Recommend me a good amp book

[tedisdead]

I've got Fleigers "Guide to Guitar and Amp Maintenance", and it's awesome, but I want a book or material that delves into what's actually going on behind the knobs and tubes. Any books you could recommend, or even better, links to web articles?

Thanks for the help.

 

[elkym]

Look on amazon for books by Ted Weber, he's done five-- each of them about 1.25 inches thick, and they're all awesome. The most recent one is the red one, I think you'd probably be most interested in that one.

 

[jazzwannabe]

"The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps" by Tom Wheeler. It's not a how-to book, but a lot of fun and a great resource.

 

[tedisdead]

Ended up going with "The Guitar Amp Handbook: Understanding Tube Amplifiers and Getting Great Sounds" by Dave Hunter.
Had a lot of good reviews on Amazon as a "how to" and "how it works" book. I also got Guitar Effect pedals by him as well. When they get here, I'll try to get a write up done.
Cheers

 

[rhinocaster]

Ended up going with "The Guitar Amp Handbook: Understanding Tube Amplifiers and Getting Great Sounds" by Dave Hunter.
Had a lot of good reviews on Amazon as a "how to" and "how it works" book. I also got Guitar Effect pedals by him as well. When they get here, I'll try to get a write up done.
Cheers

GREAT choice! It's the one I would have recommended based on what you were looking for.

 

[quinnamps]

Enjoy:

http://www.tpub.com/content/neets/14178/

Which is like the modern version of:
Basic Electronics Vol 1-6 by valkenburgh nooger and neville

Which is awesome unto itself and is the source for many of the cute drawings you have seen of amps with arms and legs and such....LOL!

Get the RCA Radiotron 4th edition and all sorts of deep reading here:
http://www.pmillett.com/

Probably lots of basic guitar amp books out there too, which might be what your after, but the above is "the stuff" imho...

 

[quinnamps]

Kevin O'Conner has some great books about guitar amps as well but they are a bit expensive for the casual reader...

 

[HEAVENandHELL]

Ended up going with "The Guitar Amp Handbook: Understanding Tube Amplifiers and Getting Great Sounds" by Dave Hunter.
Had a lot of good reviews on Amazon as a "how to" and "how it works" book. I also got Guitar Effect pedals by him as well. When they get here, I'll try to get a write up done.
Cheers

Just read this one myself, twice! Great book with lots of knowledge to share.

 

[John Thigpen]

Ended up going with "The Guitar Amp Handbook: Understanding Tube Amplifiers and Getting Great Sounds" by Dave Hunter.
Had a lot of good reviews on Amazon as a "how to" and "how it works" book. I also got Guitar Effect pedals by him as well. When they get here, I'll try to get a write up done.
Cheers

All of Dave Hunter's books are great...especially this one.

John

 

[Wayne]

Here's a list of what I've used over the years in priority order.

1. “How To Service Your Own Tube Amp” (book and video) by Tom Mitchell – If you only buy one, this is it, in my humble opinion.
2. "The Guitar Amp Handbook: Understanding Amplifiers and Getting Great Sounds" by Dave Hunter - An excellent introductory treatise to the world of guitar amplification. Very readable and he does a great job of making the concepts understandable. Highly recommended.
3. “Video 1 - Tube Amp Basics for the Guitarist” by Gerald Weber – I found Gerald’s videos and the one above by Tom Mitchell very, very helpful. It’s great to be able to see and hear about tube amp circuits instead of just reading about them.
4. “Video 2 - Basic Tube Guitar Amp Overhaul and Servicing” by Gerald Weber
5. “Video 3 - Advanced Tube Guitar Amp Overhaul and Servicing” by Gerald Weber
6. “A Desktop Reference Of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps” by Gerald Weber – Lots of good info and schematics
7. “Tube Amp Talk For The Guitarist And Tech” by Gerald Weber – more good info. Check out “The Trainwreck Pages”
8. "Tube Guitar Amplifier Essentials" by Gerald Weber - The latest in his series of books.
9. “The Ultimate Tone – Volumes 1 and 2” by Kevin O’Connor
10. “The Tube Amp Book” by Aspen Pittman of Groove Tubes
11. “Tube Amp Workbook” by Dave Funk
12. “Audio Cyclopedia – First Edition” by Howard Tremaine – The bible, with everything knowable about tube circuits. Very technical. Make sure to get the First Edition since after this one a lot of the tube circuits were dropped in favor of solid-state. I bought mine used on eBay and it wasn’t cheap.
13. “RCA Receiving Tube Manual”
14. “General Electric Essential Characteristics”
15. “Tube Substitution Handbook” by Howard Sams
16. “The Fender Amp Book” by John Morrish – a small book with the Fender models and specs on each
17. “The Amp Book” by Donald Brosnac – an introductory treatment
18. “Amps! The Other Half Of Rock ‘N’ Roll” by Ritchie Fliegler – a good history of tube amps with lots of photos
19. “The Complete Guide To Guitar And Amp Maintenance” by Ritchie Fliegler – good practical advise but not very detailed
20. “Fender Amps. The First Fifty Years” by John Teagle and John Sprung – good history of all of Fender’s amps with photos
21. “The Fender Inside Story” by Forrest White – an insiders view of the history of Fender
22. “Marshall. The Illustrated Story Of The Sound Of Rock” by Michael Doyle
23. “Ampeg. The Story Behind The Sound” by Gregg Hopkins and Bill Moore
24. “Blue Book Of Guitar Amplifiers” by Zachary Fjestad – Specs on many brands of amps and what they are selling for now

 

[daddyo]

Dave Hunter's book is good as a general overview but it is light on theory. He walks you through all he great amp circuits and interviews some great builders like Ken Fischer but it's not a training manual for tube theory, circuit design, or amp repair.