Free Book(PDF) on Solid State Guitar Amplifiers
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:19 pm
This is a new book(2008) 419 page book in PDF formatSolid State Guitar Amplifiers by Teemu Kyttala with loads of info on this sparsly covered subject.
Excerpt from the introduction:
"While there is plenty of material written about tube amplifier design solid-state
amplifiers are mostly left ignored. The case is even worse when it comes to solid-state
guitar amplifiers. Fortunately, solid-state and tube amplifier circuits share a lot of
similarities. The theory is – for the most part – interchangeable. However, many
principles used in designing tube amplifiers will not work with transistor circuitry and
if they do, they might provide unsatisfactory results. Claims that a solid-state amplifier
cannot sound as good as a tube amplifier is utterly untrue and mostly heard from the
mouths of three kinds of people: 1) people that have very little or no knowledge about
electronics, 2) tube snobs who persistently claim that all transistor amplifiers must
sound bad, yet would stick a Fuzz Face (or similar) in front of their tube amplifier
without even blinking an eye and 3) experts of tube amplifier circuitry that
unfortunately possess a limited knowledge about solid-state design. While someone
might master tube technology, the truth is that tube- and solid-state circuitry differ a
lot from each other. One should not unreservedly believe statements about transistor
circuitry presented by a tube expert – as one should not unreservedly believe
statements about tube circuitry presented by a solid-state circuitry expert either.
Though the knowledge about both technologies should go hand-in-hand, too often it
doesn’t. Very regrettable thing is that a great deal of highly talented tube guitar
amplifier experts deliberately avoid educating themselves about solid-state as they see
it as an inferior technology."
Excerpt from the introduction:
"While there is plenty of material written about tube amplifier design solid-state
amplifiers are mostly left ignored. The case is even worse when it comes to solid-state
guitar amplifiers. Fortunately, solid-state and tube amplifier circuits share a lot of
similarities. The theory is – for the most part – interchangeable. However, many
principles used in designing tube amplifiers will not work with transistor circuitry and
if they do, they might provide unsatisfactory results. Claims that a solid-state amplifier
cannot sound as good as a tube amplifier is utterly untrue and mostly heard from the
mouths of three kinds of people: 1) people that have very little or no knowledge about
electronics, 2) tube snobs who persistently claim that all transistor amplifiers must
sound bad, yet would stick a Fuzz Face (or similar) in front of their tube amplifier
without even blinking an eye and 3) experts of tube amplifier circuitry that
unfortunately possess a limited knowledge about solid-state design. While someone
might master tube technology, the truth is that tube- and solid-state circuitry differ a
lot from each other. One should not unreservedly believe statements about transistor
circuitry presented by a tube expert – as one should not unreservedly believe
statements about tube circuitry presented by a solid-state circuitry expert either.
Though the knowledge about both technologies should go hand-in-hand, too often it
doesn’t. Very regrettable thing is that a great deal of highly talented tube guitar
amplifier experts deliberately avoid educating themselves about solid-state as they see
it as an inferior technology."
