Many times I get emails from DIY Audio builders who embark on building a DHT preamp when they don’t need gain, but instead what they need is a simple line stage to drive their amplifiers and interconnect cables effectively. Then they come back asking: “can I reduce the gain of the 01a or 4P1L preamps?”
For those who don’t need the gain, here is an interesting idea which brings together several design decisions which makes the DHT sound to its best. The challenge with many of the best sounding DHTs of low-mu is that is very hard to implement with filament bias. I’ve done a driver with a 46 in filament bias which was a crazy idea. I could turn of the heating with the amp running! It was a nice experiment though. With exception of the 71a and some other few DHTs, if you’re looking for good anode current and low ra, you’re in trouble. The 300B, 45/46, 50 and some other variations can’t be used in filament bias.
Subject to your religious beliefs in audio, you may not want to add a capacitor in the cathode, like me. I won’t dive into this discussion which is pointless as is a personal decision. If you continue reading this is simply because you value the sound difference in the DHT without a capacitor bypass in the cathode. Keep reading then…