What is Negative Feedback? General Negative feedback is a commonly misunderstood subject.

Global negative feedback refers to the "feeding back" of a small amount of signal from a later part of the circuit to an earlier part, usually from a tap on the output transformer back to the phase inverter. What does negative feedback accomplish? The use of global negative feedback does several things: it flattens and extends the frequency response, it reduces distortion generated in the stages encompassed by the feedback loop, and it reduces the effective output impedance of the amplifier, which increases the damping factor. All of these things affect the tone in some manner. The flattened, extended frequency response obviously changes the tonal character by removing "humps" in the output stage response and producing more high and low end frequencies. The distortion reduction makes the amp sound cleaner and more "hi-fi", up to the point of clipping, with less output-stage generated noise. Perhaps the main difference for the "feel" in a negative feedback amplifier, as opposed to a non-negative feedback amplifier, is the increased damping factor produced by the negative feedback loop. The decreased effective output impedance causes the amp to react less to the speakers. A speaker impedance curve is far from flat; it rises very high at the resonant frequency, then falls to the nominal impedance around 1kHz, and again rises as the frequency increases. This changing "reactive" load causes the amp output level to change with frequency and changes in speaker impedance (a dynamic thing that changes as the speakers are driven harder). Global negative feedback generally reduces this greatly. This can be good or bad, depending upon what you are looking for. Negative feedback makes the amp sound "tighter", particularly in the low end, where the speaker resonant hump has the most effect on amplifier output. This is better suited for pristine clean playing or a tight distorted tone, while a non-negative feedback amp has a "looser" feel, better suited to a bluesy, dynamic style of playing. The other disadvantage of a negative feedback amplifier is that the transition from clean to distorted is much more abrupt, because the negative feedback tends to keep the amp distortion to a minimum until the output stage clips, at which point there is no "excess gain" available to keep the feedback loop operating properly. At this point, the feedback loop is broken, and the amp transitions to the full non-feedback forward gain, which means that the clipping occurs very abruptly. The non-negative feedback amp

transitions much more smoothly into distortion, making it better for players who like to use their volume control to change from a clean to a distorted tone. How much feedback to use? The amount of voltage fed back determines the amount of gain reduction and the amount of distortion reduction, as well as the effective output impedance. The more voltage fed back, the less distortion, the lower the effective output impedance, the higher the damping factor, and the lower the gain of the stages enclosed by the feedback loop. Typically, in a guitar amp, somewhere around 6-10dB of feedback is used. If you have 6dB of feedback, for instance, and it takes 2V at the phase inverter input to achieve output clipping, if you removed the feedback, it would only take 1V at the phase inverter input to achieve output clipping. In other words, there is a voltage gain reduction of 6dB, or a factor of two, in the stages enclosed by the feedback loop. This is achieved by feeding back a certain percentage of the output voltage to an earlier point in the circuit, the phase inverter. The more voltage fed back, the more the voltage gain reduction, as mentioned previously. The series feedback resistor, in conjunction with the resistor to ground, determines the amount of voltage being fed back. If you want to feed back more voltage, you make the series resistor smaller, or the shunt resistor larger, or you use a higher impedance tap on the output transformer. The actual resistor values used in the feedback attenuator aren't that important, as their ratio determines the amount of feedback. The shunt resistor value is usually fixed by the phase inverter design requirements, and the series resistor is then sized according to the desired amount of feedback, given the voltage available at the output. Note that Marshall typically uses 100K/5K attenuator, while Fender uses a 820ohms/100ohms. You can get the same attenuation from a 10K/500ohm pair as you would from a 100K/5K pair. In addition, if you were using a 100K/5K attenuator running from the 16 ohm tap, you would get roughly the same amount of feedback if you used a 47K/5K attenuator running from the 4 ohm tap. Note that the tap voltages are not linear with respect to the impedance, it varies linearly with the square root of the impedance, that is, the voltage on the 8 ohm tap is not half the voltage on the 16 ohm tap, rather, the voltage on the 4 ohm tap is half the voltage on the 16 ohm tap. It helps if you think of the equation for power: P = V^2/R. If you have 100W into 16 ohms, the voltage is V = sqrt(100*16) = 40V RMS. If you have 100W into 8 ohms, the voltage is V = sqrt(100*8) = 28.28V RMS. If you have 100W into 4 ohms, the voltage is V = sqrt(100*4) = 20V RMS. Where to apply the feedback?

Feedback can be applied to either side of the phase inverter in a global negative feedback amplifier that has the feedback wrapped around to a long-tail, or differential, type of phase inverter, because the phase inverter has two inputs, one inverting, and the other non-inverting, with respect to the output. The overall effect of the global negative feedback on frequency response, output impedance, gain reduction, and distortion reduction will be the same with either form of feedback. The only thing that will change will be the input impedance of the overall feedback network, and the method of setting the overall gain (more on this in the following paragraphs). In one case, the result will be a non-inverting amplifier, where the feedback resistor is connected from the output of the amplifier to the "other" side of the phase inverter (not the side with signal applied to it). The gain set by the ratio of the feedback resistor and the resistor to ground from that input. The input impedance of this type of global negative feedback amplifier is very high, so it won't load down the circuit driving it. Most early Marshalls are good examples of this type of global negative feedback amplifier. This is by far the most common form of global negative feedback amplifier used in guitar amplifiers. In the other case, the feedback is applied to the "signal" side input of the phase inverter. This forms an inverting amplifier configuration, with the gain being set by the ratio of the value of the feedback resistor to the "input" resistor. The input impedance of this type of global negative feedback amplifier is set by the value of the input resistor, so care must be taken in the design of the circuit to avoid loading down the previous stage, as the value of the input resistor usually must be very low in order to get any decent amount of gain with not too large a feedback resistor value. In some cases, there is no input resistor at all, so the effective value of the input resistor is the output impedance of the previous stage. In either case, the overall feedback gain can be set by varying the feedback resistor. The Fender AB165 Bassman circuit is a good example of this type of global negative feedback amplifier. The "input" resistor is formed by the output impedance of the 7025 channel-summing stage, which uses local negative feedback to give a low, controlled output impedance so it functions well in the global negative feedback gain-setting function, and it also functions as a channel summing amplifier with very good channel-to-channel isolation, due to the "virtual" ground formed at the summing junction of the local negative feedback amplifier. A very efficient design, indeed! See this paper for more details on the local negative feedback amplifier: http://www.aikenamps.com/FeedbackAmp.htm . Also, this paper has more

details on designing non-inverting global negative feedback amplifiers: http://www.aikenamps.com/GlobalNegativeFeedback.htm . Frequency response shaping via feedback Closely related to the subject of negative feedback is the use of frequency-dependent elements in the feedback loop to shape the overall response of the amplifier. Most guitar amps have a "presence" control, which boosts the high frequencies. It accomplishes this not by actually boosting the highs in the forward path of the output circuit, rather by cutting the amount of high frequencies being fed back. This effectively reduces the amount of negative feedback at those higher frequencies, which results in a boosting of the highs at the output. Some guitar amplifiers have a "resonance" control, which does a similar thing, by cutting the amount of low frequencies present in the feedback loop, thereby boosting the low frequencies in the output. The amount of boost is equal to the amount of negative feedback. If the amp has 6dB of feedback, there can be at most a 6dB presence or resonance boost. This means that if you reduce the amount of feedback for more gain, you will also reduce the effectiveness of the presence and resonance controls, likewise, if you increase the amount of feedback, you will increase the effectiveness of these controls. There is a danger in using too much negative feedback, however, as the amplifier can become unstable and oscillate, particularly with reactive loads. In addition, the more stages the feedback is applied around, the more likely the chance for oscillations, as there are more phase shifts within the forward path, due to coupling capacitors and other circuit capacitances. Other types of feedback Some amplifiers, most notably the Marshall Valvestate transistor amps, use negative current feedback in lieu of negative voltage feedback, or a combination of the two. Global negative current feedback has a similar effect on distortion reduction, but instead of decreasing the effective output impedance and increasing the damping factor, it actually increases the effective output impedance and decreases the damping factor. This makes the amplifier's output voltage vary with variations in speaker impedance. Since a speaker's impedance varies radically with frequency, a current feedback amplifier will tend to feel more "tubey" than a voltage feedback amplifier, because of this speaker/amplifier interaction. In addition to global negative feedback, amplifiers usually have some form of local negative feedback, but sometimes this is not as apparent. A cathode follower is an example of an amplifier stage with 100% negative feedback. This is what gives it the high input impedance and low output impedance, and the near-unity maximum gain. Some amplifiers will use a single-stage inverting amplifier circuit with local

feedback from the plate to the grid via a large resistor and coupling cap. The gain of these inverting stages is set by the value of the feedback resistor in proportion to the value of the input resistor.

Negative feedback
If we connect the output of an op-amp to its inverting input and apply a voltage signal to the noninverting input, we find that the output voltage of the op-amp closely follows that input voltage (I've neglected to draw in the power supply, +V/-V wires, and ground symbol for simplicity):

As Vin increases, Vout will increase in accordance with the differential gain. However, as Vout increases, that output voltage is fed back to the inverting input, thereby acting to decrease the voltage differential between inputs, which acts to bring the output down. What will happen for any given voltage input is that the op-amp will output a voltage very nearly equal to Vin, but just low enough so that there's enough voltage difference left between Vin and the (-) input to be amplified to generate the output voltage. The circuit will quickly reach a point of stability (known as equilibrium in physics), where the output voltage is just the right amount to maintain the right amount of differential, which in turn produces the right amount of output voltage. Taking the opamp's output voltage and coupling it to the inverting input is a technique known as negative feedback, and it is the key to having a self-stabilizing system (this is true not only of op-amps, but of any dynamic system in general). This stability gives the op-amp the capacity to work in its linear (active) mode, as opposed to merely being saturated fully "on" or "off" as it was when used as a comparator, with no feedback at all. Because the op-amp's gain is so high, the voltage on the inverting input can be maintained almost equal to Vin. Let's say that our op-amp has a differential voltage gain of 200,000. If Vin equals 6 volts, the output voltage will be 5.999970000149999 volts. This creates just enough differential voltage (6 volts - 5.999970000149999 volts = 29.99985 V) to cause 5.999970000149999 volts to be manifested at the output terminal, and the system holds there in balance. As you can see, 29.99985 V is not a

lot of differential, so for practical calculations, we can assume that the differential voltage between the two input wires is held by negative feedback exactly at 0 volts.

One great advantage to using an op-amp with negative feedback is that the actual voltage gain of the op-amp doesn't matter, so long as its very large. If the op-amp's differential gain were 250,000 instead of 200,000, all it would mean is that the output voltage would hold just a little closer to Vin (less differential voltage needed between inputs to generate the required output). In the circuit just illustrated, the output voltage would still be (for all practical purposes) equal to the non-inverting input voltage. Opamp gains, therefore, do not have to be precisely set by the factory in order for the

circuit designer to build an amplifier circuit with precise gain. Negative feedback makes the system self-correcting. The above circuit as a whole will simply follow the input voltage with a stable gain of 1. Going back to our differential amplifier model, we can think of the operational amplifier as being a variable voltage source controlled by an extremely sensitive null detector, the kind of meter movement or other sensitive measurement device used in bridge circuits to detect a condition of balance (zero volts). The "potentiometer" inside the op-amp creating the variable voltage will move to whatever position it must to "balance" the inverting and noninverting input voltages so that the "null detector" has zero voltage across it:

As the "potentiometer" will move to provide an output voltage necessary to satisfy the "null detector" at an "indication" of zero volts, the output voltage becomes equal to the input voltage: in this case, 6 volts. If the input voltage changes at all, the "potentiometer" inside the op-amp will change position to hold the "null detector" in balance (indicating zero volts), resulting in an output voltage approximately equal to the input voltage at all times. This will hold true within the range of voltages that the op-amp can output. With a power supply of +15V/-15V, and an ideal amplifier that can swing its output voltage just as far, it will faithfully "follow" the input voltage between the limits of +15 volts and -15 volts. For this reason, the above circuit is known as a voltage follower. Like its one-transistor counterpart, the common-collector ("emitter-follower") amplifier, it has a voltage gain of 1, a high input impedance, a low output impedance, and a high current gain. Voltage followers are also known as voltage buffers, and are used to

boost the current-sourcing ability of voltage signals too weak (too high of source impedance) to directly drive a load. The op-amp model shown in the last illustration depicts how the output voltage is essentially isolated from the input voltage, so that current on the output pin is not supplied by the input voltage source at all, but rather from the power supply powering the op-amp. It should be mentioned that many op-amps cannot swing their output voltages exactly to +V/-V power supply rail voltages. The model 741 is one of those that cannot: when saturated, its output voltage peaks within about one volt of the +V power supply voltage and within about 2 volts of the -V power supply voltage. Therefore, with a split power supply of +15/-15 volts, a 741 op-amp's output may go as high as +14 volts or as low as -13 volts (approximately), but no further. This is due to its bipolar transistor design. These two voltage limits are known as the positive saturation voltage and negative saturation voltage, respectively. Other op-amps, such as the model 3130 with field-effect transistors in the final output stage, have the ability to swing their output voltages within millivolts of either power supply railvoltage. Consequently, their positive and negative saturation voltages are practically equal to the supply voltages.

REVIEW: Connecting the output of an op-amp to its inverting (-) input is called negative feedback. This term can be broadly applied to any dynamic system where the output signal is "fed back" to the input somehow so as to reach a point of equilibrium (balance). When the output of an op-amp is directly connected to its inverting (-) input, a voltage follower will be created. Whatever signal voltage is impressed upon the noninverting (+) input will be seen on the output. An op-amp with negative feedback will try to drive its output voltage to whatever level necessary so that the differential voltage between the two inputs is practically zero. The higher the op-amp differential gain, the closer that differential voltage will be to zero. Some op-amps cannot produce an output voltage equal to their supply voltage when saturated. The model 741 is one of these. The upper and lower limits of an op-amp's output voltage swing are known as positive saturation voltage and negative saturation voltage, respectively.

Divided feedback
If we add a voltage divider to the negative feedback wiring so that only a fraction of the output voltage is fed back to the inverting input instead of the full amount, the output voltage will be a multiple of the input voltage (please bear in mind that the

power supply connections to the op-amp have been omitted once again for simplicity's sake):

If R1 and R2 are both equal and Vin is 6 volts, the op-amp will output whatever voltage is needed to drop 6 volts across R1 (to make the inverting input voltage equal to 6 volts, as well, keeping the voltage difference between the two inputs equal to zero). With the 2:1 voltage divider of R1 and R2, this will take 12 volts at the output of the op-amp to accomplish. Another way of analyzing this circuit is to start by calculating the magnitude and direction of current through R1, knowing the voltage on either side (and therefore, by subtraction, the voltage across R1), and R1's resistance. Since the left-hand side of R1 is connected to ground (0 volts) and the right-hand side is at a potential of 6 volts (due to the negative feedback holding that point equal to Vin), we can see that we have 6 volts across R1. This gives us 6 mA of current through R1 from left to right. Because we know that both inputs of the op-amp have extremely high impedance, we can safely assume they won't add or subtract any current through the divider. In other words, we can treat R1 and R2 as being in series with each other: all of the electrons flowing through R1 must flow through R2. Knowing the current through R2 and the resistance of R2, we can calculate the voltage across R2 (6 volts), and its polarity. Counting up voltages from ground (0 volts) to the right-hand side of R2, we arrive at 12 volts on the output. Upon examining the last illustration, one might wonder, "where does that 6 mA of current go?" The last illustration doesn't show the entire current path, but in reality it comes from the negative side of the DC power supply, through ground, through R1,

through R2, through the output pin of the op-amp, and then back to the positive side of the DC power supply through the output transistor(s) of the op-amp. Using the null detector/potentiometer model of the op-amp, the current path looks like this:

The 6 volt signal source does not have to supply any current for the circuit: it merely commands the op-amp to balance voltage between the inverting (-) and noninverting (+) input pins, and in so doing produce an output voltage that is twice the input due to the dividing effect of the two 1 k resistors. We can change the voltage gain of this circuit, overall, just by adjusting the values of R1 and R2 (changing the ratio of output voltage that is fed back to the inverting input). Gain can be calculated by the following formula:

Note that the voltage gain for this design of amplifier circuit can never be less than 1. If we were to lower R2 to a value of zero ohms, our circuit would be essentially identical to the voltage follower, with the output directly connected to the inverting input. Since the voltage follower has a gain of 1, this sets the lower gain limit of the noninverting amplifier. However, the gain can be increased far beyond 1, by increasing R2 in proportion to R1. Also note that the polarity of the output matches that of the input, just as with a voltage follower. A positive input voltage results in a positive output voltage, and vice

versa (with respect to ground). For this reason, this circuit is referred to as a noninverting amplifier. Just as with the voltage follower, we see that the differential gain of the op-amp is irrelevant, so long as its very high. The voltages and currents in this circuit would hardly change at all if the op-amp's voltage gain were 250,000 instead of 200,000. This stands as a stark contrast to single-transistor amplifier circuit designs, where the Beta of the individual transistor greatly influenced the overall gains of the amplifier. With negative feedback, we have a self-correcting system that amplifies voltage according to the ratios set by the feedback resistors, not the gains internal to the opamp. Let's see what happens if we retain negative feedback through a voltage divider, but apply the input voltage at a different location:

By grounding the noninverting input, the negative feedback from the output seeks to hold the inverting input's voltage at 0 volts, as well. For this reason, the inverting input is referred to in this circuit as avirtual ground, being held at ground potential (0 volts) by the feedback, yet not directly connected to (electrically common with) ground. The input voltage this time is applied to the left-hand end of the voltage divider (R1 = R2 = 1 k again), so the output voltage must swing to -6 volts in order to balance the middle at ground potential (0 volts). Using the same techniques as with the noninverting amplifier, we can analyze this circuit's operation by determining current magnitudes and directions, starting with R1, and continuing on to determining the output voltage. We can change the overall voltage gain of this circuit, overall, just by adjusting the values of R1 and R2 (changing the ratio of output voltage that is fed back to the inverting input). Gain can be calculated by the following formula:

Note that this circuit's voltage gain can be less than 1, depending solely on the ratio of R2 to R1. Also note that the output voltage is always the opposite polarity of the input voltage. A positive input voltage results in a negative output voltage, and vice versa (with respect to ground). For this reason, this circuit is referred to as an inverting amplifier. Sometimes, the gain formula contains a negative sign (before the R2/R1 fraction) to reflect this reversal of polarities. These two amplifier circuits we've just investigated serve the purpose of multiplying or dividing the magnitude of the input voltage signal. This is exactly how the mathematical operations of multiplication and division are typically handled in analog computer circuitry.

REVIEW: By connecting the inverting (-) input of an op-amp directly to the output, we get negative feedback, which gives us a voltage follower circuit. By connecting that negative feedback through a resistive voltage divider (feeding back a fraction of the output voltage to the inverting input), the output voltage becomes a multiple of the input voltage. A negative-feedback op-amp circuit with the input signal going to the noninverting (+) input is called a noninverting amplifier. The output voltage will be the same polarity as the input. Voltage gain is given by the following equation: AV = (R2/R1) + 1 A negative-feedback op-amp circuit with the input signal going to the "bottom" of the resistive voltage divider, with the noninverting (+) input grounded, is called an inverting amplifier. Its output voltage will be the opposite polarity of the input. Voltage gain is given by the following equation: AV = -R2/R1