• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Which 6SN7 preamp should I build?

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At present, with some 2.7 mA cathode current, the output impedance is about 670 ohms.
If the cathode current is increased to 8 mA, the output impedance will be some 400 ohms.
This can be done by reducing the cathode resistor to 15k.

@ artosalo, as attached schematic?
 

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^ That's a good one too. I have one similar built up with a baffle step compensation circuit sandwiched between the triode and mosfet, and a single triode (rather than dfferential) per channel. Very handy. With enough heatsinking and mosfet idle current, you can even drive small speakers with it :)
 

PRR

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What's the output impedance?

The *small*-signal impedance is several hundred ohms, as said.

> power my 300 ohms headphones.

The *large*-signal output is 125V behind 47k, or 2.6mA, at high THD.

This looks like 0.8V peak or 0.56Vrms in 300 Ohms. 1 milliWatt.

Yes, I have used headphone amps this small. I have wanted larger.

The cathode 47k resistor could be reduced below 20k for more power.

There are other ways to do this. Usually involving a much bigger bottle than the faithful 6SN7.
 
so does 6AS7G/6N3S/6080 :)

I think a transformer is the best solution here, either way. My flea amplifier could do it just fine, so long as you source a decent transformer.

Small signal and low powered dual triodes are not what I would choose for OTL use at all. A transformer makes the main isusues disappear.
 
I'm not sure I understand what's good about that Blue Velvet circuit. With only 4.5k ohm plate loads, those 6SN7s are being loaded down heavily. I put the circuit into LTspice and it looks like the distortion would be quite high at 1V rms (typical line level) out into normal loads. Am I missing something?
 
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