tube is μ=100. Therefore,

the gain of the voltage amplifier, using self-bias with this cathode resistor is

Considering that the full gain with no cathode resistor is 66.6, the new gain corresponds
to 20∙log(35.12/66.6) = -5.5dB with respect to full gain.

Suppose now we use a bypass capacitor of 150μF. At a frequency of f=1 Hz the

capacitor impedance is

The impedance of the cathode resistor in parallel with the bypass capacitor is

The gain of the voltage amplifier at 1 Hz, with the bypass capacitor, is:

This corresponds to 20∙log(47/66.6) = -3dB with respect to full gain.

Repeating the same process for f=10Hz, we obtain a gain of 63.6, corresponding to

20∙log(63.6/66.6) = -0.4dB. This is fairly acceptable, since no attenuation is realistically
perceived at all audible frequencies.

Figure 14 reports the output gain attenuation, with the above configuration, with
frequency ranging up to 100 Hz. It can be seen that the attenuation is practically
eliminated from 40Hz on.

Figure 14: Output gain attenuation with self-bias and bypass capacitor.

Using a capacitor of 150μF we have -3dB output gain attenuation at 1 Hz and -0.4dB at
10 Hz. Attenuation is practically eliminated at 40 Hz.

Figure 
14: Output gain attenuation with self-bias and bypass capacitor.
Using a capacitor of 150μF we have -3dB output gain attenuation at 1 Hz and -0.4dB at
10 Hz. Attenuation is practically eliminated at 40 Hz.

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