Preamp with a huge gain of 350 times.

I am attaching a simple preamp using two NPN transistors. The gain is 350 times and the distortion is just under 0.1%. Since the no signal voltage at the collectors depends on the supply voltage, it is in fact approximately Vcc/2, this preamp requires a very clean power supply that is regulated.

The preamp tries to linearise the base emitter characteristic by using a resistor in parallel with the base-emitter junction. It achieves local negative feedback using a resistor connected between the base and collector. The preamp also uses global negative feedback.

Since the preamp does not self oscillate and is using global negative feedback without a Miller compensating capacitance, it is interesting to investigate why.
 

Attachments

  • preamp_with_global_negative_feedback.asc
    preamp_with_global_negative_feedback.asc
    2.4 KB · Views: 44
  • 2025-02-24-125113_1366x712_scrot.png
    2025-02-24-125113_1366x712_scrot.png
    74.5 KB · Views: 110
Well the loop gain must be small, otherwise the measured gain would be around 1000. So the Nyquist criterion for oscillation is avoided. Try changing R8 to 3k3 - the gain should be close to 100 and stability might become an issue with the higher loop gain (which pushes the unity-gain frequency higher where more poles lurk).