The Tube Amp Book

Great, great source of info on guitar tube amps and tubes in general. I highly recommend you buy this well put together resource! Aspen is no longer with us so don’t wait before it goes out of print. The shipper, however, did a lousy packing job resulting in a bit of damage to one corner.

I did not realize how great this book was when I orderer it. Clear and concise history with interesting facts and great pictures. The author explains why people like each model or manufacturer and why they became famous. The author was a legend in Amplifiers. Founded Groove and sold to Fender. He worked in the original Guitar Center. I love the pictures and the history. You can take this book and use it to work on an old amp or (like me) use it to pick out an old amp to build yourself. Such a cool book. 1st half pics and history. 2nd half wiring schematics.

loads of information

And a must have for amp nerds like myself. I've learned a lot from it.

Let's face it. Not everyone is an amp tech or engineer. This book was never intended to be an electrical engineering text. It has the schematic diagrams for a good number of commercial guitar amps which is handy for the tech, and it does go over some of the basics to give the non technical an idea of what might be wrong with their guitar amp. It does spend a lot of time talking about the different brands and models of tube guitar amplifiers, both vintage and newer manufacture. But, it's listing and reviews of guitar amplifiers is in no way complete. We get a lot of the author's opinions on what sounds good and what does not. Myself, I prefer to always say that only YOUR own ears can make the decision as to which amp is right for you. So, take the reviews with a grain of salt. Mr Pitman also promotes his company (groove tubes) quite a bit. But, that is to be expected. The CD contains a lot of guitar amp schematics. The hard copy pages are only a sampling of all the schematics found on the CD. It has tube manual type specs for the most common guitar amp tubes as well as some modifications for certain amps. Some are really useful since they allow the use of more common output tubes to replace older types that are expensive if you can even find them. With respect to his reviews on the sonic aspects of the different brands of tubes, you need to take that with a grain of salt and again, take my advice and let YOUR own ears make the decision as to whether one tube is better for your application then another. But, all in all, he does offer a good overview of the tube guitar amplifier world and does explain, in easy to understand terms, the differences that make or break a guitar amp's sound. Although not the last word in tube amplification, this book is entertaining, easy to understand, and offers up a good deal of useful information in a nice larger printed format. For anyone into tube guitar amps, this book is well worth a look. For those who want to actually design their own, unique amp and NOT clone a Fender or Marshall, this book is going to be of minimal help.

This book has received many negative reviews, primarily due to the authors affiliation with Groove Tubes. Well, If those reviewers can do a better job... The book is put together very well. I love the spiral format. Yes, all or nearly all of the schematics contained can be found on the web for free. But not all in one place. And not without a connection to the internet. As for the quality of the schematics, what you see is what the condition of the surviving originals is. Most of the originals were drawn by hand with templates, some free form. And they were drawn on large format paper. Once they were scanned (long before this book was written) the image was degraded. This is not the fault of the publisher or author. It's just a fact of life. I can open this book and quickly compare various Fender circuits (nearly side-by-side) without filling up my compute screen with multiple PDF documents that constantly need to be shifted up, down, left and right to see the complete circuit. This book is a keeper and will be referenced often.

This is a big book; the first half features an overview of important amp makers. The second half list schematics of favorite amps. A must for any amp aficionado. Be aware though that the information is dated as the book was published in 2003.

It's unusual- 30% of the book is descriptions and history of about 50 of the most famous guitar amp manufacterers- pretty darn interesting. The next 30% is technical stuff about amps. - differences in speakers, the effects of negative feedback, a lot about tubes (what they do, how they differ, tube descriptions, what amp companies use what tubes - all KINDS of tech stuff). The last 40% is all schematics for famous amps. (how is this legal, I wonder?) It's a good book.

Muy interesante. Es un libro de mucha calidad, vale su precio.

I bought this as a present for my Dad who's played guitar for around 40 years. The book is hardback and includes loads of details and diagrams, as well as a CD with more info on it. My Dad loves it. He's looking at repairing a few guitar amps in his retirement and says this will help him immeasurably. I play guitar also and had a flick through - it is what it says on the tin really. It's very technical and detailed, more so than a history of amps or anything. For the price I'm very happy. And so is my Dad more importantly.

This is the Best Tube Amp book I have yet bought so far. I recommend this book for anyone repairing Tube Amps. It really is worth it`s weight in Gold , the schematics in the are priceless.. Tubes are going to be around longer than some people thought about it. It is great to recycle but I kept my tube testers and still working on these. Aspen Pittman did an excellent job on this book /manual . the history and information in it are a great tool for the repairman . The Book brings Tubes back to Life and nothing beats the tone from this type of Amplifier or the Raw Power it Puts FORTH to Shake Rock & Roll . Hard Rock needs these Amps. Many Thanks to the writer Aspen Pittman can take a bow on a well written Manual /Book. I do recommend this book to all who repair Tube Amps. Mikey

So trocken mein Rez.-Titel daherkommt, so unbedingt kann ich jedem, der sich mit Instrumentenverstärkern (Guitar-Amps, Bass-Amps, Vocal-Amps) beschäftigt, dieses Buch ans Herz legen. Das Buch ist in Englischer Sprache. Im ersten Teil (das Großformatbuch besteht im Innern aus 2 Ringbüchern) findet man eine schöne Einleitung ins Thema, dann stellt Pittman sich vor und findet eine gute Balance zwischen allgemeinen Röhrenverstärker-Themen und seiner Unternehmung, die sich auf das Erhalten und verfeinern von Tube-Amps und das Beschaffen von Röhren spezialisiert hat, aber keine Angst, das füllt nur einen kleinen Teil. Beschrieben werden Erfahrungen hinsichtlich Lebensdauer, Qualität, Klang etc. veschiedener Exemplare eines Rörentypes in verschiedenen Amps. Speziell kommen auch Unterschiede zu HiFi-Verstärkern zur Sprache. Damit kann ein handwerklich begabter Elektroniker schonmal gut ins Thema Tube-Amps einsteigen. Den Hauptteil des 'ersten' Buches bildet ein mit vielen Farb- und Schwarzweißfotos illustriertes Register von (fast) allen klassischen Tube-Amps, geordnet nach Herstellern, und, wenn vorhanden, versehen mit Faksimiles der zeitgenössischen Werbeprospekte incl. technischen Angaben. Es ist --ehrlich gesagt-- eine Schatzkiste an Informationen, und gleichzeitig schön zu lesen, weil es auch unterhält; man erfährt nicht nur was über die Verstärker, sondern ebensoviel über die Kleinen und Großen der Branche, von der one-man-show eines ambitionierten Verstärkerbauers und seiner Produkte bis zu VOX und Marshall ist alles dabei. Mir bereitet es jedes Mal aufs Neue eine Freude, und ich finde, dieser erste Teil rechtfertigt bereits den Kaufpreis. Es folgen schließlich Datenblätter von ca. 15 vd. in Tube-Amps eingesetzten Rö.-Typen, diese Datenblätter sind von TUNG-SOL. Eine kleine Vergleichsübersicht bzgl. Europäische vs. USA-Typen erleichtert den Einstieg weiter. Im 2. Teil(-Ringbuch) findet man geschätze 200 Seiten --für Reparaturarbeiten genügend großer-- Schaltbilder geordnet nach Hersteller und Typ bzw. RevLevel. Sehr informativ für den Techniker, der sich fragt:"Wie machen die das, mit dem Overdrive, und der Gegenkopplung, oder Half-Power?" Last but not least: die beiliegende CD: Hier ist nochmal alles an Schaltbildern versammelt, was der Autor auftreiben konnte, etwa doppelt soviel, wie im Buch abgedruckt. Alles in allem ist das Buch hochwertig, praxistauglich und wertvoll, Nutzbarkeit und Ästhetik kommen hier aufs angenehmste zusammen, auch durch das verwendete Format in Verbindung mit der Ringheftung. Ich würde es jederzeit zum Kauf empfehlen.

Groove Tube社創設者兼社長であるアスペン・ピットマン氏が著した ギター用チューブアンプの技術書で ・チューブアンプメーカーの紹介と製品の特徴 ・真空管の動作原理やメンテ、改造の方法など ・Groove Tube社から発売されている真空管のサウンドの特徴 ・真空管スペックシート ・用語説明 ・有名どころアンプの回路図（古い物がほとんど） （付属のＣＤには800もの回路図のpdfファイルが収録されています） が網羅されています。 真空管アンプを自分で製作したり改造したりする人には非常に役立つ一冊です が英語が苦手な方、電気的な知識のない方には理解できないでしょう。 しかしなぜGroove Tube社製アンプの回路図は収録されてないの？