Schematics Heaven recommendations

[BenjaminShinobi]

I've been wondering, I have experience with building electronic stuff though it has never been with too many things with straight from the wall voltages, so I'm a bit cautious right now and doing my research.
I don't know that much about different amp models/historically significant tube amps. I'm wondering if its not terrible hard to build a deluxe kit from the schematics on schematic heaven. I saw the 6g3 schematic regularly and it seemed "doable" with a quick glance, but I don't know if anything is missing that might be important.

I'm trying to basically find a small, but serious amp (1x12) that I can build for relatively cheap until I get a larger amp. Is it more worth it to get a kit from those Mission or Torres or something like that?

Sorry if I missed a relevant post, I'm new here, just looking around.

[Enzo]

Building a kit amp is not really about saving money. it is about learning something, and about ending up with a nice amp you can be proud of that you made with your own hands. But by the time you addup all the partas and your time, it isn;t saving any money.

But kits are great for a beginning builder, because ALL the parts will be included. You won't find yourself smacking your forhead once a week, "Oh crap, I forgot I'd need some of THESE things."

There are a number of fairly simplpe amps in the Fender line - Deluxe, Princeton. And if you look at them, they are all pretty similar. The Deluxe is a very popular amp to make.

if you want an amp cheap, buy a used commercial amp. Old Traynor amps are faves of mine. Built like a tank, very basic, plenty of room inside for modifications. And not expensive. But ther are other tube amps that are not expensive on the used market.

And another route to take is converting something. Old Bogen - and other brand - PA amplifiers have the basic circuitry in place, and with a little rebuilding in the preamp stage, you can get yourself an interesting guitar amp as a result. These are the amps like you would have found in a school classroom years back.

And nothing stops you from taking a generic tube amp and modifying it to suit you.

If you have never built or worked on tube amps before, then rebuilding an old amp or modifying/converting some amp might be a better project to start on than building from scratch.

But I don;t want to scare you off building from scratch - including kits - since many people have done exactly that, successfully, as a first project.

[BenjaminShinobi]

Thanks Enzo, I guess I was looking at Ceriatone amps and figured that would be less money than a vintage Marshall amp. My ultimate goal though is to be DIY about stuff so that I can imbue my sound with more "love"/my own personality, as corny as that sounds.

I need to get back into building stuff, I picked up some of the Craig Anderton kits from Paia just so I get the feeling of finishing something more quickly. I take a look around the forums and start workin'

Had another question though, I was wondering if you or anyone knew about any good books for learning more about how the circuitry in higher. I saw these on Amazon with a quick search. Anyone read either of them


Building Valve Amplifiers by Morgan Jones
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Building-Valve-Amplifiers-Morgan-Jones/dp/0750656956/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252478739&sr=1-5]Amazon.com: Building Valve Amplifiers (9780750656955): Morgan Jones: Books[/ame]

Vacuum Tube Circuit Design by Richard Kuehnel
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Vacuum-Tube-Circuit-Design-Amplifier/dp/0976982226/ref=pd_sim_b_4]Amazon.com: Vacuum Tube Circuit Design: Guitar Amplifier Preamps (9780976982227): Richard Kuehnel: Books[/ame]

thanks again!
-ben

[Enzo]

Less money than a classic vintage amp? Sure. I was thinking more along the lines of a kit versus buying something contemporary.

I know of those two books and have not read them.

The RDH is an all time classic, and you can download it from a number of places. Here is one: RDH4 mirror

I recently bought and am enjoying Merlinb's new book. DO a search on this forum for "Merlin book" to find the discussion of it.

[BenjaminShinobi]

thanks much for the info.
you probably can't go wrong with a book by someone named Merlin, lol

wow funny story, I actually have the RDH, the library from my college got rid of old books and would put them on a shelf for free. I found this book last year or maybe 2 years ago assuming that it was outdated and that's why it was being gotten rid of. Glad she has a purpose

[Enzo]

The tube technology was valid then as it is now. That is a class book, and is certainly worth study. it is only outdated in that the world has moved on from vacuum tubes. And some details have changed - you won;t find EL34s in it or 6550s.

[Gibsonman63]

Enzo,

Thanks for posting the link. That one is a real gem.

[stingray_65]

there are also many great sites that are dedicated to amp design and theory.

one in particular that i refer to alot is the THE VALVE WIZARD

How to design valve guitar amplifiers

I will usually end up here and ask question about what I just read when visiting sites like that.

I also found this link invaluable

Tube Terminology for Dummies

It is a brief discription of Tube Terminology that helps me visualize what is often discussed here and on other fourums. So when someone says somthing like "Lower the value of the coupling cap" I can go to this link and and see what a coupling capacitor is.

I'f you read around this forum a bit you will find TONS of links to other very useful sites. I have a dedicated file in my favorites for links I find on this site and a second folder for links I keep going back to.

Ray