[Amps] Overdrive protection

[Vic K2VCO]

Alpha's email newsletter talks about damage to amplifiers as a result of overdrive -- the 
example is given of amplifiers designed to produce 1500w output with 40w drive being 
driven with 150w. They say that there is a log maintained by the firmware which records 
overdrive incidents and that they won't repair damage caused by this kind of abuse under 
warranty.

I am sympathetic to their attitude and don't approve of the philosophy that all knobs 
should always be set to 11. But sometimes it's unintentional.

My question -- and maybe there's an Alpha employee on the list who wants to answer -- is 
"isn't it possible to make an overdrive protection circuit that will cause the amplifier 
to fault fast enough to protect the tubes and components?"

-- 
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/