Class A Preamplifier

hey bugs whats the advantage of this three stage common emitter config over a bootstrap amplifier? (no sarcasm)

Well they are two completely different things to start with. Bootstrapping means to change the input impedance by the means of inducing a small amount of positive feedback at the input. Because the feedback is positive such circuits can suffer from poor stability and noise performance compared to ones that don't bootstrap. Bootstrapping was mainly used in the dawn of transistors because BJT's inherently have a low input impedance but you don't really need a bootstrap just some sort of a current amplifier (like the common collector topology) On the other hand you've a negative feedback from the inverting output of the second stage (of the third since the third one is a voltage follower and doesn't further dephase the signal) to the noninverting output of the first stage. The advantage of using negative feedbacks are that they can be used to attenuate the signal and to minimize the distortion plus they often offer great stability to the design. See the difference. Oscillators use positive feedback to kickstart the oscillations while an amplifier uses a negative feedback to prevent any unwanted oscillations and noises. Bottom line is that bootstrapping and negative feedbacks are a completely different things and have completely different purposes in a circuit. So there's nothing to compare really.