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Topic: What is the best primer to help understand amplifiers? |
Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 6:27 am |
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| I've purchased Craig Anderton's Electronics Projects For Musicians and also purchased what appears to be a text book called Basic Electronics by Grob in order to help me understand why things are put together in a certain way and their function in each instance. I know what resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc. are and can sorta fumble my way through a schematic but find myself wanting to know more- especially about pre-amps and amps because I frequently find myself taking one in on trade and then selling it just to have it returned in a month or two because of a problem encountered and the cost of repair frequently outweighs the initial outlay. Thanks in advance for any help. |
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 6:48 am
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Thunderfunk
that is my tube amp bible
_________________
Milkmansound.com |
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Jay Fagerlie
From:
Lotus, California, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 7:06 am
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Is that a book Tim?
Jim, if you want to know more of the 'nuts and bolts' of tube circuits used in amplifiers, this guys site has a lot of great information:
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/
Jay
edited to add- that Craig Anderton book is AWESOME!!!
I built a bunch of stuff out of it back in my Air Force days while I was going through electronics school. LOTS of cool things to build in there, I still have a few of them around here and they still work 30 years later!!! Have fun! |
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Lee Warren
From:
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 7:24 am
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Hi Tim,
Is there a link that you could provide for Thunderfunk?
I did a google search but came up empty as far as electronic information goes.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Lee |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Lee Warren
From:
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 7:32 am
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+1 for the Jack Darr book.
It is great!
Lee |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 8:03 am
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| Jay Fagerlie wrote: |
| Is that a book Tim? |
Yes - by Dave Funk. I think it may be out of print now because after extensive searching I can not find it anywhere.
Supposedly Merlin's books are essential as well although I have not read them - I have been onto his very informative website though which has been linked already in this thread.
As far as solid state amps go, I do not know of any good resources
_________________
Milkmansound.com |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 8:19 am
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that book seems like it could be dangerous!
remember that tube amps carry high voltages - some in excess of 500V - not the kind of thing you want "dummies" playing around with
that said, all of us dummies drive cars and that's arguably much more dangerous than servicing a tube amp
_________________
Milkmansound.com |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 12:15 pm
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"Thunderfunk" is Dave Funk's Tube Amp Workbook.
It's a great book.
I have the Darr also, which is also good. It was unavailable for years (even the copies at local university libraries had been stolen), but I finally scored the Fourth Edition which came out in 2006.
But the Funk book is well worth searching for.
This site has it listed among books for sale and doesn't say it's unavailable, though you'd have to try to order it to find out:
http://www.vibroworld.com/parts/tech13.html
| Ken Fox wrote: |
| Also another fun book was Gerald Weber's Hip Hop Amp Repair. |
 Are you referring to Weber's A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps? |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 1:10 pm
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| You are right! I had ther title all wrong. |
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 2:21 pm
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I have the Weber book as well and its ripe with mistakes. Careful - he was more of a tech than an author 
actually, the amp world is full of mistakes - you need to be very careful with educating yourself. I have found mistakes on schematics, mistakes in layouts, mistakes in grammar, mistakes in safety advice... if one wishes to repair their own amps you really need to be on your A game.
In addition to mistakes, there is also some really shoddy repair work that is passed off as pro. The repair business needs to have a very fast turnover rate in order to make money so many repairs are shotgunned in there and amps will continue to have problems. Guys that strip down amps and rebuild them right - like Ken - are very few and far between. Half of being a good tech is going back and properly re-doing a previous techs work.
_________________
Milkmansound.com |
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Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2013 5:42 pm
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Thanks to all- I bought the book on Wbay- thanks for the tips  |
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