John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

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I'd love to hear anyone's comments.

Your outstanding design will certainly improve the sound of your equipment, whatever that is.

Set aside it does not use global negative feedback (a well known sound killer, due to the high order harmonics and PIM impact) it's excellent sound is also the result of the very low output impedance up in the MHz range and very good load and line regulations.
 
This sort of design has been used since bipolar transistors first came available in the 1950's. It is often considered too simple and imperfect, however it has a number of advantages that make it useful, even today.
Personally, I first used it to IMPROVE an existing commercial +/- 15V supply by using this very design, WITHOUT the Zener diode, (since DC regulation was already established) in the Levinson JC-2 to lower the power supply noise to the phono stage, which, while balanced, had modest power supply rejection.
That was 1973, however, you will find it in almost exact form (with the Zener) in many Parasound power amps of my design over the last 20 years. I do often swap the bipolar transistor for a power mosfet in my better designs, but the circuit is basically the same. It is also true for the CTC Blowtorch, the Parasound JC-2 preamp, and most preamps (without the zener) that I have designed over the decades.
 
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This sort of design has been used since bipolar transistors first came available in the 1950's. It is often considered too simple and imperfect, however it has a number of advantages that make it useful, even today.
Personally, I first used it to IMPROVE an existing commercial +/- 15V supply by using this very design, WITHOUT the Zener diode, (since DC regulation was already established) in the Levinson JC-2 to lower the power supply noise to the phono stage, which, while balanced, had modest power supply rejection.
That was 1973, however, you will find it in almost exact form (with the Zener) in many Parasound power amps of my design over the last 20 years. I do often swap the bipolar transistor for a power mosfet in my better designs, but the circuit is basically the same. It is also true for the CTC Blowtorch, the Parasound JC-2 preamp, and most preamps (without the zener) that I have designed over the decades.

Maybe I lost track, but are you guys still talking about Joshua's emitter follower or have you switched to a real regulator?

jd
 
Joshua G, your example has only one major problem. You should put a resistor of 1K ohm or so between the Zener diode and the cap which should be connected to the base of the transistor. This will lower the noise generated by the Zener diode, significantly. In fact, this is one of the major tradeoffs of using the 3 terminal IC regulators, that is: no way to bypass the solid state reference.


John, do you mean something like this:
 

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Your outstanding design will certainly improve the sound of your equipment, whatever that is.

Set aside it does not use global negative feedback (a well known sound killer, due to the high order harmonics and PIM impact) it's excellent sound is also the result of the very low output impedance up in the MHz range and very good load and line regulations.

Thank you very much for your comments, now I'm illuminated. However, my question referred to the differences between IC regulator vs. discrete one. Do you have any comment to that question, or you'd be satisfied by only mocking others?
 
Joshua, it can be debated whether you need to add the .1uf cap across the Zener. The Zener diode has its own internal capacitance and works well into the RF region. Everything else looks OK.
This sort of design (without Zener) is used with 'real' IC regulators and are normally known as capacitor multipliers. They can be very quiet. Adding the Zener, and resistor reduces the 'breathing' from AC power lines and its potential compromise to the circuit, IF you do not use a 'real' regulator in front of the cap multiplier.
It is best to keep the channels separated by using a cap multiplier for every channel, and even every gain block, in an audio preamp or power amp driver stage. This is because the output Z of the regulator of this kind, while being broad-band, is fairly high, even a few ohms, especially if you add short circuit protection in the usual way. The Levinson JC-2 suffered from this.
 
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