tube guitar amp books

[duke84]

I was wondering if any of you can suggest some good books about tube guitar amps.
I am currently studying electrical engineering and want to get a better understanding of valve driven amps so as to be able to modify my Marshall to my liking and later on design and build my own amp.
I have found a couple of books on Amazon.com such as " The tube amp book " ( by Pittman Aspen ) and " Tube guitar amplifier essentials " ( by Gerald Weber ).  Can any of you offer some feedback on them?

[dave_mc]

how technical do you want it to be? dave hunter's books are really good, but they don't get particularly technical and write it more from a guitar player's point of view. if you're doing EE you probably already know what he'll tell you in the books, unless you've never touched on tubes. but they're good books.

[FELINEGUITARS]

The Dave Hunter book as Dave said is good from a players intro to the subject

Also Ultimate Bench Warrior

Groove Tubes book is a good reference book to have

Weber's books are supposed to be good

Also the books by the Guy at London Power who developed power scaling

[duke84]

a combination of the 2, (guitarist and technical point of view) can be a few books not just one.
i thought i'd ask first before jumping into buying something that could later prove useless

[MrBump]

I've got "Valve Amplifiers" by Morgan Jones - to be honest, I'm struggling with some of the maths...

Mark.

[Twinfan]

If you're a proper techie, and understand all the electronic theory, then the Kevin O'Connor books are well regarded.  He's the guy Feline mentions above with the Power Scaling background.

They're not cheap but I believe they're very informative:

http://www.londonpower.com/

[jpfamps]

If you are doing EE I have assumed you can cope with a reasonable amount of maths. I've read most of the books on the market (+ many that aren't!) and most of the tech web-sites (see our links page for more details) and here is my summary.

Firstly these web-sites have a ton of useful information pertaining to guitar amps which in my opinion is of an exceptional technical standard:

www.aikenamps.com
Randall Aiken really knows his stuff.

http://www.freewebs.co.uk/valvewizard/index.html
Merlin Blencowe's excellent site. His book looks really good too, although I haven't yet read it (or indeed ordered a copy!).

For more valve related info:

http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm
Technical books online. This site contains many of the really classic old valve texts for free download. Not one dial up though.

To be honest, you can probably find all the info you want in the above sites, however if you want to buy some books:

Valve amps, Morgan Jones.
Great book with a load of info collated together that I haven't see anywhere else, although obviously hi-fi related.

Ultimate Tone Series, Kevin O'Connor
TUT1 is the best of the series, with very good info on switching and some interesting modification ideas. However, this book is not for beginners, and I tend to find the writing style quite grating, not least as he continually slags off most amps except those made in Canada!

Tube Amp Book, by Aspen Pitman
Good for schematics (although virtually all can now be found online). Tech info variable from the good, the bad and the risible. A lot of advertorial for Groove Tubes.

Dave Funk's Tube Amp Work Book (for Fenders).
Useful info clearly presented, although some technical errors. Fender schematics, although these can be found free online.

Gerald Weber's Tube amp books.
Although Gerald Weber gets quite a lot of flak for technical errors, I quite like his books. Plenty of practical tips presented in a non-technical way. Interesting contributions from Ken Fisher.

http://www.pentodepress.com/author.html
Richard Kuehnel's very mathematical treatise of valve guitar amps including the Fender Bassman. Thorough, although I didn't really find these that useful.

Inside Tube Amps by Dan Torres.
I can't really recommend this book due to its numerous technical errors and some quite dangerous tips.

Only flipped through Dave Hunter's book. Contributions from Mike Zaite (Dr.Z) and Andy Marshall (THD) bodes well.

[gingataff]

Gerald Weber's Tube amp books.
Although Gerald Weber gets quite a lot of flak for technical errors, I quite like his books. Plenty of practical tips presented in a non-technical way. Interesting contributions from Ken Fisher.

I watched his DVD (actually a compilation of VHS releases) Tube Guitar Amplifier Servicing & Overhaul
It was very entertaining but I must say he scared me a bit with his simplistic way to drain the filter caps. I'm surprised he's still alive.

[jpfamps]

Gerald Weber's Tube amp books.
Although Gerald Weber gets quite a lot of flak for technical errors, I quite like his books. Plenty of practical tips presented in a non-technical way. Interesting contributions from Ken Fisher.

I watched his DVD (actually a compilation of VHS releases) Tube Guitar Amplifier Servicing & Overhaul
It was very entertaining but I must say he scared me a bit with his simplistic way to drain the filter caps. I'm surprised he's still alive.

Not seen the DVD. Doesn't he give himself a belt in it?

[gingataff]

Gerald Weber's Tube amp books.
Although Gerald Weber gets quite a lot of flak for technical errors, I quite like his books. Plenty of practical tips presented in a non-technical way. Interesting contributions from Ken Fisher.

I watched his DVD (actually a compilation of VHS releases) Tube Guitar Amplifier Servicing & Overhaul
It was very entertaining but I must say he scared me a bit with his simplistic way to drain the filter caps. I'm surprised he's still alive.

Not seen the DVD. Doesn't he give himself a belt in it?

Yeah, there's a blooper section at the end of each video and he does get a bit of a shock in one.
He also seems to be a bit wayward with his wire cutters and cuts through a lot of things that he didn't mean to.  :idiot2:

Like I said, it's very entertaining, and I would like to read his books, but I just don't know if I would trust myself with his techniques if I were working unsupervised. :harp:

[dave_mc]

oh yeah, this is not specifically aimed at tube amps, but the RCA manual is pretty good for explaining how valves work. it gets complex quickly, but that shouldn't be a problem if you're doing EE. I've got a link to it, too, someone posted it on another forum a while back. I assume it's ok to link to it, but if not, just tell me and I'll take it down.

http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/tubes/rc25/contents.html

[jpfamps]

oh yeah, this is not specifically aimed at tube amps, but the RCA manual is pretty good for explaining how valves work. it gets complex quickly, but that shouldn't be a problem if you're doing EE. I've got a link to it, too, someone posted it on another forum a while back. I assume it's ok to link to it, but if not, just tell me and I'll take it down.

http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/tubes/rc25/contents.html

Indeed it is very good.

This can be downloaded free as a pdf from the technical books online link in my earlier post.

[dave_mc]

Indeed it is very good.

This can be downloaded free as a pdf from the technical books online link in my earlier post.

whoops, i missed that in your post, i must have only skimmed it :oops:

i must add your link to my favourites... EDIT: holy cr@p, that link is awesome. Thanks!

[HTH AMPS]

reading books will only do so much for you, I'm a big believer of getting your hands dirty.  oh course, take necessary safety precautions and don't mess with anything unless you're happy you know what you're doing - baby steps!

you could do much worse than building a few kit amps to familiarise yourself, or maybe buy something like an Epiphone Valve Junior and mod the hell out of it - £100 well spent imo.

[duke84]

yeah, theory and practice are 2 different things but i'll go for the books to begin with but being in school is expensive and an amp kit will most likely not be an option until maybe next summer.
On the other hand, i own a Marshall TSL100 and i feel that the amp can't give me the tone im looking for anymore and want to learn how to mod it properly to match my guitar playing style and obtain a rather unique sound in the process.