Valve amplifier thermionic valves. The simplest valve was invented by John Ambrose Fleming while working for the Marconi Company in London in 1904 and named the diode, as it had two electrodes. The diode conducted electricity in one direction only and was used as a radio detector and a rectifier. In 1906 Lee De Forest added a third electrode and invented the first electronic amplifying device, the triode, which he named the "Audion". This additional "control grid" modulates the current that flows between cathode and anode. The relationship between current flow and plate and grid voltage is often represented as a series
Valve audio amplifier technical specification buffer (giving gain) to then feed a concertina phase splitter is a classic push–pull front end, typically followed by a driver (triode) and (triode or pentode) output stage (in ultra linear in many cases) to form the classic push–pull amplifier circuit. The push–pull output circuit shown is a simplified variation of the Williamson topology, which comprises four stages: The cascode (a contraction of the phrase "cascade to cathode") is a two-stage amplifier composed of a transconductance amplifier followed by a current buffer. In valve circuits, the cascode is often constructed from two triodes connected in series, with one operating as