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.
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.
"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.
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
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...
Kevin O'Conner has some great books about guitar amps as well but they are a bit expensive for the casual reader...
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 Geralds videos and the one above by Tom Mitchell very, very helpful. Its 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 OConnor 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 wasnt 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 Fenders 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
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.
