[Ian Bell[_2_]]

Although RDH4 is the 'bible' for tube designers I am always on the lookout for good tube books and I
found one a few weeks ago. It is 'Thermionic Valve Circuits' 4th edition by Emyrs Williams from
1961. Though by no means as detailed as RDH4 the writer has a knack of explaining things in a way I
can grasp that RDH4 lacks. Plenty of good stuff on tube fundamentals, af amplifiers, NFb and power
supplies.

Cheers

Ian

[Patrick Turner]

On Sep 28, 7:27*pm, Ian Bell wrote:
Although RDH4 is the 'bible' for tube designers I am always on the lookout for good tube books and I
found one a few weeks ago. It is 'Thermionic Valve Circuits' 4th edition by Emyrs Williams from
1961. Though by no means as detailed as RDH4 the writer has a knack of explaining things in a way I
can grasp that RDH4 lacks. Plenty of good stuff on tube fundamentals, af amplifiers, NFb and power
supplies.

Cheers

Ian

When I became serious about tube amp design after 1993 I trawled
around the second hand book stores to find **ANYTHING** on electronics
written before 1965. What one book didn't explain well, another one
did, and I agree RDH4 cannot be everything for everyone, but its VERY
good. I could not help building my own test gear and chose some SS and
opamps for much of it and so I bought a pile of post 1960 books as
well as the earlier stuff.
At that time, being without any books would have kept me utterly
ignorant and unable to answer the 1,001 questions I asked each day
about what I was farnakling about with in my shed. There was nobody
else I could ask. I didn't go online until 2000.

Now all the good old books which old engineers gave to bookstores have
all dissappeared since the stores realised their worth as
collectables, and most got shipped out to buyers OS.

Now the second hand bookstores have almost nothing worth buying.

Some ppl are asking, "****, WTF is a book?"

Patrick Turner.

[Andre Jute[_2_]]

On Sep 28, 10:27*am, Ian Bell wrote:
Although RDH4 is the 'bible' for tube designers I am always on the lookout for good tube books and I
found one a few weeks ago. It is 'Thermionic Valve Circuits' 4th edition by Emyrs Williams from
1961. Though by no means as detailed as RDH4 the writer has a knack of explaining things in a way I
can grasp that RDH4 lacks. Plenty of good stuff on tube fundamentals, af amplifiers, NFb and power
supplies.

Cheers

Ian

There are only two books I've ever run across that deserve to stand
with the RDH:

MIT Radiation Laboratory Series, Volume 18, Vacuum Tube Amplifiers,
Valley & Wallman (editors), Boston Technical Publishers, Inc, 1964
(probably various earlier editions too). But I doubt it is quite what
you want as it is at a much higher level than the RDH. It does however
have everything RDH doesn't have, including bootstrap circuits, though
it doesn't call them that. This is a compendium of the knowledge
developed in the wartime pressure cooker, and I've never met anyone
who knew what it is to speak of Valley and Wallman with less than awe;
it may be difficult but it is truly very rewarding. As an example, my
work on the impedance of SRPP combinations with dissimilar valves or
tail resistors was referenced to inspiration I found in Valley and
Wallman.

Audio Systems by Julian L Bernstein, Wiley, NY 1966. He was the
Associate Dean of the RCA Institutes, where the apprentices and
engineers were trained, and it shows in the part of the book dealing
with amplifiers (the entire system is dealt with, including the most
comprehensive account of impedance matching for studio work I know
of). A stunningly thorough book. That comprehensive audio transfer
function formula I published a few years ago was inspired by
Bernstein's clear account of what happens to the signal inside an
amplifier.

With the RDH, Valley & Wallman, and Bernstein, on your bookshelf,
there is nothing in valve amplifiers that you cannot build or work out
by applying a modicum of intelligence.

At a more easily comprehensible level than either of the above, I've
heard Tremayne's Audio Encyclopedia well spoken of, though I don't
have a copy.

I should also say that when I started out in tube DIY twenty years
ago, I found Norman Crowhurst invaluable, though he is a bit of a
variable quantity; you have to hunt out the key foundation articles
and ignore the doclat-filler.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/
"wonderfully well written and reasoned information for the tube audio
constructor"
John Broskie TubeCAD & GlassWare
"an unbelievably comprehensive web site containing vital gems of
wisdom"
Stuart Perry Hi-Fi News & Record Review

[Bret L]

I became serious about tube amp design after 1993 I trawled
around the second hand book stores to find **ANYTHING** on electronics
written before 1965. What one book didn't explain well, another one
did, and I agree RDH4 cannot be everything for everyone, but its VERY
good. I could not help building my own test gear and chose some SS and
opamps for much of it and so I bought a pile of post 1960 books as
well as the earlier stuff.
At that time, being without any books would have kept me utterly
ignorant and unable to answer the 1,001 questions I asked each day
about what I was farnakling about with in my shed. There was nobody
else I could ask. I didn't go online until 2000.

RDH 4 is a good resource but I don't push it until earlier, simpler
books are read and understood. Actually one of the best resources are
the old ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbooks from the tube era. Remember,
every AM transmitter was just a CW transmitter with the secondary of
an audio power amp's transformer in series with the plate supply of
the transmitter's output stage.

Even simpler are the Powell and Zarchy "boy's books".

BTW, I am more and more of the belief that one is better off to start
with solid state rather than tubes for a great many reasons and that
only after one has thoroughly learned to follow the signal and power
across a schematic and understands basic AC and DC electricity _cold_
should tubes be allowed to be touched.

Now all the good old books which old engineers gave to bookstores have
all dissappeared since the stores realised their worth as
collectables, and most got shipped out to buyers OS.

Most better books are available as reprints new, or for free on line
as .pdfs.