May is a very busy month for me personally so I have only a short update this week. My last post was about the Quality Amplifier, a forerunner to the well-known Williamson amp. I proposed a modernized 6V6 A2 version based on the same topology that could probably crack double digit power.
In the conceptual outline above we have a MOSFET rather than a tube as a concertina splitter to save heater power. The unity gain MOSFET splitter feeds a tube differential pair to generate enough voltage gain to drive the outputs. MOSFET grid drivers with a CCS load help the differential stage cope with the drastic impedance changes at the output tube grids in A2 operation. Outputs are wired as triodes, of course.
The A2 drivers will go on a PCB. I also have one designed for the MOSFET splitter, though that’s simple enough to wire any way you might want. We’d need just three tubes per channel: a pair of 6V6s and a dual triode driver. My driver pick at the moment is probably the 5965 (or a pin-compatible 12AT7 if it needs to be new production).
I’m also happy to report that progress is being made on the preamp project. Hopefully I’ll have pictures to start sharing in the very near future!
Having found an irresistible deal on a pair of Hammond 1620A output transformers ($35 each), I have started some preliminary research on suitable amplifiers to build around them. These transformers have a 6.6k primary and are rated for 20W. This is around the power and impedance used in classic amplifier topologies like the Mullard 5-20 or the Williamson Amplifier. Both would probably provide blameless performance, but I’ve got this incorrigible itch to do things the hard way.
Dennis Grimwood’s website Optimized Electron Stream has a great collection of articles and reading. In particular, his history of the Williamson Amplifier caught my attention. According to Grimwood, the Williamson amplifier was an evolution of a design published as The Quality Amplifier in Wireless World in 1943 (and updated in 1946).
The Quality Amplifier was the work of WT Cocking (who was also a prolific writer about valve electronics). In contrast to other contemporary designs using interstage transformers, Cocking exclusively used RC coupling between stages and a concertina phase splitter at the input. Much time is spent in his Wireless World articles detailing the care and feeding of capacitors, something we take for granted today.
Several potential triode output stage configurations are detailed in the 1946 article:
the original push-pull PX-4, producing 4W (or 8W with higher supply voltage)
push-pull PX-25, producing 12W
push-pull 6V6G triodes, producing 2W
All of the designs recommend MH4 valves in the phase splitter and driver stages, but list the 6C5 as an alternative. The 6C5 is a forefather of the modern 6SN7. None of the variations use global negative feedback. Here’s an example schematic showing the topology:
Apart from the appealing simplicity, I note the coupling caps needed at the input and between the stages. This is one more RC coupling than used in the Williamson, but there’s no global negative feedback to complicate the phase shifting. The placement of the concertina is also interesting here. By splitting phases before the drivers, rather than after such as seen in the Dynaco ST-35, Cocking is getting more gain per phase. Given the limited Mu in the tubes of the day, this was probably necessity.
This brings me back to the Hammond 1620As. I’m not going to be building with PX-4s or PX-25s, but the 6V6G that put out only 2W has had some spec bumps since Cocking’s day. We also have the benefit of transistors to assist us in squeezing out a few more watts and otherwise modernizing parts of the original design. Specifically, I’m eyeing the A2 grid lines provided on the 6V6 datasheets…
The 6V6GT triode-strapped is praised for its tone but lamented for its limited power. The Cocking Quality Amplifier looks like a great template that, with a few modern touches, will minimize the 6V6’s weaknesses and maximize its strengths. The push-pull loadline above looks like about 10W triode, a five-fold increase over the original application!
I used a 48V switch mode power supply in the El Estudiante headphone amp and am pleasantly surprised with the quiet background and relative simplicity. When it comes to higher voltages though, you will not find many AC/DC switch mode power supplies at vendors like Mouser or Digikey. While a beefy low voltage DC supply could feed a DC/DC booster (see Millet’s 10W booster project and various eBay listings), I’d like to find something that is more easily repeated by others with parts from major PSU manufacturers.
I came across the idea of stacking low voltage SMPS supplies in a couple places and the idea intrigued me as a scalable and affordable approach to creating B+ (see here and here). The Meanwell EPS-15 48 are regulated and isolated AC/DC supplies that sell for about $8. Stacking six of these would supply 300mA at about 300V.
This schematic shows the general outline of what I’d like to try with a single-ended amplifier. The V1 supplies produce the anode to cathode voltage for the output tube. These are referenced about 100V above ground by the V2 supplies. The input tube’s B+ is a combination of the V2 and V3 supplies. All in all, this would call for seven 48V supplies, plus another low voltage supply for heaters. The final cost would be somewhat less than a traditional transformer and CLC filter, but there are more interesting reasons to try this.
All the supply gymnastics make it very easy to direct couple the two stages. In this example, Q1 is a gyrator load and Q2 sets the reference voltage. This would also allow us to drive the output tube into A2 operation. My choice for output tube here would be a 6V6: a really sweet sounding triode that otherwise doesn’t produce much in A1 operation. Power would still be low (around 2W), but that would be plenty for headphones or enough for high-efficiency speaker systems.
wauwatosa tube factory 