Suggestions for a beginner's book on valves

As the title says, I would like to learn a little more about the use of valves in audio amplifiers, with some clear explanation of how they work and why they work. I have a fair understanding of SS and ccts, enough to scrap by I would say, however the world of valves eludes me.

I would like a book I can dip in and out of, but suggestions for web sites or YouTube stuff welcome as well.

Ta.

 

‘Valve Amplifiers’ by Morgan Jones. Got a copy I can lend you if you fancy it.

 

That would be great, thank you

 

Would you like a copy of my book “Why Radford MA15s Are Inherently Very Bad And Should Be Given Away Immediately, Preferably To Me”? I can write it right now if you would.

 

Lol

The best laugh I've had today.

Man, you need a pair of MA15s, just not mine!

 

Coming soon “Quad IIs: The Evil Within”.

 

You could try this:
https://education.lenardaudio.com

 

There's a companion 50s Killer B+ movie - The Revenge of DTN Williamson.

 

Surely working with HT is 'revenge' enough...

 

not a book, but could be useful

https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...&ved=0ahUKEwiays25oOT5AhUNEcAKHerNBZsQ9pwGCAU

 

Basic Electronics (Vols 1 -5) can be down loaded from here: https://archive.org/details/BasicElectronicsVolumes151955/mode/2up It's old fashioned and covers way more than valves (tubes) but does give easy understanding.
For a very quick read try : https://vacuumtubes.net/How_Vacuum_Tubes_Work.htm

 

https://audioxpress.com/article/the-internal-life-of-vacuum-tubes

http://www.jacmusic.com/techcorner/ARTICLES/English/Portraits/5963/index-5963-portrait.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vacuum_tubes

http://www.tube-classics.de/TC/Tubes/Characteristics/GetterTypes.htm

http://www.affordablevalvecompany.com/index.html

https://www.audioasylum.com/audio/faq/joes-tubes.html

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/bias.html

https://www.guitarlodge.co.uk/product-category/power-valves/

https://www.karltone.co.uk/power-amp-10-c.asp

Search - valve amps / valves and you'll find a wealth of free books, pamphlets, PDFs etc, online, free.

PS... some of these may only be shops, I just took some samples from my Bookmarks...

 

lol...very funny, I'm super cautious around electricity, two of my index fingers and two of my thumbs still have the scars of grasping live and neutral of the mains between my left and right hands over 45 years ago; I could never be a criminal the police would spot my fingerprints on the first look. Remember, never let your ten year old son wire the Christmas tree lights on their own

 

I'm working my way through this one slowly. I found the myths section really informative, and should be referenced in all cable threads

 

I found this youTube channel, whilst I don't always agree with his method of fixing stuff (though as he says the fix works and when an amp is worth £300 he can't charge £350 to fix it, so he takes commercial shortcuts). However, I have learnt a lot about valve amps faults and how to fix them. I like that fact that it is not edited to "found fault, fix fault", he goes down plenty of blind alleys that every person does when trying to diagnose a fault. And no ads, he doesn't monetarise his channel at all.



And this US bloke, who's knowledge of old TVs, radios and electronics in general is huge. He doesn't like to see stuff go to land fill, though he does have choice words for 1960/1970s/1980s US TV cabinets. Again, very practical videos, lots of insight, with plenty of comedic moments.



He also has a separate channel about exploring abandoned mines, again I find them fascinating.

 

This is a good one.

Merlin Blencowe

Designing High-Fidelity Tube Preamplifiers

 

^ that's an excellent book, great companion to the Morgan Jones recommendation.

For video - Mr Carlson's Lab on youtube. He does long-format videos on repair of instrumentation and amplifiers, much of it valve, because his primary interest is RF. But his presentation is uniformly excellent, as is his commentary. So many oscilloscopes...

 

Mr Carlsons Lab is very good shout,
I do like Uncle Dougs channel its also a goldmine very well presented Valve based content.
He has a secret weapon though, his dog knows bad capacitors!!

https://www.youtube.com/c/MrCarlsonsLab
https://www.youtube.com/c/UncleDoug

 

Lots of suggestions, thank you.

I do watch Uncle Doug too, just to watch his dog spotting bad caps and his cats eating all those fishy treats.

 

Blueglow electronics on youtube is a great channel to learn from.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo7DGF0CxJGlAAJUSTr4wC2gS4RN2ZzD8

Please take some time before you start to understand the dangers of getting shocked by DC at high voltage. And how to make sure it doesn't happen.