Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: PRR on August 04, 2018, 08:27:36 pm
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Richard Kuehnel has several interesting guitar-amp books.
https://www.ampbooks.com/
He's got a new one coming soon: Guitar Amplifier Electronics: Basic Theory
https://www.ampbooks.com/mobile/books/basic-theory/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0999674218
I've seen a draft. The book is excellent.
Of particular note: Kuenel's first book was a deep dive into heavy math. This one is QUITE the opposite. It explains many common guitar-amp circuits in simple language. It gets down to fundamentals that many experts skip over.
I even showed it to my mother the news editor. She said "I don't know anything about amplifiers, but this guy doesn't need any help with his English." _I_ know some about amplifiers, and I think Richard explains the basics very well.
(Disclosure: I actually spent some hours looking for typos, and Richard gave me some bucks for my time, but not enough to buy my opinion.)
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Thanks! Just picked up one from Amazon. Tell him to sign my copy. :icon_biggrin:
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i need one.
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Thanks for the heads up, PRR. My birthday is a month away. My daughter will be looking for gift ideas. This made the list.
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Thanks for the info. I use the ampbooks load line calculator quite often. It's a very useful tool.
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Looking forward to this appearing on Amazon UK!
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I am going to order one also.
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> Looking forward to this appearing on Amazon UK!
The US link I gave (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0999674218), under the (Pre-)Order buttons, there is a line "Deliver to {my town}". Click that, I can select an alternate address, or a different country. UK is on the list.
Obviously not as slick as paying with your regular Amazon account in your UK money with all the import customs already figured.
> Tell him to sign my copy.
He'd be flattered; but I doubt he prints the books at home so it might be double-shipping. Or might not be. Contact his sales email address and ask.
(https://www.ampbooks.com/mobile/photos/businessCardSales.png)
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I have both of Merlin's preamp books, and all of Richard's other books. Do need this book? By the way, I've never bought any of the Kevin O'Conner books. :dontknow:
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> Do need this book?
This one's aim is "Basic". Really-- someone just starting out.
If you have digested most of Merlin and Kuehnel, and can pass a pop-quiz on any chapter.... then this might be too "basic" for you. OTOH, sometimes a concept dimly explained and understood in other books may come into focus when explained in other words. (This is not a re-hash of Kuehnel's other books.)
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My 2 cents; e-book. They take up no shelf space, are easily portable; and are searchable.
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Gosh I hate ebooks :laugh: I am officially an old man! I like being able to page through and flip around.
Jim
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> My 2 cents; e-book.
I've thought about it.
Of course the core issue is that, for 2 cents, the Author would rather go fishing than write. While some authors do work for free (or in hope), most want some payment for their time. Which may be very considerable to write a book. (Pictures take even more time.)
Copy-protection is an issue. The Kindle encryption scheme is commercially secure; but anybody who bothers to crack the book can distribute free copies globally. Sales (author payments) go to near zero. Yes, you can scan a paper-book (even perfect-bound) and there's folks in India who do that a lot; but chance of that is lower.
Displaying a book on "any" device, particularly small devices, has problems. Running text usually line-breaks and page-breaks acceptably well. Books with pictures can be bad or horrible. I have several in my Kindle. One was so unreadable (partial images, images too large or small to read, and text chunking) that they recalled it for another copy which was not a lot better. Good tube-amp books NEED pictures (Kuehnel's got em) NEXT to the text. This is hard for some authors/editors to do on paper, and about impossible if the content has to be re-sized to fit "all" screens. It is NOT that easy to flick back and forth, or re-size images, in an ebook.
It could be better when I was younger (and graphical computers did not exist). When young I could focus very near and small (far, not so good). With a hi-res screen I could probably put 8x10 pages on a 4-inch cellphone and read them. Today--- where's my specs? Where's my stronger specs? Even so, I think the algorithms to re-layout mixed text and images are all primitive (compared to important computations like tracking your FaceBook relationships and how ad-buyers could benefit).
Yes, Kindle exists for PC and I can put pretty good size pages on my 23" LCD. Had to do that for a couple years before my eyes were fixed. But being glued to the PC is not optimum for all books.
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All true. In making replies on the Forum, I often refer to amp guru books, down to Chapter & page number -- in the hope that people will buy the book for the benefit of the author. Not to mention that with a decent library they can enlarge their knowledge base, and do their own research. But I won't divulge the author's work product. E.g., Tom Mitchel's Book (How to Service Your Own Tube Amp) has, if nothing else, great troubleshooting flow charts. People would save themselves a lot of trouble if they bought the book & used them.
Anyway, old curmudgeon that I am, I need to pare down -- not acquire more space hogging stuff. Plus I can't remember where to find juicy tidbits of information; doing word searches is a blessing. So it's e-books for me. No more hard copy.
I get it that a best-selling book will sell a lot fewer units due to copyright infringement. Don't know if that's true for a niche market eBook.
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it's e-books for me.
my wife still writes check n licks stamps :think1:
my "next" tech hunt for her is a txt to voice app so she can play her e-stuff while road-trippin, me I'm a tactile guy, hot soldering pencil, nice edge on a rock face, good feel from a tool. besides, I need something to burn when the thought police come around :icon_biggrin:
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Yeah, the average age Here, is no doubt way more than average. Nevertheless, after years of resistance, I'm a recent convert to e-format. CD's are next to go for me (but vinyl is forever). Even Doug is using a Kemper profiler in one hand, and a turret installer in his other hand. At some point we gave up the rotary telephone, and here we are slithering down the slippery slope.
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I use e-books, but prefer PDF versions. This way if it is a reference, I can open another instance to "thumb" through. Sometimes in a reference book I need to see page 74 and 265.
Funny, I own a printing company and in 1985 an engineer from IBM told me by the turn of the century we would be a paperless society. With the exception of newsprint, which is gone, more paper is printed today than 1985.
I should read for typos before posts.
I am a Vinyl dude and I still like Reel to Reel, the most expensive format ever. :icon_biggrin:
I like new stuff too, but I have 7 rotary phones still in use, one is a wall phone. All are older than 1950. I have a few more, but it already sounds like Christmas every time the home phone rings. I even have a bluetooth transmitter on home phone line so my cell rings it too. Digital storage is convenient, but somehow it seems to degrade the value. Just like music. I think nothing of trashing 1,000 mp3 due to older recording birtrate, but I still have John Denver's Reel to Reel of the Streets of Amsterdam. Why, I guess it is what JoJo says. I am a kook.
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kook = Keeper of Old Knowledge. Where is dageezer?
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more paper is printed today than 1985.
my old job went "paperless" sometime around 2000. 90% of "my data" was already digital, so I quit printing out my version of "TPS" reports :icon_biggrin: I'd get the "company" email about "where's your reports" I'd fwd the email saying; "we are going paperless" and link to the(EDIT: raw) digital data :icon_biggrin:
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I've thought about it.
I wish you'd write a book *sigh*
(PRR and Tubelab are my fantasy authors)
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Who is tubelab? http://tubelab.com/about-us/who/ ???
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Kuehnel shipped books to Amazon, Amazon got them, Kuehnel updated the release date, and Amazon's stupid computers threw an "Out Of Print" status and removed the order button.
I guessed "lost in the warehouse", but it appears to be that Amazon now has DOZENS of warehouses to minimize shipping expense and that algorithm tripped-out.
People who pre-ordered are now being told early September delivery.
Antique Electronic Supply and Amplified Parts will have stock next week, and don't have their head in a computer.
https://www.tubesandmore.com/search/node/Kuehnel
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/search/node/kuehnel
Not listed yet, so check-back.
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Mine says "arriving Friday, Aug 31." I have prime though.
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Kuehnel shipped books to Amazon, Amazon got them, Kuehnel updated the release date, and Amazon's stupid computers threw an "Out Of Print" status and removed the order button.
I guessed "lost in the warehouse", but it appears to be that Amazon now has DOZENS of warehouses to minimize shipping expense and that algorithm tripped-out.
People who pre-ordered are now being told early September delivery.
Antique Electronic Supply and Amplified Parts will have stock next week, and don't have their head in a computer.
https://www.tubesandmore.com/search/node/Kuehnel (https://www.tubesandmore.com/search/node/Kuehnel)
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/search/node/kuehnel (https://www.amplifiedparts.com/search/node/kuehnel)
Not listed yet, so check-back.
Great to know. I started to order Amazon, but didn't feel like registering. ebayer here. Definitely will be getting one from AES.
{edit: fixed my munged URL -- PRR}
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kook = Keeper of Old Knowledge. Where is dageezer?
We've crossed paths (online) a few times since he bowed out here. He's still the same kind and generous type of person as always. He simply said that he had found the tone and amp in his head that he'd always wanted after all the years of exploring various circuits and builds. This being along the Dumble path using a clean and powerful (a la Fender Twin) power section mated with a two channel clean and overdriven preamp set-up. He was happy and satisfied with his ideal amp configuration, made two of them, and didn't feel the need to keep searching any longer. And with that, he was done.
He didn't come right out with schematics and explain every detail and I didn't want to impose any further after at least asking a few basic questions. I could tell that if he wanted to divulge more or further he could have and would have. But, it really doesn't matter greatly anyway as we already know most everything we need to and I think tubenit is pretty much following along the same tonal path and trail he blazed (exploring and wringing everything out of the Dumble preamp techniques)? He's a really good player and I believe he wanted to spend more time on that but also his family and house remodeling too?
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he had found the tone and amp
This place IS where you can find your "grail", after 20 iterations and dead-ends I'm satisfied!
for those that may be flustered, hang in there, you're just one cap and a voltage divider away :laugh:
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C’est la vie shooter! I always hold out hope that as life moves along and that the more things change the more they remain the same? By this I mean perhaps one day he’ll find his way back with at least a few hello’s and share a few lessons or ideas learned along the way? And that sluckey will make at least one more last amp!? We all can hope right?
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make at least one more last amp!?
did Steve ever have a 1st amp, or just one more last :icon_biggrin:
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Great reply, jojo. Thanks for the headsup!
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His Preamp book was the first amp book i owned. I still find it kind of confusing. I have Merlin's Books, and while some of it is over my head, i DO find it much easier to follow.
Quoting PRR..... "OTOH, sometimes a concept dimly explained and understood in other books may come into focus when explained in other words".
THIS describes some of the books i have. Some books have just a few Sentences/Paragraphs that make the book worth owning.....some "little" thing that you never quite understood, that might be too "basic" to get much of an explanation in other books, but is Just What Was Missing for you to grasp a concept that has been important to you, but has always escaped your net......If you know what i mean.
I think i will give this one a shot.
Thanks for mentioning it. :thumbsup:
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@J Rindt. I'm with you 100%!
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Received my book today from Amazon.
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Finally yielded, Got one on the way!
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Antique Electronic Supply and Amplified Parts have listed the book for orders.
https://www.tubesandmore.com/search/node/Kuehnel
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/search/node/kuehnel
Amazon's listing is now orderable-- "Ships from and sold by AmplifiedParts."
Amazon has copies, but they have to get them to their many-many warehouses. Something wrong there.
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Ordered mine last night from AES.