Educational Resources?

[broughton1320]

Anyone have good resources for a beginner? I've been cruising robrobinette.com, Uncle Doug and Psionic Audio, but am hungry for more. I feel like I have the very basics down (ie I know a cathode follower reduces signal impedence but I don't know HOW it does or WHY that's a good thing).
I'm an idiot, but I'm trying. I'm working on dusting off the math section of my brain (or more precisely grasping stuff like resistors in parallel vs resistors in series from a mathematical standpoint).
There's a lot of crap out there and I don't know enough to tell if I'm wading through it. A lot of you guys are on top of it and I'd love to get to your level some day.
What got you guys interested and opened the "black box" for you?

Thanks for your time!


"Often wrong, never in doubt" -Army Adage

[nosaj]

Yep just posted this the other day when I found it.
https://music-electronics-forum.com/...rse#post952078

nosaj

[The Dude]

I don't have any specific resources right now. My Wi-Fi at work is terribly slow today, or I might look. I would recommend you start with very basic learning about the components themselves. Circuit understanding is much easier if you know, for instance, what a resistor/capacitor/diode/transistor/etc. actually is and does. Anyone can build an amp from a layout. Understanding how it works and being able to understand a schematic circuit or troubleshooting that circuit is quite another thing.

[Helmholtz]

Another great resource is Jack Darr's book: https://de.scribd.com/doc/56157375/E...book-Jack-Darr

We once had a thread about educational electronics literature. Where is it? Should be a Sticky.

[broughton1320]

Nosaj,
Just downloaded it. Thanks!

[broughton1320]

I don't have any specific resources right now. My Wi-Fi at work is terribly slow today, or I might look. I would recommend you start with very basic learning about the components themselves. Circuit understanding is much easier if you know, for instance, what a resistor/capacitor/diode/transistor/etc. actually is and does. Anyone can build an amp from a layout. Understanding how it works and being able to understand a schematic circuit or troubleshooting that circuit is quite another thing.

I understand most of the components (optocouplers blew my mind the other day), I guess selecting/adjusting parts/values is my current crux. You could say I'm in the "if a little is good, a lot must be better" stage at the moment.
A big thing that's got me curious is layout, but I know I'm getting ahead of myself.

[broughton1320]

Another great resource is Jack Darr's book: https://de.scribd.com/doc/56157375/E...book-Jack-Darr

We once had a thread about educational electronics literature. Where is it? Should be a Sticky.

Helmholtz,
I'm new to this forum stuff, I suppose if I wasn't an idiot I'd have searched the forum. Please excuse my poor etiquette. I downloaded the book you linked and am looking forward to reading it. Thanks!

[The Dude]

BTW, welcome to the place! This form itself is a great educational resource.

[tedmich]

Pete Millets site is chock full of old tube resources! http://www.tubebooks.org/


Navy Electricity and Electronics Training (NEETs) are very useful general info
http://www.compatt.com/Tutorials/NEETS/NEETS.html

[Chuck H]

Surprised this site link wasn't posted yet:

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/

It's been a source of instant gratification and enlightenment for me more than a few times.

[Tom Phillips]

Surprised this site link wasn't posted yet:

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/

It's been a source of instant gratification and enlightenment for me more than a few times.

Yes! Exactly what came to my mind as I read through this thread. Highly recommended for the true science of how the circuits work.

[Chuck H]

Yes! Exactly what came to my mind as I read through this thread. Highly recommended for the true science of how the circuits work.

More importantly... I can understand a lot of it because of the presentation. I'm no engineer.

[tedmich]

This site is a VERY useful, maybe bookmark it
https://dalmura.com.au/projects/amplifier.html


I may delete link if Trobbins objects!

Also loads of tube amp stuff here
http://www.r-type.org/static/contents.htm

[trobbins]

No probs - it's meant to be a publicly availably resource - I just add stuff as I get around to it.

[loudthud]

I apologize for not going through all the links posted above.

What I remember about my first days of getting a formal education in electronics is the simple circuits with a battery, a handful of resistors and maybe a switch or two. Mostly, you had to learn how to get an equivalent circuit for series and parallel resistors and calculate Voltages and currents using Ohm's law. It wasn't just learning the rules, part of it was the repetition of looking at a small schematic and applying the rules. It is this experience I see lacking in newbe questions that are posted on the forum from time to time.

That said, in this day and age, much of the focus in electronics education has moved away from analog circuits to digital. These simple circuits may be skipped altogether.