Tube Guitar Amplifiers Volume 1: How Tubes & Amps Work

Description

Volume 1 of the most complete and practical modern reference on tube guitar amplifiers The first three chapters of this unique book cover introductory topics such as basic electronic circuits and passive components (resistors, capacitors, inductors), the building blocks of tube amplifiers. Audio amplifiers are also investigated as "black boxes", from the outside perspective, and important concepts such as spectra, gain, bandwidth and distortion are introduced. Chapters four to six explain operational principles behind vacuum tubes (diodes, triodes, tetrodes and pentodes), and their use as rectifiers and active amplification components in guitar amps. The rest of the book progresses through various stages of guitar amps, from input circuits and preamplifier stages, through tone control circuits and analog effects, to output or power stages. After the in-depth coverage of tube power supplies, single-ended output stages (triode, pentode and "ultralinear") are covered first, followed by phase inverters and push-pull circuits. Various types of negative feedback are explained, together with their benefits and drawbacks. The associated controls such as "Presence", "Resonance" and "Texture(TM)" are also discussed, using Peavey ValveKing 212 amp as a case study. Despite claims by their manufacturers, many modern guitar amps aren't "all tube" at all, but hybrid designs. Most have a single tube in preamp stages to "color" the sound, and a cheap solid state output stage (usually using integrated circuits). Others take the opposite approach, choosing semiconductor preamp stages and a tubed power stage. For that reason solid state (semiconductor) components and amplifiers are covered here briefly, together with two examples of hybrid amps. This practical DIY manual is richly and professionally illustrated with photographs of tubes, components and amplifiers, circuit diagrams, tube pinouts, curves and loadlines, graphs and charts. These valuable illustrations make it faster and easier to comprehend issues, a picture is truly worth a thousand words! All the information required to design and build tube guitar amplifiers is compiled in one place. Who is this book for? -Guitar players wanting to learn how tubes and tube amplifiers work. - DIY constructors who want to build, service or modify tube guitar amps. - Buyers and sellers of tube guitar amps who need a better understanding of tube technology. - Electronic technicians and engineers familiar with solid state devices and amps, who want to expand their knowledge of tubes and their circuits. - Anyone who wants to learn how to design, build, test, fix, or upgrade tube guitar amps. Contents of Volume 1: - BASIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT THEORY - AUDIO AMPLIFIERS - ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS - PHYSICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF VACUUM TUBE OPERATION - TRIODES AS VOLTAGE AMPLIFIERS - TETRODES, PENTODES AND BEAM-POWER TUBES - INPUT CIRCUITS AND STAGES - TONE CONTROLS - ANALOG EFFECTS (TREMOLO, VIBRATO, REVERB) AND EFFECTS LOOPS - POWER SUPPLIES FOR TUBE AMPLIFIERS - SINGLE-ENDED TRIODE, PENTODE AND ULTRALINEAR OUTPUT STAGES - PHASE SPLITTERS OR INVERTERS - PUSH-PULL OUTPUT STAGES - NEGATIVE FEEDBACK - TRANSISTOR AND HYBRID GUITAR AMPLIFIERS Review: Too much sugar for a dime, but... - I am not, nor have I ever been, in the business of repairing guitar amplifiers. At least not up to this time anyway. However, I have recently been asked to look at a Fender ‘Bandmaster’ amplifier by a friend of mine; a musician. My entry into electronics began in 1961 in the United States Air Force. One year of school each day, on a single subject… electronics. The year mentioned should quickly indicate to the reader what type of electronics was available to me, vacuum tubes and all that goes with them. Ouch! So I came to desertcart looking for a book or books that would lead me into this unique world, where musicians come to technicians in order to get their guitar amplifiers sounding properly. I’ve since found out that some musicians want their amplifiers to sound quite improperly as well! Somehow, I stumbled across three books by Igor S. Popovich that seemed to be in-depth and recent enough that no one had written feedback on them. So, after some looking about at other authors’ publications, I settled on both volumes of Mr. Popovich’s titled ‘Tube Guitar Amplifiers’. I also purchased another of his books titled ‘How to Use, Calibrate, Repair and Upgrade Vacuum Tube Testers’. I must admit that my love of all things Heathkit, and the fact that the cover of the third book had a picture of a Heathkit TT-1(A?) tube tester on it, might have swayed my choice here. However, I will read that book from cover to cover just like the other two books. I gave this book a five star rating for many reasons. The sheer amount of data presented is mind-boggling. The apparent knowledge and technical awareness of the author is evident on every page of this book, and that’s saying a lot. I just wanted an introduction type book, one that would lead me into the wonderful world of guitar amplifier operation and repair. I’m pretty sure I got that in this book, but also feel I’ve gotten a whole lot more. One important thing I learned from this volume one is: if you think you’re smart and know a lot about a subject, you do not. In fact, this book reinforced a concept I’ve come up with over the past few years. That concept is that the more I learn, the less I know. You may think that to be an odd statement, but wait until your into your seventies, and let me know if you don’t arrive at that same thought. Volume One is subtitled ‘How Tubes And Amps Work’. For those of you that have not been exposed to the optical maze of vacuum tube characteristic curves, be prepared. I got cross-eyed after the first few chapters. Hence the title of this my review of Mr. Popovich’s book, ‘Too Much Sugar For A Dime’. The little word ‘but…’ I added at the end is what I’m elaborating on here in this review. The following modifying paragraphs result in me giving a five star rating. Fifteen fairly full chapters cover the gamut from basic electronics circuit theory, to transistor and hybrid guitar amplifiers. The second chapter, audio amplifiers, describes amplifier properties, what determines the sound of an amplifier, and much more. Chapter five gets into triode tubes as voltage amplifiers. The author mentions that this chapter will equip the reader for more advanced topics that follow. Those advanced topics fill up the remainder of the book. They are many and varied. They are technical and could bring you to your knees whimpering for some blank paper to quietly stare at. It’s great stuff! The book is packed with actual photographs of amplifiers, inside and out. Circuit diagrams with simplified partial diagrams. Tube characteristic charts, and diagrams of tube pin-outs. Also, in addition to the explanations, the author adds his personal remarks that often are quite welcome and informative. More of that would have been nice. On the rear cover a title of ‘Who is this book for?’ heads a short list that I do not necessarily agree with. For instance, the first entry states: ‘Guitar players wanting to learn how tubes and tube amplifiers work.’ I will state that most or all of the musicians I know wouldn’t get ten pages into the book before they started getting cross-eyed. The one entry I do agree with states: ‘Electronic technicians and engineers familiar with solid state devices and amps, who want to expand their knowledge of tubes and their circuits.’ Even here I will state that the average technician wouldn’t plow through this book like I just did. They would start skimming it before too long. That’s OK. They can always use the book as a ‘go to’ reference book, and only pick out areas of interest or need. It would help, however, if they at least skimmed all the chapters to know how the subject material is laid out. I will ‘plow’ through volume two starting tomorrow. I’m hoping that material is more about amplifier repair and/or modification. Real world stuff? I intend to write a review on volume two as well. If potential readers wish, I could even dive into that book on a deeper level. Or not. I look forward to reading it. One final remark: The book is full of typographical errors. One of those errors had me laughing out loud. Check out the first paragraph on page 121. Now that I think about it, the author may have slipped that in on purpose! Or not. Paul Simone Review: Very informative. - If you want to learn amplifies some electronic’s get it.