# Good books/texts to read about guitar amps



## 5150EVH0515 (10 mo ago)

Hi guys, im really not good with the whole how tube amps work thing. I have a general idea of what does what but i would really like to know more. For example, why people use certain type and value of capacitors or resistors to get “x” kinda tone. Negative feedback, why the transformers put up so much voltage? Things like that. I know there is a book by Ken Fischer? Hope i got that right. However im not sure if this will help me understand why the amp builders like Marshall, Friedman etc… do what they do to mod amps. 

Any info on books or texts to read would be great and much appreciated.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

I still enjoy flipping through this one. 

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca...andbook-understanding/9781480392885-item.html


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## 5150EVH0515 (10 mo ago)

Verne said:


> I still enjoy flipping through this one.
> 
> http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca...andbook-understanding/9781480392885-item.html
> View attachment 427551


wow. Awesome, will check it out. Thank you!


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

If you can find one:

*







*


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

Highly recommend the podcast called
'THE TRUTH ABOUT VINTAGE AMPS'









The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons


Twice a month, guitar amp guru Skip Simmons fields your questions on vintage tube amp repair, restoration and collecting. Often hilarious and always insightful, it's like no other guitar podcast out there.




podcasts.google.com





and the Jack Darr book


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Verne said:


> I still enjoy flipping through this one.
> 
> http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca...andbook-understanding/9781480392885-item.html
> View attachment 427551
> ...


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Another very very ( and unknow ) good book is from the builder of Garnet amps











http://www.garnetamps.com/book.htm


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

The Tube Amp Book: Pittman, Aspen: 9780879307677: Books - Amazon.ca


The Tube Amp Book: Pittman, Aspen: 9780879307677: Books - Amazon.ca



www.amazon.ca













A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps: Weber, Gerald: 0073999302257: Books - Amazon.ca


A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps: Weber, Gerald: 0073999302257: Books - Amazon.ca



www.amazon.ca


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

An understanding of electron theory would help. There are many textbooks on the subject, some of them from the early years are well written.
An online source: BOOKSHELF GENERAL TECHNICAL Post WW II General Technical


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

Latole said:


> Another very very ( and unknow ) good book is from the builder of Garnet amps
> View attachment 427589
> 
> 
> ...


Only $55 canadian! Ordered and on the way! 
Thanks


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

Paul Running said:


> An understanding of electron theory would help. There are many textbooks on the subject, some of them from the early years are well written.
> An online source: BOOKSHELF GENERAL TECHNICAL Post WW II General Technical


20 pages of solid information for free!
Thank you


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## 5150EVH0515 (10 mo ago)

Wow. Looks like I have some reading to do! Thanx and keep em coming! 😁🤘


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## Dru Edwards (9 mo ago)

+1. I have it and it also has a chapter on speakers/cabs so you can read about speaker sensitivity (if that interests you).



Verne said:


> I still enjoy flipping through this one.
> 
> http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca...andbook-understanding/9781480392885-item.html
> View attachment 427551


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## 5150EVH0515 (10 mo ago)

i really like this explanation as well. It breaks it down to more manageable and easier to follow information...





__





Reading Schematics


How to Read Tube Amplifier Schematics



robrobinette.com


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Colour highlighting helps, I use the EIA code for schematics


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)




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## MetalTele79 (Jul 20, 2020)

Verne said:


> I still enjoy flipping through this one.
> 
> http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca...andbook-understanding/9781480392885-item.html
> View attachment 427551


Thanks. Just put a hold on this one from the library. I also just discovered the library lends out musical instruments. I may take out a banjo to annoy my wife.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

I would need to sign out some luggage from the library as well should I ever sign out a banjo. I know exactly how that would go.


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## 5150EVH0515 (10 mo ago)

MetalTele79 said:


> Thanks. Just put a hold on this one from the library. I also just discovered the library lends out musical instruments. I may take out a banjo to annoy my wife.


just curious as to which library you found this? Burlington public library doesnt have it.


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## 2N1305 (Nov 2, 2009)

loudtubeamps said:


> The Tube Amp Book: Pittman, Aspen: 9780879307677: Books - Amazon.ca
> 
> 
> The Tube Amp Book: Pittman, Aspen: 9780879307677: Books - Amazon.ca
> ...


schmoogle on Hip vintage guitar amps book by Gerald Weber (yes, of weber speakers). I have had it for twenty years. There are layman terms of explaining how tubes work like they do and how it specifically applies to guitar amplifiers. There's even a part where they describe how and why to mod a Marshall to master volume, in three different ways, the pros and cons, etc.
I recommend, but other books may say basically the same thing. This one has about 450 thick pages of electro-tube schematic heaven that floats my boat like Tom Sawyer on Niagara falls.


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## MetalTele79 (Jul 20, 2020)

5150EVH0515 said:


> just curious as to which library you found this? Burlington public library doesnt have it.


Toronto Public Library.









Borrow a Musical Instrument


The Sun Life Musical Instrument Lending Library is a collection of instruments that can be borrowed for free with a valid library card.




www.torontopubliclibrary.ca


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I've had both the Darr book, and two different editions of the Pittman book, for a long time. At this point, both have flipped through so much, they require delicate handling. About 20 years back, I had scanned the Darr book and posted it. But when it was reissued, several years back, I took the scans down. It has schematics of an "interesting" selection of lots of off-brand "department store" amps you don't hear much about, like Harmony, Estey, Valco and Wards-Airline, in addition to lots of Gibson and some Fender. The Pittman book doesn't go so much into the inner workings of amps and what does what, but that doesn't make it any less instructive. It provides a HUGE compendium of schematics, and that lets the reader learn much about how or why THIS sounds different than THAT, simply by flipping back and forth. The copies I have are smaller paperback-novel sized. I understand recent reissues are larger 8-1/2 * 11 sized, like Hunter's books, making the schematic a lot easier to read.


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## 5150EVH0515 (10 mo ago)

mhammer said:


> I've had both the Darr book, and two different editions of the Pittman book, for a long time. At this point, both have flipped through so much, they require delicate handling. About 20 years back, I had scanned the Darr book and posted it. But when it was reissued, several years back, I took the scans down. It has schematics of an "interesting" selection of lots of off-brand "department store" amps you don't hear much about, like Harmony, Estey, Valco and Wards-Airline, in addition to lots of Gibson and some Fender. The Pittman book doesn't go so much into the inner workings of amps and what does what, but that doesn't make it any less instructive. It provides a HUGE compendium of schematics, and that lets the reader learn much about how or why THIS sounds different than THAT, simply by flipping back and forth. The copies I have are smaller paperback-novel sized. I understand recent reissues are larger 8-1/2 * 11 sized, like Hunter's books, making the schematic a lot easier to read.


Thanx for the info, that is kinda what im more interested in as in: what does what in an amp and why this component value was picked to probide this kind of tone. That may be asking too much but that is really my end goal.


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## Bowles (Jul 1, 2021)

5150EVH0515 said:


> Hi guys, im really not good with the whole how tube amps work thing. I have a general idea of what does what but i would really like to know more. For example, why people use certain type and value of capacitors or resistors to get “x” kinda tone. Negative feedback, why the transformers put up so much voltage? Things like that. I know there is a book by Ken Fischer? Hope i got that right. However im not sure if this will help me understand why the amp builders like Marshall, Friedman etc… do what they do to mod amps.
> 
> Any info on books or texts to read would be great and much appreciated.


Gerald Weber has like 5 tube amp books out,all very good. He tells you how to do stuff,and why, mods, maintenance, troubleshooting, etc. He is president of the Kendrick Amp Co.


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