#1 · Aug 27, 2008 17:48 UTC
There are a ton of sources, out there, that outline tube design/topology if you'd like to have some additional reading materials. These are ones that I've, personally, come into contact with and have found to be useful:
SCHEMATIC SOURCES
Free Information Society - http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics/schempage.php?cat=1 has TONS of schematics for audio stuff - mostly tube amps, guitar pedals and the like. It's a great site for just browsing, that's for sure.
Peter Millets site has ALL of the "tube classics" on it. (http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm). These are scans of the original texts, available for download in PDF format. The amount of work putting these files together is staggering, considering the sheer number of volumes he's completed this work on - not to mention the conversion into PDF for everyone's benefit. There are tomes, here, on the principles of tube design (how to build a better cathode, or plate, that type of thing) to basic tube circuits/electronics to the "bibles" of tube design. It's all here. Here's a list of some of the books that I use from day-to-day:
RadioTron Designers Handbook Volume 3
RadioTron Designers Handbook Volume 4 - Considered to be THE bible of tube technology.
The above two books were written by F. Langford Smith, specially for RCA Corp. It's a compilation of somewhat technical literature (lots of differential and integral calculus included) and articles all put together to explain the inner workings of tube amp design and pretty much all of the things that you can encounter. It's meant for those already pretty knowledgable, but has some essential nuggets. He covers everything from basic electricity, to caps, resistors, transformers (an entire chapter dedicated to transformer design), voltage amps (preamps), power amps, RF amps, speaker cabinets, everything.
Basic Audio, Norman Crowhurst, 1959
There are three books in this series. Each builds on the other. Crowhurst has some incredibly practical approaches to amplifier/preamp design and works to cover everything in relatively laymans terms. There's math, but it's Elementary School Math and not Calculus 401. Plain English, plain and simple diagrams. Great stuff.
Audio Design Handbook, H. A. Hartley, 1958
This book sort of picks up where the Crowhurst series left off and gets slightly more technical, but not overly so. If you can master the materials in the Crowhurst series, this is the next logical step up from there, IMO. Great stuff and adds a good deal more detail to the more pragmatic materials in the Crowhurst series.
RCA / Mullard / Phillips Tube Data Manuals - Great circuits and other information contained in these available from here:
http://www.pmillett.com/tube_data.htm
The number of books, on this site, are too numerous to go through. He has some great "Using the Oscilloscope" books, too, if you're into that sort of thing.
BOOKS FOR SALE
Everything isn't free... so there are always some things that need to be bought, at some point. These are the books that I've found helpful/useful in my question to learn more about the tube amp world:
1) The Tube Amp Book (new version from Backbeat books) and/or The Tube Amp Book 4.1th Edition. This is just a great collection of schematics and board layouts that kind of comes in handy if you're looking for that kind of thing. I'm not always entirely keen on Aspen Pittmans sense of "engineering", in terms of explaining how things work. I, personally, have found some things that don't quite measure up, in the technical analysis. However, the book is a great source of schematics, history, nostalgia and other things. The newer book comes with a CD filled with schematics and layouts. The old one just has them printed.
2) A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps - Gerald Weber. OK... no two ways about it... this guy has ZERO technical engineering knowledge. He makes all kinds of assumptions, in this book, that are just flat out wrong (resistors block high frequencies is the one that bothers me the most, but there are, literally, hundreds of others just like that). Now, all of that said, Weber himself says he doesn't really understand how tubes/circuits really work (good admission and it shows, so I have to respect him for that)... Second, the man KNOWS the physical things to do to either mod an amp, and/or make an amp sound great. His line of Kendricks testify to that. In that respect, he's stinkin' awesome. This books technical use/merit, as the "Tube Amp Book" comes from the wealth of schematics and mods contained within it. It's got a lot of good stuff ESPECIALLY if you're into Fender amps.
3) The Ultimate Tone Series - Kevin O' Connor. (www.londonpower.com). The technical references, listed above (RadioTron Designers Handbook, etc), all approach tube design from the "perfect product" standpoint. O'Connor uses this material AND maps that into how real tube amps (guitar) are designed and put together. Of all the "guitar-centric" technical reference books, O'Connors have the least number of technical oversights and errors. He's got a solid engineering background, he analyzes relatively accurately and generally knows his stuff. This series is comprised of six volumes (TUT 1 through TUT 6). There are additional books (Principles of Power which focuses on power amp design, Speaker cabinets (can't remember the title), basic electronics, etc.
The thing that grinds my gears about O'Connor is his somewhat venom-based attacks on companies like Peavey and MESA Boogie. Honestly, though, I believe he's been "shorted" by Peavey a few times. In Peavey's newer amp lines there's the "Class A to Class A/B" control (Texture) which is now patented. O'Connor outlined the design for that "texture" control in his books years and years ago. The patented "Presence" and "Resonance" controls (again Peavey) were outlined in O'Connors first book right down to the values that Peavey currently uses. There are some things that were covered in O'Connors books that MESA also capitalized on and patented. O'Connor sites "competition is healthy" but ONLY when he's not being competed against, I believe. ::)
Other than a sharp barb, here or there, the rest of the materials are well-written, illustrated and structured.
4) If you're into op-amps - Op Amp Applications Handbook (Jung). This one takes you through basics to advanced. TI has published a similar tome, on the web: "Op Amps for Everyone". Great sources and materials in each of them, too.
That's about it, folks... you can gather a lot just from these few resources, overall. "The History of Marshall" is another good one. All the Marshall amps and their schematics are included in that one - except the really new stuff (JVM, etc) which is covered in The Ultimate Tone Volume 6...
Take care... enjoy... ask questions if you have them.
Dar
SCHEMATIC SOURCES
Free Information Society - http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics/schempage.php?cat=1 has TONS of schematics for audio stuff - mostly tube amps, guitar pedals and the like. It's a great site for just browsing, that's for sure.
Peter Millets site has ALL of the "tube classics" on it. (http://www.pmillett.com/technical_books_online.htm). These are scans of the original texts, available for download in PDF format. The amount of work putting these files together is staggering, considering the sheer number of volumes he's completed this work on - not to mention the conversion into PDF for everyone's benefit. There are tomes, here, on the principles of tube design (how to build a better cathode, or plate, that type of thing) to basic tube circuits/electronics to the "bibles" of tube design. It's all here. Here's a list of some of the books that I use from day-to-day:
RadioTron Designers Handbook Volume 3
RadioTron Designers Handbook Volume 4 - Considered to be THE bible of tube technology.
The above two books were written by F. Langford Smith, specially for RCA Corp. It's a compilation of somewhat technical literature (lots of differential and integral calculus included) and articles all put together to explain the inner workings of tube amp design and pretty much all of the things that you can encounter. It's meant for those already pretty knowledgable, but has some essential nuggets. He covers everything from basic electricity, to caps, resistors, transformers (an entire chapter dedicated to transformer design), voltage amps (preamps), power amps, RF amps, speaker cabinets, everything.
Basic Audio, Norman Crowhurst, 1959
There are three books in this series. Each builds on the other. Crowhurst has some incredibly practical approaches to amplifier/preamp design and works to cover everything in relatively laymans terms. There's math, but it's Elementary School Math and not Calculus 401. Plain English, plain and simple diagrams. Great stuff.
Audio Design Handbook, H. A. Hartley, 1958
This book sort of picks up where the Crowhurst series left off and gets slightly more technical, but not overly so. If you can master the materials in the Crowhurst series, this is the next logical step up from there, IMO. Great stuff and adds a good deal more detail to the more pragmatic materials in the Crowhurst series.
RCA / Mullard / Phillips Tube Data Manuals - Great circuits and other information contained in these available from here:
http://www.pmillett.com/tube_data.htm
The number of books, on this site, are too numerous to go through. He has some great "Using the Oscilloscope" books, too, if you're into that sort of thing.
BOOKS FOR SALE
Everything isn't free... so there are always some things that need to be bought, at some point. These are the books that I've found helpful/useful in my question to learn more about the tube amp world:
1) The Tube Amp Book (new version from Backbeat books) and/or The Tube Amp Book 4.1th Edition. This is just a great collection of schematics and board layouts that kind of comes in handy if you're looking for that kind of thing. I'm not always entirely keen on Aspen Pittmans sense of "engineering", in terms of explaining how things work. I, personally, have found some things that don't quite measure up, in the technical analysis. However, the book is a great source of schematics, history, nostalgia and other things. The newer book comes with a CD filled with schematics and layouts. The old one just has them printed.
2) A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps - Gerald Weber. OK... no two ways about it... this guy has ZERO technical engineering knowledge. He makes all kinds of assumptions, in this book, that are just flat out wrong (resistors block high frequencies is the one that bothers me the most, but there are, literally, hundreds of others just like that). Now, all of that said, Weber himself says he doesn't really understand how tubes/circuits really work (good admission and it shows, so I have to respect him for that)... Second, the man KNOWS the physical things to do to either mod an amp, and/or make an amp sound great. His line of Kendricks testify to that. In that respect, he's stinkin' awesome. This books technical use/merit, as the "Tube Amp Book" comes from the wealth of schematics and mods contained within it. It's got a lot of good stuff ESPECIALLY if you're into Fender amps.
3) The Ultimate Tone Series - Kevin O' Connor. (www.londonpower.com). The technical references, listed above (RadioTron Designers Handbook, etc), all approach tube design from the "perfect product" standpoint. O'Connor uses this material AND maps that into how real tube amps (guitar) are designed and put together. Of all the "guitar-centric" technical reference books, O'Connors have the least number of technical oversights and errors. He's got a solid engineering background, he analyzes relatively accurately and generally knows his stuff. This series is comprised of six volumes (TUT 1 through TUT 6). There are additional books (Principles of Power which focuses on power amp design, Speaker cabinets (can't remember the title), basic electronics, etc.
The thing that grinds my gears about O'Connor is his somewhat venom-based attacks on companies like Peavey and MESA Boogie. Honestly, though, I believe he's been "shorted" by Peavey a few times. In Peavey's newer amp lines there's the "Class A to Class A/B" control (Texture) which is now patented. O'Connor outlined the design for that "texture" control in his books years and years ago. The patented "Presence" and "Resonance" controls (again Peavey) were outlined in O'Connors first book right down to the values that Peavey currently uses. There are some things that were covered in O'Connors books that MESA also capitalized on and patented. O'Connor sites "competition is healthy" but ONLY when he's not being competed against, I believe. ::)
Other than a sharp barb, here or there, the rest of the materials are well-written, illustrated and structured.
4) If you're into op-amps - Op Amp Applications Handbook (Jung). This one takes you through basics to advanced. TI has published a similar tome, on the web: "Op Amps for Everyone". Great sources and materials in each of them, too.
That's about it, folks... you can gather a lot just from these few resources, overall. "The History of Marshall" is another good one. All the Marshall amps and their schematics are included in that one - except the really new stuff (JVM, etc) which is covered in The Ultimate Tone Volume 6...
Take care... enjoy... ask questions if you have them.
Dar