Books for beginners on tube amps

[megatrav]

Hi!

I joined the forum a few years back and I haven't really been on here in a while.
Now that some time has passed, I am very interested in learning more about tube amps for guitar.
I have a standard understanding of what parts are in an amp, but it is very basic.

I have considered getting a kit and building an amp, but I find myself wanting to know more about what makes it work and if certain things are changed, how will it affect the end result. I realize that a lot of this is trial and error, but I assume that there is still a basic set of knowledge there that helps engineers try different things.
I am looking for this. Something that will help give me a better understanding of how it all works and how tweaking certain things can change things.

I have decent soldering skills. I've wired up a bunch of guitars, but I have never soldered to a PCB or other board. So, I will likely start by building some pedals, but ultimately, I would love to build an amp (either from a list of parts or a kit) and then mod it to change the tone.
I have seen suggestions for a few books:
-The Ultimate Tone Books by Kevin O'Connor
-Designing Tube Preamps for Guitar and Bass by Merlin Blencowe

I am looking for opinions on these as well as other books. I would also love to hear how some of you all got started (especially those who do not have a background in Electrical Engineering).

Thanks!

[sonicmojo]

Those are good books but you might get overwhelmed going to technical reading first. Here is a great starting point to understand the parts of a simple amp and signal flow in layman’s terms:

https://robrobinette.com/How_Amps_Work.htm

Pedal kits are a great way to learn basic PCB soldering skills but it’s typically smaller scale PCB soldering rather than an eyelet or turret board soldering in an amp which is frankly a little more friendly to the eyes. But that’s how I started about 10 years ago and after a few pedals jumped into a kit and then built a Dumble clone from scratch soon after that. It can be addictive!

[ChopSauce]

I don't know about the others, but Merlin's book (& website) was very helpfull to my building a Vox/AC4-ish amp because it details much of the circuit. That was not just theory ...

(Merlin also suggests some hi-gain pre-amp designs on his book, but I don't know much of these)

... but it might not cover much of Fender-ish things - like Rob Rob. does - Dumble-ish tone stacks, etc.

Have you read : https://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=31501 ?

[sluckey]

Jack Darr - Electric Guitar Amplifier Handbook

Search the net and you may find it in pdf form.

[martin manning]

Everyone has their own learning style and preferences, so looking around and sampling various authors is a good plan. I recommend Merlin Blencowe, and frankly the free material on his Valve Wizard web site is more than adequate for developing a working knowledge base. His books fill in the next level of detail, as you can see in the .pdf download containing the full text of chapter 1 from the guitar preamp book. The H-Fi preamp book has more power supply info, but neither covers power amps beyond the PI.

[Tony Bones]

I cut my teeth on the first 100 pages or so of a copy of the venerable RCA Receiving Tube Manual then went straight to a late 50's edition of the ARRL Handbook. Everything you could want to know about gain stages, audio frequency output stages, power supplies... Pete Millet has put together a massive library of literature from the days when electronics meant vacuum tubes.

The problem with most beginner books about guitar amps is that the authors are not as authoritative as they present themselves, so the books are full of nonsense that sounded good when they were writing it, but is just plain wrong. This is especially true of some books published in the 80's and early 90's. There are exceptions. Merlin Blencowe is not only knowledgeable, but a talented writer as well. He presents a lot of material on his web page http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/. There are other books published recently about guitar amps that are good, but they tend to be math heavy.

[Cathode Ray]

The problem with most beginner books about guitar amps is that the authors are not as authoritative as they present themselves, so the books are full of nonsense that sounded good when they were writing it, but is just plain wrong.

Unfortunately Tony, this is also true on some other amp forums.

I will definitely be checking out some of the books you guys are mentioning here in this thread.

Thanks again for the help with the vol pot on XLR jack over on TGP.

[tubeswell]

Another vote for Merlin’s books. I have four of them.

The Jack Darr book is a practical book for beginners and covers quite s few practical troubleshooting tips for tube and transistor amps, although the schematic section is quite dated (referring as it does, to 1960s-era amps)

[M Fowler]

https://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9023