tube amp weekend seminar

[Rxtele]

I am fairly new to tube amps. Have read some and thoroughly confused myself
I especially like the Torres Engineering book, discussing how changing components affects the sound of the amp
I would like to learn to bias my own amp, but have been frightened by the warning of possible electric shock
I have never soldered anything in my life
I was wondering what any of you thought about a weekend seminar to build a tube amp with watchful supervision, if this would be a good place to start.
I would be able to travel to this seminar, but would prefer something like this closer to home (Denver, C0)

Tube Amp Building Weekend Seminar | Specimen Products

[loudthud]

It's good to have some tutoring and a little hands on experience. Have you done much reading? Gerald Weber has a couple of DVDs that might help you. Link: Kendrick Amplifiers, Tube Amps, Guitars, Books, DVDs, and Tube Amp Parts ~ Welcome! Also London Power has a couple of beginner level books, Ready Set Go and Tonnes of Tone. Link: Tube Amp Kits, Tube Amp Books from London Power

[hasserl]

I think it would have to be a pretty aggressive schedule to combine lecture, demonstration and actually building to completion a working amp in 3 days, particularly for a beginner. Just getting the board loaded, and installing everything on the chassis, then wiring up the damn filaments, then getting the rest all wired up neatly, let alone a start up procedure and sorting out any issues. I think a lot of (most) guys will end up completing these projects on their own later on. Better keep it simple and do a Champ, an 18watt Marshall? Forget it.

I would suggest you lurk around this place for awhile, and search out all the free info on the net you can find, then take the plunge and learn to check/set the bias on an amp (and understand what you're doing and why), then take it from there. That is pretty much the path I went down many years ago. I followed that up with buying some old amps and refurbishing them, then started modifying component values to see what effect that had, then finally started building after all of that. One of the very best lessons I had was going thru an old amp, tracing out the circuit and drawing my own schematic. When I came to a part that I didn't know what it was or what it did I read about it until I did (there is a ton of free info on the net, all you have to do is search for it). When I was done with the schematic, which admittedly was very difficult to do that first time, my understanding of the workings of the amp was improved multiple times. I can't emphasize enough what a great lesson that was. Since then I've traced out dozens of schematics, it's the best way to figure out the layout of an amp before you start working on it. Of course having a schematic on hand cuts down on the time involved if you're just doing a repair, it would be impractical for a professional tech to do this on every amp, but as a learning exercise it's fantastic.

[Rxtele]

Thanks for your input
and the links. I think I'll keep trying to learn by following up some of Loudthud's beginner book suggestions

Hasserl's post makes perfect sense. There probably isn't enough time to build an amp on a weekend, especially from the absolute beginer level, which is where I would be. Maybe if you lived in Chicago and could follow up with the instructors, but I don't.

So, I'll continue to read and learn.

Happy New Year everybody and don't forget to keep playing, practicing and putting the music out there

[stormbringer]

A seminar might help you learn important info about safety in a controlled environment. You could learn this stuff by reading, asking questions on forums, and by finding someone local who is willing to meet. Bruce from Mission amps (Denver) once held a build workshop/seminar, if I recall correctly.

The Ultimate Tone (TUT) series of books by London Power are more advanced, but they are great. I found TUT(1) and TUT3 to be especially good for me. Kevin O'Connor is an excellent writer.

There are also some excellent kits out there. Look for ones with detailed instructions, including photos if possible. The Allen Amps kits don't come with photos, but the instructions are very details. Tubedepot.com has some instructions on their website so you can check them out in advance. Lots of photos in their kits (and some youtube videos to complement the instructions).

Something else to keep this in mind: there is no shock hazard until you plug in your newly built amp. Up to that point, you need to be concerned with good ventilation so you don't breath in the solder fumes. Opening up an existing amp for biasing is a different story; you definitely need to know how to drain filter caps and measure the residual DC volts in those filter caps.

[Rxtele]

Hey thanks stormbringer. I've heard of Bruce and Mission Amps, but seems like he's hard to track down in person. I might go to the location last reported on their web site and see if someone is there.

Meanwhile, I'll keep reading here, reading some of the suggested books by everyone kind enough to reply to this thread, and try not to confuse myself too much
I think Les Paul used to call all of this Chasing the Sound or something like that