It contained too many mistakes and typos, and it didnt match the style of my preamp books. Btw, hopefully by the end of this year, ill have a sound clip of my current amp design project, an ultrafi ss guitar amp that sounds pretty amazing. Another good one that is fenderfocused is dave funks tube amp workbook. Basic theory explains the design of guitar amplifier preamps, power amps. Tube amp kits, tube amp books, tube guitar amps by kevin oconnor. Fundamentals of amplification this chapter deals with the design and analysis of the basic triode gain stage, which is the main building block of a valve preamp. But many people who make valve amps appear to have a limited and narrow understanding of valve physics when applied in a circuit. This book presents vacuum tube amplifier theory using modern, webbased design tools and. Unfortunately, that is one of the realities of vacuum tube production and honestly it has been since the beginning. When you hit the above link you will probably understand the difference. In guitar amps, were not that interested in displaying images with our tubes, but were still very interested in controlling those electronsand we can use a guitar to do it. Aug 10, 2018 the basic theory needed to fully understand the inner workings of a tube amp are explained but the secret sauce is, of course, the online calculators at the publishers website.
It is a complete manual on tube driven guitar amplifiers and covers design, modification, troubleshooting, and repairs. This is another excellent book, a companion to the preamp book listed above. An amp project especially for firsttime builders of a singleended design using the 6bq5el84 tube in triode mode. A thermionic valve or vacuum tube contains two or more electrodes suspended inside a glass bulb. The amp is completely dead if the amp is completely silent no speaker hum or hiss at all then the problem can be just about anywhere in the amp but you should suspect a bad tube, blown fuse or the power supply in that order. Complete guide to vintage tube amplifiers volume 1 fender. Explores all manufacturers and demystifys the inner workings of tube amps. Design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers by robert megantz this is a great book to get involved in the theory of amplifiers. Keep those filaments lit, design your own vacuum tube audio equipment.
Book for musicians, amp builders, and tube audio enthusiasts. Class ab amplifiers are the most common in larger guitar amplifiers because of their efficiency. This is an excellent little book with very good, easytounderstand theory and troubleshooting. This study includes information of vacuum tubes history and circuit design, theory of ampli.
If you desire to learn even more about the why and how of tube equipment, obtain some of the books. Fleming used the principle to design the diode, the first vacuum tube. Fleming used the principle to design the diode, the first vacuum tube patented in 1904. The vacuum tube guitar amplifier still sets the performance standard for the desirable sound of this music production instrument. In this 2part video presentation, i discuss the characteristics and evolution of the vacuum tubes used in vintage and modern guitar amplifiers. Inside fender and marshall tube amps pdf viva analog. Designing valve preamps for guitar and bass, second. If you have guitar related questions, use the search field or ask the community. Design and build your own tube guitar amp guitarsite. Tube amps have a loud sound per watt and have a switch enabling you to change from clean to distorted tones with ease.
Tube amp design wikibooks, open books for an open world. This type of guitar amp has a warm tone with an organic distortion to them. Schade 1 in 1943 and presented in a slightly modified version by herbert reich 2 in 1944 in his book theory and applications of electron tubes. I started out with the previously mentioned dave hunter bookthe guitar amp handbookas well as tom mitchells how to service your own tube amp. The book begins with the fundamentals of electronics and vacuum tubes. Now, the state of electronics has changed somewhat in the 67 years since schade first published his. This is demonstrated by the bewildering and illogical variations of valve amp designs including basic circuit design. Understanding tube amplifiers and getting great sounds.
For this reason, when changing power tubes in a tube amp it may be necessary to set the bias on the amp to make sure it is optimized for the new set of tubes and not the set you just replaced. The design, modification and repair manual for vacuum tube guitar. Tonetron amplifiers tonetron ampshand built guitar tube. The science of electric guitars and guitar electronics. Elements affecting this sound include the cleverly designed tone stacks, the. On paper and in theory these two approaches should yield identical result, but in actuality the difference is usually quite noticeable. Basic theory by richard kuehnel this book presents vacuum tube amplifier theory using modern, webbased design tools and computer visualizations to eliminate the usual litany of mathematical formulas.
Hey guys, ive been playing guitar for around 6 years, but im feeling stuck. Design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers by robert megantz this is a great book to get involved in the. It is intended as a companion to design and construction of guitar and bass speaker systems, also available here. A desktop reference of hip vintage guitar amps gerald weber. We adopt a pushpull configuration in ultralinear mode.
If you have a detuned speaker cabinet or any other design that extends dynamic linearity, you can play below a normal speaking level. Jan 17, 2017 design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers by robert megantz this is a great book to get involved in the theory of amplifiers. A visual tour its fairly technical but its the only book written specifically about guitar amplifier overdrive. Beside that, el34, el84, and 12ax7 vacuum tubes are used in many practical examples, to design the various parts of the circuits and to. If your amp doesnt make guitar sounds at startup check those first.
Some of them are long out of print, and can only be obtained from used book sellers, although they are occasionally seen for sale on the internet. Design of push pull amplifier using vacuum tube gadgetronicx. Singleended classa tube amplifier design and construction ben verellen, daniel nevistic, and max gorman m. Fender design alterations 88 fender pushpull output stages 89. Welcome to r guitar, a community devoted to the exchange of guitar related information and entertainment. Design of the driver stage is concerned with voltage amplification as well as linearity in order to provide the output section with a strong and relatively clean signal. The book walks you through the basics of developing a schematic, setting up a simulation, integrating vacuum tube models, and interpreting the results. A bibliography of must have tube electronics books aiken amps. Under the bridge of the guitar there often is a grounding cable, which makes you part of the electric circuit when touching the strings.
Written for musicians, amp builders, and tube audio enthusiasts, design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers provides a complete yet easytounderstand explanation of how to design, modify, construct, and test tube amps. Guitar amplifier repair training and education program information. How guitar amps work and what you can do to start tweaking your own. Basic theory a 21stcentury approach to understanding preamp, power amp, and power supply design fundamentals of guitar amplifier system design a structured methodolody for crafting an awesome guitar amplifier. Load line analysis was used to determine the behavior of this stage. Sep 01, 2009 written for musicians, amp builders, and tube audio enthusiasts, design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers provides a complete yet easytounderstand explanation of how to design, modify, construct, and test tube amps. If youre interested in understanding, designing, or building greatsounding amplifiers and speaker systems, design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers and design and construction of guitar and bass speaker systems contain the information you need. I believe a person without an electronics background could use these books to begin building a useful amp. Jul 15, 20 the tube used in that case was the cathode ray tube aka crtbetter known today as an old, prelcdledplasma television. Ultralinear mode and pushpull configurations were introduced respectively in. In some short circuit conditions this might lead to lethal accidents. If your amp has problems see the tube amp troubleshooting guide. If you need a guitar amp schematic for your amp repair that is not listed here, contact us and well try to locate it.
This guide discusses all relevant aspects for an integrated pushpull vacuum tube amplifier design, including the power supply unit. Singleended classa tube amplifier aug 10, 2007 2 this configuration serves two major functions. The power amplifier involves three stages, two of which use a 12ax7. El84 datasheet specifies that anode and screen voltage can be set to. Following is a list of must have books for the serious tube amplifier designer. Elements affecting this sound include the cleverly designed tone stacks, the specially developed loudspeaker, and the softedged distortion. It deals with guitar amplifier power amp designs from an engineering standpoint, and contains derivations of formulas for all phases of power amplifier design. A bibliography of must have tube electronics books. Everything is here from building your own class a amp from scratch to sorting out power supplies, filter caps, and power transformers. We are always adding more as we find them so check back often. It is intended as a companion to design and construction of guitar and bass speaker systems. Detailed, complete with plenty of math and drawings. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading inside tube amps.
Youll want to take notes as you read, but its written with musicians in mind. Any air inside the bulb is thoroughly removed during manufacture, leaving only a. How guitar amps work and what you can do to start tweaking. Kuehnel gives you the theory and explains how to use the tools to take control of your tube amp circuits in ways that may surprise you.
Design my design involves a fourstage preamplifier, which uses two dualtriode 12ax7 tubes. Keep those filaments lit, design your own vacuum tube. Profusely illustrated, the book uses graphic aides and basic algebra. Design and construction of tube guitar amplifiers book ebay.
This book is a stepbystep tutorial for simulating vacuum tube guitar amplifiers using ltspice, a free spicebased electronic circuit simulator for windows and macos. Designing valve preamps for guitar and bass 2 fig 1. The simple answer is that a guitar tube amp uses one or more vacuum tubes to amplify the signal, while a solidstate guitar amp uses solidstate electronics diodes, transistors, etc. Im sorry to say i permanently removed it from print. For me, the ultrafi was the last piece of the puzzle in my quest to design an ss amp that can rival tube amps. I started out with the previously mentioned dave hunter book the guitar amp handbookas well as tom mitchells how to service your own tube amp. Covers all the essential of tube electronics design, including the basics, tube theory, load lines, amplifier design, etc. Verified design tone stack for guitar amplifier reference design ti designs precision circuit description ti designs precision are analog solutions created by tis analog experts. Profusely illustrated, the book uses graphic aides and basic. The marshallfender phase inverter is commonly known as a longtail pair, or schmitt type phase inverter, or phase splitter actually, the original schmitt inverter was a differential pair with a large tail resistor.
That is you want to amplify voltage as much as possible. Oct 12, 2019 associates degree programs in electrical engineering technology can teach students the technical skills involved. Most of the boutique amps being made today are cloned vintage fender and marshall amps or at least heavily influenced by their circuits. Covers how tubes work and how to design circuits around them, with chapters on class aab1 and ab2b amplifier design, power supplies, and more. Manufacturer of custom handbuilt guitar tube amplifiers guitar amp repair, restoration, and modification tonetron amplifiers builds guitar and bass amps based on your requests, whether it be a clone of a vintage amp or a unique design or one of our standard models. The tube used in that case was the cathode ray tube aka crtbetter known today as an old, prelcdledplasma television.
Whats the difference between tube and solidstate guitar. Ive been getting a lot of mail about my power supplies book. Gadgetronicx electronics circuit diagrams and schematic designs amplifier circuits design of push pull amplifier using vacuum tube. Here weve listed our collection of guitar amplifier schematics. The two most common assembly mistakes are miswired input and speaker jacks. Cliff jacks are isolated from the chassis and must be grounded via a ground wire. The design, modification and repair manual for vacuum tube guitar amplifiers kindle edition by torres, dan, torres, dan, strong, robert w download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. An entire chapter is devoted to sculpting the dynamics of overdrive and harmonic distortion. Ultralinear mode and pushpull configurations were introduced respectively in section 2. Beside that, el34, el84, and 12ax7 vacuum tubes are used in many practical examples, to design the various parts of the circuits and to compute the values of the needed components. In preamp stages, the plate resistor determines the loadline slope. A tube amplifier has an inherent peaktopeak asymmetry, which can be lessened or increased by varying the slope of the loadline. This is a forum where guitarists, from novice to experienced, can explore the world of guitar through a variety of media and discussion. The choice of a driver tube is the 12ax7 which is a common small signal tube.
There are also many books on the subject of tube amp circuit theory, design and building that you can read to help make your first build of boutique quality. The overall schema of the power stage, including values of all components, is given in figure 48. Add only the numerical characters of the item number. This is the book that jumpstarted the boutique tube guitar amp business. How to design valve guitar amplifiers the valve wizard. This protects an amp by only putting voltage to the heater part of the tube.
Designing valve preamps for gu blencowe, merlin isbn. Guitar amplifier repair training and education program. Inside tube amps is clearly written in a musician friendly style. Basic circuit analysis, basic tube theory, different types of tube stages. Simple and elegant push pull amplifier circuit design diagram and its working principle explained. This book presents vacuum tube amplifier theory using modern, webbased design tools and computer visualizations to eliminate the usual litany of mathematical formulas. Mar 14, 2014 part 1 of a 2part video series in which the circuitry of tube amplifiers is explained by breaking down the circuit of a fender champ amplifier into subunits and explaining the design and. It is just the actual leg names that differ a mosfetjfet from a tube model. To prevent the deterioration over time it is recommended that you periodically change the tube.
Theres a huge amount of hype and mythology surrounding tube. Maybe, like me, youll design and build from scratch. Please, follow these basic instructions to place your order. The book explains the principles of vacuum tube electronics and the design of preamp voltage amplification stages, cathode followers, tone stacks, power amps. It includes many graphs to help make the material easier to understand. Im also interested solid state amplifier theory, design and discussions. Boot hill, daytona beach gunfighter series tweed deluxe 5e3 clone combo guitar tube amplifier. Books, calculators, and tutorials for guitar amplifier circuit design.
Tons of empirical data that demystify the 519 pages tube pdf file guitar amplifier power amps. Singleended classa tube amplifier design and construction. Guitar wheel music theory learning quick reference. Some of this material is general and applies as much to hifi circuits as to guitar amps, but some of it is very. Transient fidelity in guitar tube amps 106 the nonlinear dynamics of triode gain stages 107 variable compression from nonlinear systems with memory. How to build a tube amplifier rob robinettes car and tube.
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