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A Simple Tube Opamp Hybrid Amplifier

A Simple Tube Opamp Hybrid Amplifier

The topology of the amp is a simple grounded cathode gain stage coupled through a capacitor to an opamp wired in unity gain mode. The standard SOHA uses LND150 depletion mode MOSFETs for the CCS for reasons discussed below. The amplifier circuit is, thus, very simple.
Amplifier Circuit

Most of the hybrid amps that have appeared in HeadWize threads and elsewhere (such as the Millet hybrid) have used the same B+ for both the tube and the opamp. Some of these amps are designed to be portable enough to run from a battery, but most are really constrained to a low voltage DC supply of some kind plugged into the line and so are not truly portable.

In addition, it is generally true that tubes that are not designed for low voltage use will not perform well at 12-24V (which is why the Millet uses special low voltage tubes), so we decided to try to provide the tube with higher B+ to get better performance, while still keeping the voltages fairly low. This meant that the amp could be small and portable although requiring AC power. Like the other hybrid amps, the SOHA is designed to give the sound of tubes while avoiding the high voltage risk that some builders don’t like. Still, providing a higher B+ permits us to get excellent sound from a more commonly available tube like the 12AU7/ECC82, which is in good supply from NOS and current production sources and which gives a wide variety of choices for tube rolling. Having this wide selection also makes it easier for the amp to be constructed in any part of the world.



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Power Supply Circuit

The key to this amp is the power supply. Initially the amp used an easy-to-acquire 30VCT/200mA transformer. As noted above, during the development and testing process, including builds by several HeadWizers, we changed the heater supply from AC to regulated DC. To accommodate the 150mA DC drawn by the heater it is necessary to increase the current spec on the secondary to 400mA. This will also give some headroom for the amp itself. Eventually, we chose the Amveco TE70053 toroid to replace the original split bobbin transformer. Another benefit to using the toroid is less EM radiation in the box and, since the SOHA also designed to be small, this reduces or eliminates problems with PS buzz. Other transformer possibilities are in the Power Supply section below. You can use a higher current rating transformer without difficulty, but if you increase the voltage be careful about not exceeding the maximum input voltage for the regulators. The bipolar opamp supply is a conventional regulated supply using 78L12/79L12 inexpensive regulators. They have a maximum input voltage of 40V.

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