# Best classic vacuum tube/valve audio design book? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330 "2013-12-14T22:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/1 "2013-12-14T22:19:00Z")
Nephew is a guitarist with a full ride at Tufts\*, working toward a BSEE with a minor in something like “electronics and music.” Ah-HAH! A relative with whom I share an interest, sorta! He lives far away and in past years I haven’t known enough about him to shop confidently for a Christmas present, but that has changed. The kid needs to get his hands dirty and fingers burnt designing tube amps. But where to start? Do colleges even teach design using vacuum tubes anymore? Or do they start the kids where I started, with Faraday, because _Experimental Researches in Electricity_ is still in print and is a fun read? Or should I get him [_Tube Guitar Amplifier Essentials_](http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Amplifier-Essentials-Gerald-Weber/dp/0964106027), which may be too simple for a smartypants like him but looks like fun bathroom reading? Other ideas? - His dad wanted to use me as a guinea pig for his theories on getting me a full ride at Harvard. Guess I shoulda taken him up on it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/2 "2013-12-14T22:35:17Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Do colleges even teach design using vacuum tubes anymore? No. I just perused my bookcase, and saw some stuff he would probably like: - _The Tube Amp Book, Volume 3_, by Aspen Pittman. It contains dozens of schematics for guitar amps. - Many issues of _Radio-Electronics_ from the 1960s. I picked these up at a flea market for fifty cents each. Lots of tube amp projects. - Old amateur radio books. Not audio electronics, per say, but they have a lot of good info on the practical use of vacuum tubes. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/3 "2013-12-14T22:46:03Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > The kid needs to get his hands dirty and fingers burnt designing tube amps. Forgot to mention: if he doesn’t have much hand’s on experience with electronics, it would be unwise to start out with tube amps. Because the power supplies are _dangerous_. Plate voltages are very often over 300 VDC. He needs to be very well versed in electrical safety before he messes around with these things. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/4 "2013-12-15T01:28:31Z")
Feh! He just needs to be shocked often enough to get used to it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/5 "2013-12-15T01:38:29Z")
[Audio Power Amplifier Design](http://www.focalpress.com/books/details/9780240526133/) [Small Signal Audio Design](http://www.focalpress.com/books/details/9780240521770/) [Electroacoustic: Microphones & Loudspeakers](http://www.focalpress.com/books/details/9780240812670/) [Audio Power Amplifier Design Handbook](http://www.focalpress.com/books/details/9780240521626/) [Audio Engineer’s Reference Book](http://www.focalpress.com/books/details/9780240516851/) Focal Press is my go-to resource for most texts for the classroom (I teach audio engineering & production at a media college) Those texts cover most everything. The Small Signal Audio Design is my absolute favorite, and certainly covers triode and pentode design engineering in great depth as well. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/6 "2013-12-15T03:24:07Z")
My husband designs and sells finished tube amps and DIY kits for a living. He has been trying to get decent copies of books for his tube amp library… looking at the detritus of his Amazon history, the list above pretty much covers it. I wonder if I just blew my identity? Hm. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-vacuum-tube-valve-audio-design-book/676330/7 "2013-12-16T02:32:33Z")
> [@picker](#): > > [Audio Engineer’s Reference Book](http://www.focalpress.com/books/details/9780240516851/) That’s the one I need. Or used to need, when I did that stuff. I design a good room but I need a stronger background.