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Triode emulator - Part 2

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 Audio Engineering Society

Convention Paper 9124

Presented at the 137th Convention
2014 October 9–12 Los Angeles, USA

This Convention paper was selected based on a submitted abstract and 750-word précis that have been peer reviewed
by at least two qualified anonymous reviewers. The complete manuscript was not peer reviewed. This convention paper
has been reproduced from the author's advance manuscript without editing, corrections, or consideration by the
Review Board. The AES takes no responsibility for the contents. Additional papers may be obtained by sending request
and remittance to Audio Engineering Society, 60 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10165-2520, USA; also see
www.aes.org. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this paper, or any portion thereof, is not permitted without direct
permission from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society.

Triode Emulator – Part 2

Dimitri Danyuk

Consultant, Palmetto Bay, FL 33157, USA

dimitri@danyuk.com

ABSTRACT

The paper describes method for accurate emulating of triode behavior at high input levels. Under gross
overload the grid current becomes a main origin of distortion. The measurements of grid current for popular
12AX7 triode are presented. In the region of interest grid current dependence on input signal is emulated
with a simple circuit. The output harmonic weighting of the emulator is examined and compared with
existing solution. The results can be applied to solid-state guitar amplifiers.

characterization of tubes in guitar amplification was

presented thirty years ago in [2].
0. INTROODUCTION
Characteristic features of the ‘tube sound’ are:
Guitar amplification is a particular area of current
prevalence for valve electronics. Guitar amplifiers are
• Warmth is created by a large component of second-
often working in overload region to obtain required
order distortion, which has individual amplitude
sonic signature, sustain and acoustic feedback. There
larger than higher order harmonics. Amplitudes of
are two types of amplifiers: tube and solid-state
higher order harmonics decay with harmonic number
amplifiers. Tube amplifiers respond differently from
[1].
transistor amplifiers when signal levels approach and
reach the point of clipping. In a tube-powered amplifier,
• The output signal has soft limiting and asymmetrical
the transition from linear amplification to limiting is less
clipping. Waveform duty-cycle modulation produces
abrupt than in a solid state unit, resulting in a less
input level-varying harmonics. Soft limiting,
grating form of distortion at the onset of clipping. The
asymmetrical clipping and shift in duty cycle with the
first comparison between tube and solid-state amplifiers
signal level are caused by a grid current [2].
in overload region was given in [1], and the first
D. Danyuk
Part 1 of this paper [3] was concerned with the
emulation of the triode amplifying stage transfer
function by means of FET common source stage with a
source resistor of certain value. In the wide range of
input signal level transfer characteristic of the single-
ended FET stage with moderate feedback follows Child-
Langmuir (three-half) power law [4].
Emulator successfully produced “tube-like” harmonics
as a result of the ability of JFET amplifying stage with
moderate feedback to mimic triode transfer function. It
failed as an accurate emulator in overload region, where
dynamic transfer characteristics of the vacuum triode
amplifying stage should be taken into account.
1. TRIODE AMPLIFYING STAGE
Inspection of the circuit diagrams of many of the most
popular electric guitar amplifiers reveals the presence of
several common cathode stages, connected in series.
Figure 1 Common cathode triode amplifying stage.
A typical triode amplifying stage is illustrated in Figure
1. This circuit is commonly used as a building block in
many tube guitar amplifiers. The triode acts as a voltage
- controlled nonlinear resistor. The voltage between the
anode and cathode and the voltage between the grid and
cathode control the anode-to-cathode resistance and the
anode current. The triode stage is operated with
AES 137th Convention, Los Angeles, USA, 2014 October 9–12
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Triode Emulator – Part2
negative dc voltage between grid and cathode V gk . The
negative dc voltage is caused by current flow through
the cathode resistor Rk 2 . Large cathode capacitor C k 2
is added in parallel to Rk 2 , so that the biasing remains
nearly constant. The input ac coupling capacitor C1
removes dc component from the previous stage anode
circuit. With high-amplitude positive ac input signal,
this ac coupling capacitor is charged through
the Ra1 , R g 2 , grid-to-cathode diode and cathode
network Rk 2 || C k 2 . With high-amplitude negative ac
input signal, ac coupling capacitor C1 is discharged
through R2 , R g 2 and anode-to-cathode resistance of
the previous tube. For guitar amplifiers the charge time
constant is about 2-10 ms, and discharge time constant
is ten-twenty times larger. The anode current I a 2 , grid-
to-cathode voltage V gk the voltage across C1 are
illustrated in Figure2.
Figure 2 Plot of the anode current, grid voltage and the
voltage across dc blocking capacitor as a function of
time.
ac coupling capacitor C1 charges during several first
cycles of the input sine burst, preventing the grid from
being overly positive. The negative dc voltage across
C1 decreases the grid voltage and pushes the triode
further into cut-off. The anode current waveform
resembles half wave rectification.
D. Danyuk Triode Emulator – Part2

1.1. Grid current in triode – theory where J a is anode current density,

The anode current for the cylindrical vacuum diode can Vak is potential difference between anode and cathode,
be written as [5, 6] d is a distance between anode and cathode ,

2 qVak  qV  K is a constant.
Ja  J0 exp  ak   ...
 kT  kT 


 exp x dx
2
...  J0 2
(1)
 qVak kT

for Vak  0 ,

where J a is anode current density,

Vak is potential difference between anode and cathode,

k is Boltzmann constant,
q denotes electron charge.
Figure 3 Plot of the anode current I a as a function of
Working temperature for modern coated cathodes is anode voltage Vak for vacuum diode.
425…600°C (700…900K) and kT q = 60…80mV
Figure3 shows I a Va  characteristics of a diode plotted
In most cases the second term in Equation 1 is
negligible in comparison with the first, and it can be on linear scale. At the most negative end of
rewritten as characteristics the shape is exponential curve, given by
equation (1) for a cylindrical diode. As the current
 qV  I a increases space charge limitation sets in and the
I a  I 0 exp  ak  for Vak  0 , characteristics becomes 3/2 power law.
 kT 
It is generally accepted that the triode grid current
where I a is anode current, model follows diode’s characteristic.
I 0 is a constant. 1.2. Grid current in triode – measurements

The vacuum diode characteristic for Va  0 plotted on Grid current measurements for 12AX7 triode are
presented in Figure 4 in different scales.
semi-logarithmic scale becomes a straight line with a
slope q kT . Grid current was measured according to the circuit,
presented in [2]. Anode power supply voltage was
For positive anode voltage anode current follows Child– 440V, anode resistor Ra 100kΩ, cathode resistor
Langmuir law:
Rk 820Ω.

 V 3/ 2  Examination of plot of the grid current in semi-

J a  K  ak2  for Vak  0 ,
 logarithmic scale reveals that three ranges can be
 d  singled out: negative grid voltage (below -0.3V),
transitional region (from -0.3V to +0.3V) and positive
grid voltage (above +0.3V).

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D. Danyuk Triode Emulator – Part2

The typical resistance seen by the grid is about 100kΩ,

and at large negative voltage ( V gk below -0.3V) voltage
drop, caused by grid current is small. At +0.3V grid
current of 12AX7 triode is about 200uA. Typical ac
coupling capacitor C1 has the value of
0.022…0.068μF. C1 discharges in the rate of 0.3…1V
per 100us with 200μA grid current. Grid voltage V gk
above +0.2…0.3V can hardly be found.

It was shown [2], that in the region of interest ( V gk

from -0.3V to +0.3V) the best fit equation is
I g  3.1 10 4  (V gk  0.53) 3 , where V gk is in Volts,
I g in Amperes.

The measured grid current nearly follows straight line

on log I a ~ Va plot in Figure 5. The grid current
characteristic can also be written as an exponential
(a) function, the best fit equation is
I g  4  105 exp(5.7  Vgk ) for the data shown in
Figure 5.

(b)
Figure 5 Measured grid current of 12AX7 in the range
Figure 4 Measured grid current I g of 12AX7 in wide of interest in semi-logarithmic scale. (Line in lower
right corner of the graph has the same exponent, as the
range of grid-to-cathode voltages V gk in linear (a) and
current for pn junction at 300K).
in semi-logarithmic (b) scales.

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D. Danyuk Triode Emulator – Part2

Additional measurements for different tube samples V gk  V

with the best fit equation for each range will be Ig  if V gk  V  K n
presented in the nearest future [13] R gk

1.3. Grid current in triode – simulation I g  aV gk2  bV gk  c otherwise,

In simulation of tube circuits the following
approximations were used: where

a) piecewise-linear model [7-9]

1
a ,
If the grid is biased at a voltage that is positive with 4 K n R gk
respect to the cathode, the grid current cannot be
neglected. In this case a resistor with series ideal diode
is added from the grid to the cathode to model the
K n  V
b ,
small-signal grid-to-cathode resistance. 2 K n R gk
I g  0 for V gk  V
c  a V  K n   bV  K n .
2

V gk  V
Ig  otherwise, The parameter R gk controls the resistive behavior of
R gk
the grid current, V is the voltage threshold between the

where I g  k g V gk is the voltage threshold between null and resistive behavior. The parameter K n is the
the null and resistive behavior. length of the smooth transition.

b) power law [10] d) current division [12]

The grid-to-cathode diode is implemented as a nonlinear
resistor, where the resistance value is a function of the
voltage over it.
I g  k g V gk for V gk  10 60
The basic concept is that the electron paths inside a tube
depend only on the ratio of anode and grid voltages but
not on their amplitudes. Thus the division into grid and
anode current has to be a function of the voltage ratio.
The equation for grid current can be written as:

I g  k g 10 60 otherwise, 1 V gk
Ig   Ia    I a if
V Vak
where   3 2. 1   ak
V gk
c) “phenomenological” equation [11] Vak
 0.8 and V gk  0
A smooth transition is added between the resistive V gk
behavior and the interval of voltages where the current
is null, with a second order polynomial. I g  0 if V gk  0 ,

I g  0 if V gk  V  K n where the constant  is the current-division factor.

These approximations don’t consider exponential

behavior of grid current at low anode current, so they

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D. Danyuk Triode Emulator – Part2

can hardly be used to simulate grid network in wide

range of input level.

2. GRID CURRENT EMULATION

2.1. Grid current emulation with single

junction diode

It was proposed to emulate the grid current in JFET

amplifying stage with additional Si junction diode [14,
15]. The FET amplifying stage with additional diode is
depicted schematically in Figure 6. This is a replica of
tube amplifier, shown in Figure 1, where tubes are Figure 7 Drain current as a function of time with input
replaced with JFETs and gate diodes. sine amplitude as parameter.

Many variations of the circuit [14, 15] can be found

elsewhere [16-18]. Practical implementations have tube-
like signature, but to many performers they sound
sometimes “brittle” or “edgy”.

Figure 6 Common source JFET stage with junction

diode in gate circuit.
When the current through the diode D starts, it charges
ac coupling capacitor C1 . Negative voltage on capacitor
shifts dc operating point of JFET and causes duty-cycle
shift of the output waveform. Figure 7 displays the drain
current of Q2 JFET.
The drain current waveform has a sharp knee at large
positive signal. Higher order harmonics prevail in
overload region. Individual harmonic levels as a
function of input signal is presented in Figure 8. In the
overload region 5th harmonic level is in the range -20…-
12dB and 7th harmonic level is about -24dB.
Figure 8 Individual harmonic levels of drain current for
the JFET amplifier diagrammed in Figure 6. Input
voltage 0dB is the onset of clipping.
2.2. Grid current emulation with multiply
junction diodes
A casual inspection of Figure 5 suggests the need of
device with appropriately decreased exponent instead of
gate diode. The exponent in the best fit equation for grid
5
current I g  4  10 exp(5.7  Vgk ) is 6.7 times less
than the exponent in the equation for junction diode
current: I d  I 0 exp(38.5  Vak ) where I d is diode
current; I 0 is a constant. Exponent for current of two
(three) junction diodes in series will have almost the
same value as measured exponent for 12AX7 tube.

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D. Danyuk
Figure 9 Subcircuit comprised of diode chain that
replaces single diode in gate circuit in Figure 6.
The temperature dependence of the static characteristic
of a diode chain would be significant. Additional
forward-biased diode chain and the operational
amplifier decreases variation with temperature.
Figure 10 Drain current as a function of time with input
sine amplitude as parameter.
The drain current waveform with multiply junction
diodes (Figure 10) is softer then with single diode.
Individual harmonic level as a function of input signal is
presented in Figure 11. In the overload region 5th
harmonic level is in the range -30…-20dB and 7th
harmonic level is in the range -30…-20dB.
3. CONCLUSIONS
In order to achieve asymmetrical clipping a simple
circuit was introduced to dynamically shift the DC point
of the input signal, doing so in the way as triode grid
current does.
AES 137th Convention, Los Angeles, USA, 2014 October 9–12
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Triode Emulator – Part2
Figure 11 Individual harmonic levels of drain current
for the JFET amplifier with multiply gate diodes.
The presented earlier triode emulator [3] can be altered
with a simple circuit, which emulates triode grid current
behavior. The overall circuit has triode-like individual
harmonic level distribution and soft clipping for low
signals along with waveform duty-cycle modulation in
the overload region. Several versions of triode emulator
[3] with diode chain in gate circuit were built. The
emulator looks substantially like a triode amplifying
stage with the measurements and sound much like a
triode in the auditioning - down to the subtle effects of
the time-varying harmonics.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Tom Rutt for his advices
and discussion. The author is also grateful to
anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
5. REFERENCES
[1] R.O.Hamm, "Tubes versus Transistors - is there an
Audible Difference," Journal of the Audio Eng.
Soc., vol.21, pp.267-273, (1973 April).
[2] T.Rutt, “Vacuum Tube Triode Nonlinearity as Part
of the Electric Guitar Sound”, The Audio Eng.
Society preprint 2141, presented at 76th AES
Convention, 1984, October 8 – 11, New York, pp.
1-24
 D. Danyuk Triode Emulator – Part2

[3] D.Danyuk, “Triode Emulator”, The Audio
Engineering Society preprint 6008, presented at
116th AES Convention, 2004, May 8 – 11, Berlin,
pp. 1-8, reprinted in 23 Tonmeistertagung VDT Int.
Audio Convention Proceedings, 2004, Nov. 5-8,
Leipzig, paper PS-01.
[13] Tom Rutt, Coast Enterprises LLC, Asbury Park, NJ
07712, USA, personal communication (2013 June)
[14] J.C.Sondermeyer and J.W.Brown, Sr., “Multi-Stage
Solid State Amplifier that Emulates Tube
Distortion,” US Pat.5619578

[4] T.C.de Azevedo, The "triode" emulator revisited, [15] J.C.Sondermeyer and J.W.Brown, Sr., “Multi-Stage
http://www.diale.org/triode.html (retrieved on Solid State Amplifier that Emulates Tube
7/01/14) Distortion,” US Pat.5647004

[5] K.R.Spangenberg, Vacuum Tubes. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1948.
[6] A.H.W.Beck, Thermionic valves: their theory and
design. Cambridge University Press, 1953
[7] W.M.Leach JR., “Spice models for vacuum tube
amplifiers”, J. Audio Eng. Society, Vol. 43, pp.117-
126 (March 1995).
[16] M.Semenov, “On the Emulation of the Triode
Vacuum Tube with FETs” (in Russian)
http://gtlab.net/gtlab4/archives/216 (retrieved on
7/01/14)
[17] V.Kempf, “Emulation of triode clipping with FET”
(in Russian)
http://www.sugardas.lt/~igoramps/article68/triode_j
fet_emulation.pdf (retrieved on 7/01/14)

[8] N.Koren, “Improved vacuum tube models for spice
simulations," Glass Audio, vol. 5, pp. 18-27, 1996,
see also
http://www.normankoren.com/Audio/Tubemodspic
e_article.html (retrieved on 7/01/14)
[18] S.Luzan, A.Kalina and M.Semenov, “Another
Method of Modeling Triode with FET” (in Russian)
http://gtlab.net/gtlab4/archives/415 (retrieved on
7/01/14)

[9] I.Cohen and T.Helie, “Simulation of a guitar

amplifier stage for several triode models:
examination of some relevant phenomena and
choice of adapted numerical schemes”, The Audio
Eng. Society preprint 7929, presented at 127th AES
Convention, 2009, Oct. 9 – 12, New York, pp.1-9

[10] J.Pakarinen and M.Karjalainen, “Enhanced Wave

Digital Triode Model for Real-Time Tube
Amplifier Emulation”, IEEE Trans. Audio, Speech
and Lang. Proc., vol.18, pp.738-746 (May 2010)

[11] .Cohen and T.Helie, “Measures and Parameter

Estimation of Triodes for the Real-Time Simulation
of a Multi-Stage Guitar Preamplifier”, The Audio
Eng. Society preprint 8219, presented at 129th AES
Convention, 2010, Nov. 4 – 7, San Francisco, pp.1-
11

[12] K.Dempwolf, M.Holters and U.Zölzer, “A Triode

Model for Guitar Amplifier Simulation with
Individual Parameter Fitting”, The Audio Eng.
Society preprint 8507, presented at 131st AES
Convention, 2011, Oct. 20 – 23, New York, pp.1-
10

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