Favorite Tube Amp Website?

[Bill Sinclair]

My background is in industrial electronics but in the past few years I've enjoyed refurbishing a few vintage tube amps as a hobbyist. My knowledge of tube electronics isn't what it should be and I'd like to rectify that (no pun intended). I've got a stumper on my work bench right now and I realized that I probably need to reach out to the online community to help fill in the blanks of my limited knowledge.

Do any of you tube amp guys have a favorite amp repair website? One that seems to have less bad advice than the others? I'd prefer not to get bogged down in the minutia that some of the hi-fi people get into but also realize that some of them are the most knowledgeable (and helpful). The "Uncle Doug" youtube videos are very helpful and I'd probably find the answer to my current question if I watched them all but I'd like to tap into a resource that could potentially answer the questions as they pop into my head.

I may start a separate thread right here on the '57 Gretsch 6161 model (Valco) I'm currently working on if anyone has any interest or advice. I'm only getting 2 watts of power out of an amp that should have about 12. I have oscilloscope shots and everything!

[J Fletcher]

Hi Bill You could try:

http://el34world.com/Forum/index.php

The site you are on , SGF , is pretty good too. How are the voltages on the output tubes? Good place to start. Does the amp start to clip after 2 watts ? Good signal voltage to the output tube grids?
Jerry

[Bill Sinclair]

Thanks Jerry. I know I've visited that sight looking for information in the past. Might be time to go ahead and join. In the meantime, I've started a new thread about the amp if you have any suggestions:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... highlight=

[Allan Haley]

Uncle Doug's Youtube channel is one of my favs regarding refurbishing, fixing and building guitar tube amplifiers. I am not an amp builder, but he provides insight into that world for me. He is a knowledgable and also funny host.
Al

[Stephen Cowell]

Schematicheaven.com

[Len Amaral]

I second the vote for Uncle Doug. Also, YouTube the “”Guitologist” he gets into the weeds about refurbishing tube amps.

[Bill Sinclair]

I don't think schematicheaven exists anymore, Stephen. I love Uncle Doug and intend to eventually watch all of his extensive list of videos but I was hoping for a website of similar minded people who I could bother with my stupid question of the week. Kind of like that there Steel Guitar Forum thing but for amp geeks. I might give el34world.com that Jerry suggested a shot.

[Bill A. Moore]

Other than the good folks here,there seems to be a lot of knowledgeable folks on the Telecaster forum. Also Music Electronics forum, and the Amp garage. I'm sure there are others!

[Donny Hinson]

Watch this video! This guy's a genius, a master craftsman, and and an artist at restorations. I just can't say enough about how good he is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VBVSEevXaY

and this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7SoZXX1FQ

and this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGP8W5Y9JZs

[Larry Dering]

Agreed with Donny, Carlson is very thorough and a genius. Also the Uncle Doug are my favorite. The Music Electronics forum is ok but often the posts just leave everyone hanging without conclusion.

[Michael Butler]

i've done quite a bit of amp repair and have found the following quite helpful to me: uncle doug,

https://robrobinette.com/Amp_Stuff.htm

http://www.aikenamps.com/index.php/tech-info

https://www.tdpri.com/categories/amplif ... forums.95/
also this group on facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tubeampbuilders/

hope this helps.

play music!

[Ian Sutton]

It's worth checking out Skip Simmons' podcast: "The truth about vintage amps" it's great listening, and he recommends a few books that I've found helpful in my own pursuit of amp repair.

Also: http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/ is very handy.

[Bill Sinclair]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I've been perusing some of the sites and videos. I find that if I'm just there for the info, I can listen to some of the youtube videos at 1.5-2X speed and follow them pretty well. The EL34 site has a lot of valuable info but seems more geared toward building new amps than repairing vintage ones. Surprisingly, the Telecaster Discussion Page has a lot of good conversations and not just about Fender stuff. I'll probably lurk for a bit at the half dozen sites mentioned and see where I think I would fit in best.

[Michael Butler]

bill: i would recommend that you post your info on the tdpri, in the amp central subforum. quite a lot of people there who can help. one of them is rob robinette.

they have really helped me out as i have a few gibson amps and gibson changed circuitry on a whim, probably the cost of parts, and so a lot of their schematics were incorrect or not appropriate for that particular amp.

play music!

[Danny Hullihen]

Bill. You might want to try watching some of the videos on Youtube from "D-Lab" and "Steve Carr." I found both of these guys very interesting, and useful for repairs and modifications.

[James Holland]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

I agree, I learned a bunch from folks on this forum. Another forum with some real wonk experts is thegearpage.net - you do have to dodge a few uptight folks, lol. The telecaster forum, TDPRI.com is another one too, much less uptight.

[Thomas Stone]

Here's another link for finding reference books. Can't make any specific recommendations. I tend to look first at the ones with five star reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tube+amplifi ... _sb_noss_1