Triode Stage Emulation With Bipolar Transistors

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Triode Stage Emulation With Bipolar Transistors

Blackboarcult
So I was thinking about breadboarding this and run some tests to see if it is better than our usual Marsha Valves and Fetzers:

http://www.aquinaudio.co.uk/valve_em.html

I always like to have different opinions before bothering to order dedicated parts etc...

Do any of you more experienced folks have ever tested something like this?
And more importantly: is it worth the try? What do you think?

Thanks in advance!
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Re: Triode Stage Emulation With Bipolar Transistors

Travis
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I haven’t tried it, but in my opinion it looks like a lot of parts for what it is.

Very interesting idea and seems well executed, just doesn’t seem practical to me. Say I want to do something like the JFET JCM800.. by the time I string 6 of these gain stages together, plus the ancillary circuitry, I may as well have used JFETs or even tubes

If one were to condense this into an IC then I’m sure it could be really cool
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Re: Triode Stage Emulation With Bipolar Transistors

Blackboarcult
Stupid me, I hadn't thought about the fact that this is a single gain stage

You are right about the lack of practicality of this emulation. Anyway, once my semester is done (hopefully mid-January) I'll breadboard a couple of those and run some tests with our more common jfet or IC amp emus.
Maybe some circuits can benefit from a gain stage like this one in front or behind'em...
The schem shown on the "further thoughts" page shows a simplification of the original idea, without an IC but still 5 transistors (containing one loathsome SMD...). Huge on PCB, yet may be worth to experiment with a single gain stage combined with other designs.

And yes, a single 8-pin IC integrating the whole circuit would be absolutely rad!

I'll let you know the results once i get to test it