Product Description

There's a huge amount of hype and mythology surrounding tube amplifiers in the guitar world. For years, experts have argued over the tiny details of exactly how they do what they do, and how their various components interact. What's undeniable is that, far more than being just a "loudness booster," the unique combination of tubes, capacitors, resistors, and transformers in these amps can contribute enormously to the quality of sound derived from any electric guitar. In this thorough and authoritative book, Dave Hunter cuts through the marketing hyperbole, and the blind faith, and supplies all the information you need to choose the right amp, and get the best from it. The book also features exclusively conducted, in-depth interviews with leading figures in the tube amp-building world - including Ken Fischer, Mark Sampson, and Michael Zaite - and even provides full instructions on how to construct your own high-quality tube guitar amp from scratch.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14162 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Mixed
This book is in an interesting spot between real electrical engineering description of tube amplifiers and the opinion of a guitar player. The author clearly knows his stuff as a user but has very little knowledge of electrical theory. As an engineer, I did not gain any insight on how tube amplifiers work or are designed. As a guitar player, I gained a lot of knowledge on how users judge and modify their amplifiers. The many schematics on well known tube amplifers and interviews with their designers are good but the engineer in me needs one more level of actual tube design theory.

Letdown
The writer never explains how a tube works or capacitors or resistors work. For example, he doesn't explain specifically how a resistor can be used to affect treble. I don't know how many times I read about a .2 microfarad capacitor with absolutely no meaningful explanation of what it does. .2 microfarad capacitor, .2 microfarad capacitor, .2 microfarad capacitor. There! You've read the book.

Every guitar player should read this.
I've read many books on tube amps. Some try to get into the meat and potatoes and some are just garbage put out by amp makers to help sell more amps. I'd say Dave's book is in the middle of that mess.

I found this book to be very well presented, written and reasonably unbiased. The electronics knowledge that's presented is mostly about the basics of what these parts are, what they do and the truth about the variety of parts and how they effect an amp's sound and quality. Also, a nice section on amp evolution and circuit breakdowns that are more about why and the end result than how it works. Great for the average player.

He does an excellent job of demystifying much of the marketing bull that is used to sell tube amps today. All these marketing ploys weren't used 20-30 years back because the business didn't really focus on "Class A", Channel Switching, Built in Bells and Whistles. Plus, I'd bet with so much competition all these companies are scrambling for market share.

Dave points out how much of this is just marketing and he does a great job with explaining what a person SHOULD look for in an amp. He doesn't so much give his opinion as a "how to" evaluate what you as a buyer and player really needs.

That's what this is really about, Understanding Tube Amps. If you've bought ten amps in your life and always wind up trading it in for the next one that the sales guy, more importantly Rock Star advert, says is the latest and greatest, this book can maybe end that misery and SAVE YOU FAR MORE THAN THE PRICE OF THE BOOK in the process.

Every guitar player really should read this book from cover to cover. Especially the interviews section with the present greats of the industry. The chapter on building your own amp is purely there if you want to actually get your hands dirty. I plan on building the amp eventually but that's the one chapter I skipped as it's not going to help me sort out why I OWN FOUR HALF STACKS AND THREE COMBOS!!! Any one else fall into this category?