Just how do tube amps work, anyway?

[Koreth]

Having heard that tube amps sound better than solid state ones, being the nerd I am, I've been searching the interwebz for the how and why of it. While I've been learning quite a bit I still got many questions I've not been able to find the answers to with Google. I've read up on how a vacuum tube works, and I think I understand the basics there. I understand that the signal enters the preamp, which makes guitar's weak signal strong enough to be amplified by the power section, which drives the speakers. Okay, so far, so good.

But here on the forums and on other places on the Internets, I hear about input and output transformers and rectifiers and pots and the like. By themselves I know what these devices do (transformer changes an AC voltage to a higher or lower one, rectifier changes AC to DC), but I don't understand what roles they are supposed to play in an amplifier beyond that. I've tried looking at diagrams of amplifier circuits, but I've never studied electronics, and have at best a tenuous grasp of Ohm's law. Thus about the most I can do with these diagrams is go, "Okay, that's a triode, that's a tetrode, there's a resistor, there's a capacitor, that's a transformer. Huh. I have no idea what all this means or what it does."

Is there perhaps some website with a good explanation and pictures that explains all this that somewhere that I can read or something?

 

[tobytheplatypus]

magic
possibly elven
handed down from the gods to Randall Smith and Mike Bendinelli

 

[RR]

Have you read Aiken Technical Page?

If you want to learn more than what you have read on-line, you might as well invest in Aspen Tube Books or Gerald Weber Books and DVDs

I'm not sure your intention what you want to get out learning about tubes amplifier like do you want to design or modify tube guitar amps or you want to learn why tubes sound different than solid state.

I dabble in guitar tube amps. I some electronic background. But I'm not very experience in this department compared many members here. But I could careless why tube sound different than solid state. My ears tell me I prefer tubes.

Someone is going to mentioned modeling amplification. In a live situation, so long I am playing the guitar and modeling amp is being compared to the classic amp it suppose to sound like say a Black Face Fender Deluxe and both and its a blind folded test 10 out 10 I'll point out the BF Fender Deluxe unless someone set it to a crappy setting and plays it through some crappy hi fi speakers.

 

[disassembled]

Sometimes the best way is to experiment yourself. Maybe building an amplifier or modifying a cheapie amp (Epi Valve Jr Head comes to mind) to get a better understanding of what it all does and how everything interacts.

Greg

 

[phyrexia]

I bought "The Guitar Amp Handbook" by Dave Hunter and it's awesome. Great book. First thing it does is walk you through a Tweed Princeton.

 

[stokes]

magic
possibly elven
handed down from the gods to Randall Smith and Mike Bendinelli

Nah,handed down from Leo Fender to those guys and others.Get the Jack Darr Book at this link- www.pacificrecone.com/JackDarrBook.html probably the best book ever written on basic tube amp circuits.