This is ONE book that is probably ranks a 10 out of 10 for a must have book in your library. The Radiotron Designers Handbooks 3rd and 4th Editions should go together and are also 10s. The 3rd edition Radiotron was one of the books I decided to save after one of the shop floods. The 1936 Railroad Construction Handbook and the 1907 Railway MOW books, and my prewar Electrical Handbooks were even sent away for special dry cleaning. I will need to get new covers made by a binder. The railroads had some very clever means for block detections and signaling as early as 1905, including inside the locomotive cab signals!
I own this book and have learned a lot from it. Douglas Self is a giant in the audio electronics world and a great educator. Up your game fellow champions!
Oh, i have this book! And another one called Power Amplifier Design & Engineering! I am sure I've read at least half a chapter of both books. Edit I just found another book called Class A, Class B and Class AB Amplifier Architecture and Design. Still in its wrapper whoops.
Thanks very much, just ordered it via A. from Germany, but this is not cheep. €91,- it is the 4 edition from 2023, over 800 pages. A lot to read, the winter can come :)
here in the netherlands the paperback is eur 96 and the hardcover 160 on amazon. I almost went for the hardcover anyway since glued thick books tend to split, but a reviewer had pictures of what it looked like after a 2kg book is shipped in an oversized box. The core ripped out of the cover which also revealed the extra eur 65 only gets you a cardboard cover glued over the paperback version. Still a glued back, not really bound. paperback it is…
I would love to see you get the time to get approved RPL and Advanced Standing and finish a degree man. You would add to the subject matter in a material way.
Nice review Brad. WRT Opamps, Samuel Groners opamp distortion pdf worth checking out, more details of distortion mechanisms such as CM, High IP Z and OP loading etc. WRT gen low noise design , this book (or equiv) is required reading for guitar amp designers (and techs) - most don't seem to understand Johnson noise - example, 68k grid resistor on V1 in a high gain amp....???? WRT discrete design -> Highly recommend freeware Ltspice for 'seeing' inside a circuit, surprisingly accurate provided the component models are good.
There is a whole other world of industrial valve stuff out there that will blow your mind. Inside of my high voltage tube regulated power supplies were resistor banks made by W.L., and they are beefy racks of porcelain form power resistors. Who the hell is WL? That's Ward Leonard. Or it was Ward Leonard. There was a man who made a nice bunch of rabbit holes of industrial valve circuit designs. Gas VR glow tubes, Ignatorns & Thyratrons. It sort of dovetails into SCRs.
Wierdly just started recapping a Ebay purchased Nad 3020 series 20 (first edition) has 100hz hum... First attempt for me into hi-fi 😫 Schematics a little daunting coming from tube amps, but once blocked out into sections you start noticing symmetry righ/left channels....Funny you mentioned bi-polar caps cus currently reading up about what types I need in certain sections...Opting for Nich PW in power and those audio golds in signal...Other thing I found quite good was hifi schematics has bold line where signal flows, they should do this on tube amps its quite handy to see...
Bi (non) Polar caps have lower distortion for sig path apps - but it's arguable that if the cap is big enough, distortion will be V low anyway. . Search C Batemans comprehensive capacitor measuring article.
This is ONE book that is probably ranks a 10 out of 10 for a must have book in your library. The Radiotron Designers Handbooks 3rd and 4th Editions should go together and are also 10s. The 3rd edition Radiotron was one of the books I decided to save after one of the shop floods. The 1936 Railroad Construction Handbook and the 1907 Railway MOW books, and my prewar Electrical Handbooks were even sent away for special dry cleaning. I will need to get new covers made by a binder. The railroads had some very clever means for block detections and signaling as early as 1905, including inside the locomotive cab signals!
I own this book and have learned a lot from it. Douglas Self is a giant in the audio electronics world and a great educator. Up your game fellow champions!
That book can also fit beneath a Princeton power transfer so the amp doesn’t wobble on the bench. ;)
For me the sound of Doug's circuits are bland . Quiet yes. If you try hard enough one can learn from almost anyone . Some times it what not to do .
All of Dougie Self’s books are cool! 🥶
He's an amazing man, that's for sure!
Sweet! I missed seeing the title of this and forgot to go back and scroll through
Great book. I purchased both the PDF eBook and hardcopy versions of the latest edition back in January.
So good that you’ve made a video about this book. I was considering to buy it, you helped me a lot!
good review!
thanks
Great Info Brad . Will check the book out.
Oh, i have this book! And another one called Power Amplifier Design & Engineering! I am sure I've read at least half a chapter of both books.
Edit I just found another book called Class A, Class B and Class AB Amplifier Architecture and Design. Still in its wrapper whoops.
Great reference. I've been looking for something with this type of info.
Thanks very much,
just ordered it via A. from Germany, but this is not cheep. €91,- it is the 4 edition from 2023, over 800 pages. A lot to read, the winter can come :)
IIRC this one the n.1 book suggested by Josh (JHS pedals).
here in the netherlands the paperback is eur 96 and the hardcover 160 on amazon. I almost went for the hardcover anyway since glued thick books tend to split, but a reviewer had pictures of what it looked like after a 2kg book is shipped in an oversized box. The core ripped out of the cover which also revealed the extra eur 65 only gets you a cardboard cover glued over the paperback version. Still a glued back, not really bound. paperback it is…
I would love to see you get the time to get approved RPL and Advanced Standing and finish a degree man. You would add to the subject matter in a material way.
Looks like a great next step after reading the ValveWizard books to shreads 😂
I think the QuantAsylum instruments are the way to go for audio analyzers now. Very affordable!
New Gen ESS Sabre ADC made the difference. It's close to Audio Precision at a fraction of price.
Nice review Brad. WRT Opamps, Samuel Groners opamp distortion pdf worth checking out, more details of distortion mechanisms such as CM, High IP Z and OP loading etc. WRT gen low noise design , this book (or equiv) is required reading for guitar amp designers (and techs) - most don't seem to understand Johnson noise - example, 68k grid resistor on V1 in a high gain amp....???? WRT discrete design -> Highly recommend freeware Ltspice for 'seeing' inside a circuit, surprisingly accurate provided the component models are good.
Looks I need to add this to the shitter library ! Need to branch out from Merlin. Should we send a copy to mesa ?
Looks I need this to the shitter library ! Need to branch out from Merlin
There is a whole other world of industrial valve stuff out there that will blow your mind. Inside of my high voltage tube regulated power supplies were resistor banks made by W.L., and they are beefy racks of porcelain form power resistors. Who the hell is WL? That's Ward Leonard. Or it was Ward Leonard. There was a man who made a nice bunch of rabbit holes of industrial valve circuit designs. Gas VR glow tubes, Ignatorns & Thyratrons. It sort of dovetails into SCRs.
Wierdly just started recapping a Ebay purchased Nad 3020 series 20 (first edition) has 100hz hum... First attempt for me into hi-fi 😫 Schematics a little daunting coming from tube amps, but once blocked out into sections you start noticing symmetry righ/left channels....Funny you mentioned bi-polar caps cus currently reading up about what types I need in certain sections...Opting for Nich PW in power and those audio golds in signal...Other thing I found quite good was hifi schematics has bold line where signal flows, they should do this on tube amps its quite handy to see...
Bi (non) Polar caps have lower distortion for sig path apps - but it's arguable that if the cap is big enough, distortion will be V low anyway. . Search C Batemans comprehensive capacitor measuring article.