This book moves beyond general principles of tube amplifier design to carry out an intense examination of one of the most famous circuits of the rock era. The book begins with the 5F6A's relatively simple triode preamps (bypassed cathode resistor, unbypassed cathode resistor, and cathode follower) and then progresses through the mathematically challenging tone stack, long-tailed-pair phase splitter, and push-pull power amp. Every formula for every tube is derived in all its gory detail. The author's methods include the classic load lines and composite characteristic curves of Frederick Terman and the Radiotron Designer's Handbook as well as more modern techniques like linear regression and the Discrete Fourier Transform. Special attention is paid to quantifying the push-pull amplifier's nonlinear response and to analyzing power supply voltage sag as it reacts over time. This expanded, second edition includes an enlarged, fold-out schematic of the Bassman and a new chapter on the Marshall JTM45, which is almost a direct copy of the 5F6-A. The Bassman 5F6A circuit has inspired guitar amplifier designs for over four decades, so sharpen your pencil, fire up your calculator, and find out what makes this amp rock!
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Why would a member of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, an organization dedicated to advancing the state of the art in electronics, write an entire book about the design of a vacuum tube amplifier manufactured more than four decades ago? Even back in 1959, the Bassman's innovation must have paled in comparison with the technological leaps being made by space-age transistor circuits.
To understand the motivation behind the book you need to understand what the tweed Bassman means to guitar players. To generations of professional musicians the Bassman's mix of harmonic overtones is the holy grail of tone, the perfect balance between clean reproduction and distortion-driven tonal ecstasy.
Its place in history is ironic, because the 5F6A wasn't even designed for the guitar - as its name implies it was intended to be a bass amplifier. Yet today more than ever the amp's sound hits the mark with guitar players the world over. More than forty years after the original 5F6A ceased production many of the best guitar amps, Marshalls in particular, are still based on its long-tailed-pair, negative feedback circuit design. It is to this lasting legacy that the book pays tribute.
The book has a 7-inch by 9-inch paperback format with a 1.7 mil laminated cover. It includes a bound, 18-inch by 9-inch Z-folded insert with the complete 5F6A schematic and the original manufacturer's voltage measurements.
From the Author
This expanded, second edition introduces some new topics. Complete headroom analysis is performed, both for the individual stages and for the system as a whole, for the purpose of determining where distortion is likely to break out first depending on the control settings. The Marshall JTM45, which is almost a direct copy of the 5F6-A, is also analyzed to compare its significant differences, most notably the substitution of a 12AX7 in the first preamp, an additional bypass capacitor in the bright channel for the lead model, and triple the negative feedback voltage to the phase splitter.
This edition also takes a completely different approach to estimating the supply voltage sag at maximum power. As was noted in the first edition, the ultimate supply voltages reached are very sensitive to slight changes in the signal level and a number of approximations have to be made to keep the problem complexity in check, so even in this edition the supply voltage sag is more or less a ballpark estimate for what is encountered in practice. It is important to address this subject, however, because the sag that is induced by the vacuum tube rectifier and class AB output stage is an essential element of the Bassman's legendary sound. The new methods introduced here are both simpler and more accurate than what was used in the previous edition.
My thanks to the risk-takers who bought the first edition, gave me highly valuable feedback, and encouraged me to continue this work. My thanks also to Fender Musical Instruments Corporation for giving me permission to include their annotated schematic. The Bassman's classic design may not represent new technology, but to generations of performers and music lovers alike it is difficult to find a more magical ensemble of electronic components or a longer-enduring legacy than the 5F6-A.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding!,
By Jojobone (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Circuit Analysis of a Legendary Tube Amplifier: The Fender Bassman 5F6-A, Second Edition (Paperback)
This is a book for anyone serious about circuit analysis.
Why is this book important? The 5F6-A circuit is important pedigree of most great tube amps. The techniques (if not the direct analytic results and conclusions) can be applied to almost any guitar tube amp design. If you are serious about designing or building guitar amps then you need to get this book, you won't be disappointed. Important in Kuehnel's approach "understanding" not just cold analytic analysis (although that is there as well, and it is superb). In most cases he presents and analyzes a simplified equivalent circuits to provide insight and intuitive understanding, then he follows with a complete soup-to-nuts analysis. Each stage of the 5F6-A circuit is rigorously considered as a separate subsystem and the results are eventually integrated and summarized. This allows one to skip around and explore the book in the order of topics that interest them. As engineering books go this one is very readable, but it might be difficult for anyone that does not have formal training in electrical engineering (or the like) or is not otherwise a serious student of analytic techniques.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just about covers it.....,
By
This review is from: Circuit Analysis of a Legendary Tube Amplifier: The Fender Bassman 5F6-A, Second Edition (Paperback)
The Bassman amplifier produces one of the most revered and sought-after guitar sounds in modern musical history. This book delves into good detail explaining many of the subleties of the operation of this circuit. For small-signal analysis, you will not find much missing here. My only gripe is that it's a bit vague on non-linear operation, allowing that there is some good detail on power supply sag effects and power-amp non-linearity. I'd like to see more on distortion in all stages under overdrive conditions (e.g., positive grid bias), specifics on output transformer effects at various drive levels, and analysis of speaker breakup. After all, much of the Bassman's magic occurs when it's pushed, and there is only an appetizer's worth of detail addressing that. Otherwise, a must-own book for anyone interested in the clever design decisions - and happy design accidents - that make this amplifier the launching pad for zillions of "classic amps" to follow.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Super book,
By Tone techy (Council Bluffs,Ia USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Circuit Analysis of a Legendary Tube Amplifier: The Fender Bassman 5F6-A, Second Edition (Paperback)
This book deals in facts, just the facts,ma'am. That said, the book gives a very insightful circuit analysis of this legendary amplifier from Leo's venerable stable of amplifiers. It also has a section of the book devoted to the most famous Bassman clone from across the Pond and illustrates similarities and differences.All in all a great starting point for anyone interested in designing an amplifier or someone who wants to get a better understanding of how circuit analysis can be applied to any vacuum tube amplifier. Very good book, many useful formulas, but if math frightened you as a child this may cause nightmares! Definitely aimed at technical people, engineers primarily and not the average weekend warrior guitarslinger who is not up on electronics.Definitely not beyond the average person's comprehension by any means, but probably a little better understanding of electronics would make it a more valuable resource as well as easier to read. All in all a very good book to read and study-highly recommended !
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