Last week I joined two forums that concern DIY audio. I became a CONTRIBUTING member of both right from the start. I had never belonged to ANY forum before, so I tried to be careful as I made my first post on that other forum, not to do anything that might upset anybody. I believe in being courteous. My younger brother who has a lot of "social media" experience(I have none) told me that I might be disappointed at the results I would get, the experience I might have, but I decided to give it a try anyway. I was excited when my first post on the other forum got a number of replies and I hurried to read them. I quickly found exactly what my brother had referred to as I received not ONE suggestion to my query, but instead half a dozen complaints about how I composed my post. I had forgotten that the world is full of people who have nothing better to do than spend their time trolling the world, looking for others to vent their petty and negative attitudes on. I have now BLOWN OFF that other forum and blocked any further contact by their members as I have no time for those who waste MY time. I will try HERE in the hopes that this forum is not populated by people of that ILK.
I would like advice concerning good sources of schematics for the vacuum tube equipment, especially amplifiers of all types, that I am working on as a retirement hobby/sideline. I have been doing some modification work with vintage/old Hi-Fi, organ, and even Ham radio amplifier equipment attempting to turn them into guitar and bass amplifiers. I am tired of YouTube videos that only sometimes deliver usable results as a "go to" source of information and haven't had much luck finding schematics, for much of the "stuff" that I buy on ebay and other places to work on. I have not tried paying for schematics on those places that offer them for a fee YET, as they usually involve downloading some browser extension that I am just not sure about. However, I am not against trying that IF somebody here can recommend one that is legit with a good selection. I HAVE tried a few free aquisition sites but have been rather disappointed, with perhaps a 30% success rate. Before anybody suggests that I really shouldn't need one to work on any of the "should be familiar" circuits, like the famous Williamson or Dynaco circuits.....please don't! I have not yet educated myself on those circuits that ARE famous or should be familiar. I have work to do before I DIE, and must learn these things "on the fly". I AM reading/studying about these topics as I have time for. I purchased the Radiotron's Designer Handbook 4th. edition, the RCA Receiving Tube Manual, The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill, and about $1,000 worth of other textbooks and reference books to read in my "spare time" so I am not neglecting my education while looking for an easy way out.
SO, if anybody can help me out with suggestions about schematics, I would really appreciate it and I may post further here. Perhaps I can even help somebody here with some useful information, but I wouldn't hold my breath there. My background is in avionics not audio. I am a musician who has tinkered with the equipment I have played and loved since the late '70's and am intent on doing more with it. However, I won't spend one minutes time on those who HAVE the time to complain in type over things that just shouldn't mean a "darned"! I payed right up front for USEFUL interaction here, but I will BLOCK this forum just like the other one, and write off my cash before taking a beating over what I ask for, or my "bad grammar" for that matter. Oh, I am NOT thin skinned either. I just have no tolerance for the ridiculous. Thanks for any HELPFUL replies, dimwitt...I mean watt.
I would like advice concerning good sources of schematics for the vacuum tube equipment, especially amplifiers of all types, that I am working on as a retirement hobby/sideline. I have been doing some modification work with vintage/old Hi-Fi, organ, and even Ham radio amplifier equipment attempting to turn them into guitar and bass amplifiers. I am tired of YouTube videos that only sometimes deliver usable results as a "go to" source of information and haven't had much luck finding schematics, for much of the "stuff" that I buy on ebay and other places to work on. I have not tried paying for schematics on those places that offer them for a fee YET, as they usually involve downloading some browser extension that I am just not sure about. However, I am not against trying that IF somebody here can recommend one that is legit with a good selection. I HAVE tried a few free aquisition sites but have been rather disappointed, with perhaps a 30% success rate. Before anybody suggests that I really shouldn't need one to work on any of the "should be familiar" circuits, like the famous Williamson or Dynaco circuits.....please don't! I have not yet educated myself on those circuits that ARE famous or should be familiar. I have work to do before I DIE, and must learn these things "on the fly". I AM reading/studying about these topics as I have time for. I purchased the Radiotron's Designer Handbook 4th. edition, the RCA Receiving Tube Manual, The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill, and about $1,000 worth of other textbooks and reference books to read in my "spare time" so I am not neglecting my education while looking for an easy way out.
SO, if anybody can help me out with suggestions about schematics, I would really appreciate it and I may post further here. Perhaps I can even help somebody here with some useful information, but I wouldn't hold my breath there. My background is in avionics not audio. I am a musician who has tinkered with the equipment I have played and loved since the late '70's and am intent on doing more with it. However, I won't spend one minutes time on those who HAVE the time to complain in type over things that just shouldn't mean a "darned"! I payed right up front for USEFUL interaction here, but I will BLOCK this forum just like the other one, and write off my cash before taking a beating over what I ask for, or my "bad grammar" for that matter. Oh, I am NOT thin skinned either. I just have no tolerance for the ridiculous. Thanks for any HELPFUL replies, dimwitt...I mean watt.
Here is a site that might get you started. It has projects of all types, not just vacuum tube designs, but there are plenty of tube projects complete with schematics.
https://diyaudioprojects.com/
https://diyaudioprojects.com/
I know what you mean. We'll try to keep that from happening here.
Here are plenty of classic ebooks from the tube era. http://www.tubebooks.org/
Lots of schematics, and the background information to understand them, too.
Don't miss the number of great books by Norman Crowhurst included there.
And the related http://www.pmillett.com/ is also excellent.
As is this comprehensive but work in progress site: https://pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/Lit_Archive.html
Here are plenty of classic ebooks from the tube era. http://www.tubebooks.org/
Lots of schematics, and the background information to understand them, too.
Don't miss the number of great books by Norman Crowhurst included there.
And the related http://www.pmillett.com/ is also excellent.
As is this comprehensive but work in progress site: https://pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/Lit_Archive.html
Thanks Ray. It looks like a good site and I WILL check it out thoroughly. I had not stumbled onto this one yet and it looks quite interesting. I appreciate the "input"!
Thanks rayma. That site looks interesting as well, and I'll check it out completely. I have already received much better results here!
https://keith-snook.info/index.html Keith is mainly Leak and Quad but he has a lot of information about amplifiers and well worth look.
This is the premier source of pre-WWII general tube circuit information, for historical interest.
It includes the famous Volume 18, Vacuum Tube Amplifiers by Valley and Wallman.
https://www.febo.com/pages/docs/RadLab/
It includes the famous Volume 18, Vacuum Tube Amplifiers by Valley and Wallman.
https://www.febo.com/pages/docs/RadLab/
Thanks, totally analogue. I will check out that site! I like your moniker and sympathize with the sentiment. I too am an analogue guy at heart as well. Anything tube interests me greatly and I keep sites like the one you suggested in my "analogue" notebook of things worth my time!
Thanks rayma., Boy, that one looks to be something I could spend a lot of time checking out. That is not to say that I would get it al in one setting! It never ceases to amaze me how those old timers were so advanced when the vacuum tube was still such a new technology and the electron had only been known for a short time as history goes.
I have some schematic sources on my site: https://www.audiophool.com/Finding Manuals and Schematics.html
On this site, there's something along the lines of "A treasure trove of Japanese amplifier schematics". Unfortunately, even after a brief keyword search, I couldnt find the link.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/gold-mine-of-di-audio-tubes-schematics-from-japan.311212
Looks like Google's SE is a little bit better...gold mine / treasure trove...
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/gold-mine-of-di-audio-tubes-schematics-from-japan.311212
Looks like Google's SE is a little bit better...gold mine / treasure trove...
That's the publication of a crash federally funded research lab set up to help win WWII.
Our top scientists developed all sorts of new stuff there, like radar, microwaves, etc.
Thanks Tom Bavis. I will check your site out. I sometimes have trouble with Google security crap and have to disable some things to get somewhere. I dont know why his happens and it is a pain in the butt...but I'll get there cand I thank you!
That said, I'll say "it matters". Like how you compose your solder joints matters, the quality of which is what lets the electrons pass through in a consistent way. Believe it or not, I actually make a little effort in composing what I write for the sole benefit of the someone who's going to read it. It's like my solder joints; mostly shiny and trim, but a crusty one here and there, when I'm careless.
We had a fellow here, who's posts fairly consistently dripped "curmudgeon". I didnt seem to mind, probably because I'm a bit of one myself; I just try not to let it leak out in my writings so obviously. Others were more stirred by that style. I kinda miss the fellow, as I did learn something and found their posts entertaining on some level of relating to. Others I imagine it was more of a good riddance...
Since you're a musician with over 50 years experience, perhaps you'll find our "Instruments and Amps" sub a good place where you can talk about what you've done with that stuff. Who knows - perhaps someone will appreciate the stereo Leslie patch you did in '75 with two Fender Bassman heads and a Countryman phase shifter.
Welcome and good luck!
Thanks mbrennwa. That looks like a fine place to check out and I sure will. I want to thank EVERYBODY who has so graciously replied to my post here and made me feel very welcome on this forum. I think I have found a home here, unlike the last place I tried out. I hope that I will be able to help somebody here asap like you ALL have helped me!
jjasniew. Nicely stated and taken well. However, back in the day I wouldn't have known squat about a Leslie patch nor did I EVER use a phase shifter. I also wouldn't have had the money to buy two Bassman heads even back then. I was doing well to crank my '65 Princeton with nothing but with a Les Paul Junior and some no name boost pedal down at the local dive with the rest of the Bluetones, if you can believe that. The only reason I had the Princeton was because I couldn't afford one of the AC 30's I drove into the big city to buy and shelled out $50 for the Fender that would only hum. It turned out to have a bad ground to the chassis that made contact when I prodded it, so I reflowed it with a big plumber's iron and had what would now be a $5,000+ amp. My ex threw it in a dumpster during our divorce proceedings. I don't think a phase shifter would have appealed to me even during my acid dropping days. Thanks for the reply and I don't think you are a curmudgeon at all!
I too am a musician since '64, with 27 years of avionics background.
My humble opinion, no offense intended:
Tube gear is fairly easy to draw schematics from. I find 2 to 4 hours with a good light, an RCA tube manual, and an ohmeter is sufficient for an initial draft. I've done it a few times - once a 1965 Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp (this was well before the internet), and once for a 1959 Gates Level Devil (mono broadcast compressor/expander). It's more productive, for me, to draw up one from chassis wiring or a PCB than to kill frustrating hours searching the web.
It's a far different story for stuff with multilayer PCBs (more than 4), and for gear with CPLDs, FPGAs, ASICs and the like. That stuff lands somewhere between hugely difficult and impossible.
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Oh jjasniew, I will definitely check out the instruments and amps section of the forum, but being as how I am attempting to take old Hi-Fi equipment, modify it, and hopefully transform some of it into affordable blues machines I thought to get some advice here, and have ! I have found that there is a better selection of affordable platforms available on places like ebay that are Hi-Fi related than the typical guitar and bass amps sold their. It seems that people believe names like Fender, Marshall, and Vox ALWAYS command a small fortune no matter what kind of shape they are in or even what crappy models they are. However, there are many nice Hi-Fi amps besides Dynaco that are not commanding such exorbitant prices worth fixing up and modifying. I just bought three Harmon Kardon amps, two of which are operational, one for parts and all the same model(Prelude PC-200) for $200 with free shipping. The tubes could be sold right back on ebay for almost that. A beat to Hell Fender Blues Junior goes for twice that there and I wouldn't give $50 for it. The cost to modify a Hi-Fi amp varies considerably, but the satisfaction in modding one into a good, bluesy amp that I can build a nice exotic hardwood cab for is hard to beat, plus I can get about double what I put into it.