Great Guitar Amp Related Tech Books

[robrob]

That Blencowe book is in very, very high demand.

[potatofarmer]

It's probably worth mentioning that a decent amount of the power supply book's info was included in the HiFi Preamps book. Condensed quite a bit, understandably, but the early 'fundamentals' chapters were greatly expanded compared to the three previous books. I do wish he'd put out an error-corrected version, or at least tell us which parts aren't accurate!

[DRH1958]

It's probably worth mentioning that a decent amount of the power supply book's info was included in the HiFi Preamps book. Condensed quite a bit, understandably, but the early 'fundamentals' chapters were greatly expanded compared to the three previous books. I do wish he'd put out an error-corrected version, or at least tell us which parts aren't accurate!

If you do come across this book at a decent price (not $1800 on Amazon) I feel it's worth it. I do have it and it's very informative with few errors, IMHO. On an earlier version of his website, he did say he didn't like it and that's why he discontinued it but I got the impression it was largely due to typos, of which there are a few. But they don't offset or get in the way of the wealth of info provided. Merlin is a great educator, putting otherwise heavily math-based, technical info into common language we all can understand with some basic math to supplement it. But I agree it would sell well in an updated edition.

In addition, this more advanced math-based book on just power amps is great. https://www.ampbooks.com/mobile/books/power-amps/ The power amp is a whole different animal once those big bottles are overdriven and draw grid current. That is very well explained with a chapter dedicated just to this subject. There is also two examples of designing an amp from scratch at the end, one single-ended and one push pull.

[nsubulysses]

I'll sell mine for only $1500....

The dust cover and some of the pages are a bit frayed from use. There is coffee spill on one page too, or it may have soaked through a few ....

[potatofarmer]

If you do come across this book at a decent price (not $1800 on Amazon) I feel it's worth it. I do have it and it's very informative with few errors, IMHO. On an earlier version of his website, he did say he didn't like it and that's why he discontinued it but I got the impression it was largely due to typos, of which there are a few. But they don't offset or get in the way of the wealth of info provided. Merlin is a great educator, putting otherwise heavily math-based, technical info into common language we all can understand with some basic math to supplement it. But I agree it would sell well in an updated edition.

In addition, this more advanced math-based book on just power amps is great. https://www.ampbooks.com/mobile/books/power-amps/ The power amp is a whole different animal once those big bottles are overdriven and draw grid current. That is very well explained with a chapter dedicated just to this subject. There is also two examples of designing an amp from scratch at the end, one single-ended and one push pull.

I do have both of these books. I like Merlin's power supply book, but Keuhnel's power amp book I'm more lukewarm on. Plenty of formulas, yes; good mathematical treatment of power amps, especially w.r.t. blocking distortion. He doesn't really go the extra step to explain 'sonic consequences' though. The most egregious example I can recall off the top of my head is in chapter 2 he mentions that beam tetrodes and pentodes are quite different, but we'll discuss that more in chapter 8 (or whatever). When you flip to chapter 8 (or whatever), it's just a referral back to chapter 2. He also references his 5F6A Bassman book pretty often, which is a little frustrating.

[Tom Phillips]

I'll sell mine for only $1500....

The dust cover and some of the pages are a bit frayed from use. There is coffee spill on one page too, or it may have soaked through a few ....

Ha. I'll sell mine for $1499.99. The Book and dust cover are in excellent condition and it includes penciled in typo corrections.

[Pdavis68]

I will also fourth or fifth Merlin's preamp books. Amazing book. Get it from lulu instead of Amazon. He gets a bigger cut and he deserves it. Authors of niche tech books don't make squat compared to the effort that goes into it (I speak with experience).

I'd also recommend the 3 volume Basic Audio set by Norman Crowhurst. It's an older book, but like Merlin's, minimal math with lots of diagrams and pictures.

You can get it at: Tube Books