Control grid Control grid The control grid is an electrode used in amplifying thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) such as the triode, tetrode and pentode, used to control the flow of electrons from the cathode to the anode (plate) electrode. The control grid usually consists of a cylindrical screen or helix of fine wire surrounding the cathode, and is surrounded in turn by the anode. The control grid was invented by Lee De Forest, who in 1906 added a grid to the Fleming valve (thermionic diode) to create the first amplifying vacuum tube, the Audion (triode). In a valve, the hot cathode emits
Valve audio amplifier technical specification it is referred to as the "phase inverter") to drive the power section. As an alternate to the long-tail pair, the "concertina" uses a single triode as a variable resistance within a potential divider formed by Ra and Rk either side of the valve. The result is that the voltage at the anode swings exactly and opposite to the voltage at the cathode, giving a perfectly balanced phase split. the disadvantage of this stage (cf the differential long-tail pair) is that it does not give any gain. Using a double triode (typically octal or noval) to form a SET input