books on tube amp theory
Skip,
I bought a epiphone valve jr head and modified it with the lone wolf blues mod, sounds great. I really enjoy learning new things and was wondering if you knew of any really good books that explain tube amp theory and how components affect the sound characteristics of any given amp. I am an electrician with industrial instrumentation experience, so I am familiar with reading schematics, but tube amp schematics confuse me a little. I have done research and am starting to understand them a little better, but I would love to be to the point of having an in depth knowledge of them.
How did you get your knowledge about tube amps? I asked a guitar amp tech in Utah to explain a few things to me, but he's so busy, it would be 50 dollars an hour for him to do that.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the advice! I will definitely do what you suggested.
I just bought an eminence lil buddy for my VHT special 6, so I will get a little practice hooking up the 8 ohm connection. The speaker in there now is a 16 ohm. I am also trying to find a 10 inch speaker box for my epiphone valve jr head. They are surprisingly expensive for just the box.
I have a 4x12 marshall cabinet that came with the epiphone, but I need something more portable, and to me 4x12's are way overkill.
Hello Josh- Thanks for writing. That is an excellent question!
First, get some early tweed Fender schematics and "layouts" (an actual drawing of the wiring of a particular amp) and study up. You will need to be able to read schematics. It's important to understand simple circuits like a tweed Champ before you can move on to more complex circuits. Unfortunately, most of the new books about tube amp repair have some real nonsense mixed in with the good stuff. The best old books to start with are RCA tube manuals and "The Electric Guitar Amplifier Handbook" by Jack Darr. Both have been reprinted.
I would also suggest getting an inexpensive but hardwired old amp like a Kalamazoo or silverface Champ to work on. These simple circuits will give you lots to experiment with. I always say that there are only a few ingredients in a loaf of bread or a bottle of wine, but making great bread or wine is not simple and the variations are endless!