Customer Reviews

The Tube Amp Book - Deluxe Revised Edition Book and Disk Package (Hardcover)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been fooling with tube guitar amps for decades. I more or less know what I am doing with them, and I've found most of the information that I want on line. But I thought it would be nice to have a book or two to consult when my wife or daughter was at the computer, when I was tinkering with an amp, or when I just didn't feel like sitting at a desk and looking at screen. Based on its appearance and description, I chose this book. Bad decision.

This book insulted me. I felt used and abused by the author, and that has perhaps tainted this review. I expected a comprehensive and useful guide. That is what this book should have been and what the format and price -and the use of "THE" in the title -- seemed to promise. Instead, I dropped $33 on a big, glossy advertisement for the author's "Groove Tube" tube-selling operation and, by extension, the manufacturers who buy tubes from him.

To make a happy customer, promise less and deliver more. This book went the other way.

Yes, some of the content is useful and interesting, written passages as well as photos. But the section describing amp brands and histories is rendered woefully incomplete as the author veers and swerves through it to make opportunities to refer to himself and his tubes and pimp for the manufacturers that buy from him. (Be wary of authors who never miss opportunities to tell you how important and knowledgeable they are. Quality of content should speak for itself.) Redundancies abound, further wasting the reader's time and valuable space that could have been used to at least mention other manufacturers or give some details about those that deserved more than a paragraph or two. But then, perhaps those manufacturers will yield to the pressure, become Groove Tube customers, and thus buy space in the next edition.

The technical section lacks depth and development, apparently a patchwork of reprinted magazine articles, disconnected one to the next, but with more shameless plugs for Groove Tubes inserted here and there. Many of the articles are reasonably well written and helpful in themselves and would be perhaps be a pleasure to find in a magazine. But overall, the technical section is less coherent and developed than one would expect in the sort of publication that this presents itself to be. Again, the book seems to promise more but delivers less.

Others have commented on many the schematics being illegible or inaccurate.

Perhaps the greatest disappointment is the section comparing tube types. Only tubes marketed by Groove Tubes are included, and they are all, of course, listed by their Groove Tube catalog name and are all shown photographed with the big GT logo prominently displayed. If you are looking for descriptions or comparisons of raved-about tubes by Tung-Sol or Svetlana or the like, you can do much better on the Internet, thank you. You won't find them here.

The book has its good points. It is big. It is glossy. The spiral binding is user-friendly. You will get some insights into the hows and whys of tube amp history and evolution - but then, the book is not unique in that. It has lots of great photos - but even here there are annoying redundancies and omissions: some things described in a way that makes them intriguing are not depicted while other things are shown again and again. Did I mention redundancies?

This book might be a good addition to the library of someone who already has lots of books about tube amps and has room on the shelves for more. But if you are looking for just one or two more or less comprehensive books on the subject, look elsewhere.

I was not happy with my purchase and returned the book.

Aspen Pittman, whom I have met and talked to at several industry conventions such as NAMM and AES, is not a highly technical individual: in fact I doubt he even understands basic electronics. His book is therefore a compilation of a lot of schematics and (on Fenders) parts layouts for guitar amplifiers, and a few articles written by various tech writers, some of which are of merit and some of which aren't.

The schematics are not very legible and many contain known errors. For this price, he could at least get that part right. I don't recommend this book unless you cannot find a needed schematic or layout anywhere else.

I am building a 50 watt tube amp based off of Marshall & Fender designs; somewhat of a hybrid. I bought this for the schematics and such. The book is more of a history of tube amps, info on the parts/tubes & schematics, but it is not a DIY book. If you do not know what you are doing and you want to build your own amp, this book will not be a help. If you already know how to build one and need schematics and would also like to know the history of amps and the parts, this is good book for that. Also as stated in previous reviews, the schematics can be very hard to read, some are handwritten or bad copies, but with some work, can be read.

I just buyed this "1st Ed2004, Deluxe Revisited".
_ CD: contains upto 800 schematics ! (Many fenders & Gibson Guitar and others Amps, some few(less) HiFi+ types like MacIntosh. Fortunately, I can read the components value here, but are the schematics corrects ? Seems too much items to be verified, like internet. I would prefer less schematic, but more commented: it is not the topic of this book.
But very useful for R&D inspiration, and tubeStages Topology information, not to DIY. (Also, no Maths nor Electronic Amp Design here)

_ Book: Big & impressive, quite easy to read with the "spiral" ! Also, same remarks concerninig the printed Schematics & informative HandWiring layout.
Also, concise main Amps "manufacturers+models" history, tubes models (very few only !), tubes data sheets (also few !). Very interesting summary of Amps features (wood, cabinet, HPs, Transfo), Tech+modifications, bias & advices.

As someone said, if it is your first book, avoid it: you will be "confused", because it is very large (but with some omission) mix of Amp & Tube history+models (GT+ !), Amp technology & Mods etc..
Me too, I think this book is good for information's complement of some others 2 or 3 more "focused topics" books.

We at Gabriel Sound in NJ use it every day for repairs and other info. well worth the price for a tech or an arm chair lead Guitarist. The Tube Amp Book - Deluxe Revised Edition Book and Disk Package (Hardcover)

I was looking for a good starter/primer on tube amps, and this book serves that purpose. It is, however, a running advertisement for Groove Tubes, which in itself, is not a bad thing, but can be a bit distracting or annoying at times. The author also points out the book's editorial shortcomings. I don't see why grammatical errors, for example, should not be corrected in revision rather than acknowledged. They do distract the flow of reading, and the contributions in this book (many excerpted from magazine articles) come from amp guys, not English majors, so flow can be a challenge at times regardless.

The book centers on descriptions of tube amp brands and famous models, giving greater detail on Fender, Marshall, and Vox than the rest. It also imparts some good information on basic signal flow, and gives a few tips on repair and nomenclature, though it is not, and I don't think is intended to be, a repair guide.

Overall, a decent book, a good starting point, and a worthwhile purchase.

This book is a good way to learn about tube amplifiers and manufacturers like Fender, VOX, Marshall, Peavey, Rivera, and many more. There are also schematics and articles on repair. You also learn about different types of tubes and how they are different. Highly Recommended.

The founder of Groove Tubes presents an 'updated" Deluxe Revised Edition of material he has developed over many years. 56 in depth amp company profiles with extensive color photos, tube and circuit technical sections, a printed section of many popular tube amp schematics and tube charts, and a CD with 800 total amp schematics in PDF. Great for technical and non-technical readers alike. Should be in the library of every electric guitarist who favors a tube amp. (Don't we all?)

This book has to be on the bookshelf of every electric guitarist. But I am sitll giving it only 3 stars because the title of the book is VERY MISLEADING. This book is not about "tube amps" it is about tube "guitar" amps. For anyone looking for historical, pictorial collection type of book about guitar amps then this is it. I liked the technical section of this book where the author talks about popular tube types used in GAs and there are also tube characteristics and curves! Also schematics which may or may not be useful to anyone.
So if you think this book is about "tube amps" and will teach you tube theory and even how to build one then you will be thouroughly disappointed - like me.

I orderd this book because I had no idea about tube amps. I became interested because I recently purchased a Blues Jnr 15W amp. Every thing about this book is quality. If there is a downside, it's the use of rings for binding, which means care has to be taken when turning the pages. The info in this book is amazing, if not a little bit overwhelming for a newbie. I'm sure that with time I will understand the majority of the technical stuff. I can't say if there are any "bad" technical articles, because I have no knowledge at all at this time. The History section is both fascinating, well written and set out with many quality photo's. The text draws from the authors personal experiences and knowledge. He seems to know his stuff. Although not exhaustive, it seems to be a well rounded history of amp manufactures. The circut diagrams are fascinating, if not overwhelming for there number. The supplied disk has 801 diagrams, with 330 odd reproduced in the book itself. They seem to be fairly reasonable quality, but some are hard to read. The magnifing function of adobe acrobat can be used to overcome this (at least for the diagrams I looked at). I was after a book on guitar tube amps that was not to specific or specialised. This book seems to cover just about every base (including maintanence tips). Absolutely facinating book. Highly recomended!