Good books to learn from?

[tubegeek]

You might want to find a newer book that discusses components that are still in production!

AW, HELL NO!

Tubes went to hell when they started using glass envelopes instead of the original metal.

[pupil]

aw yeah, thanks for identifying that, probably pass on buying it though.

+1 for malvino semiconductor circuit approximations and malvino electronic principles. I've been steady digesting those two books for almost a year now and they have taught me a LOT. Malvino's writing and teaching style is great in my opinion.

[PRR]

> find a newer book

Yes and no.

I've been reading a lot of 1956-1965 electronics texts this month. Yes, the treatment of BJTs is often jumbled by the poor quality and high cost of the parts of the day. But basic circuit analysis is forever. And the use on a pedal-site is some kind of semi-endorsement? And it is only $4 for a good-used copy.

I found this blurb:
"The first half of the book is concerned primarily with the development of linear and picewise-linear circuit characterizations for tubes and transistors and with examining the behavior of these devices in the basic amplifier configurations; thus it is concerned with the properties of active devices and with circuit representations for such devices. The techniques employed are quite general and are used in a subsequent course to obtain circuit representations for mechanical, electromechanical, and hydrolic devices. The second half of the book is concerned almost solely with linear tube and transistor circuits; thus it is an introduction to active-circuit theory. This study is closely correlated with the study of passive-circuit theory; in fact, it is an extension of passive-circcuit theory to include active circuits. The methods employed in characterizing the active devices make it both feasible and desirable to treat tubes and transistors simultaniously. As implied above, these two devices are seen to be special cases of a large case of amplifying devices." - E. J. Angelo

Here's a chapter-list from a book seller:
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-19304
Copyright 1958, 1964 by McGraw-Hill, inc
Electronic Circuits - a Unified Treatment of Vacuum Tubes and Transistors - Second Edition by E. J. Angelo, Jr.
651 Pages  20 Chapters
The ideal diode
Practical Rectifiers
Ideal amplifiers
The basic vacuum-triode amplifier
Practical triode amplifiers
Incremental linear models for the vacuum triode
The basic transistors amplifier
Practical transistor amplifiers
Multigrid vacuum tubes
Audio-frequency power amplifiers
Controlled rectifiers
Analysis of piecewise-linear circuits
Systematic analysis of linear electronic circuits
Network theorems
Frequency characteristics of single-stage amplifiers
Frequency characteristics of cascaded amplifiers
Tuned amplifiers
Feedback amplifiers

It is cited by *many* later books, such as ---
Circuits, Signals, and Speech and Image Processing By Richard C. Dorf
The Electrical Engineering Handbook By Richard C. Dorf
Electronic Devices and Amplifier Circuits By Steven T. Karris
Analysis and Application of Analog Electronic Circuits to Biomedical... By Robert B. Northrop
Electrónica fundamental para científicos By James J. Brophy
Analog and VLSI Circuits By Wai-Kai Chen
The Circuits and Filters Handbook, Second Edition edited by Wai-Kai Chen

I suspect it may be a bit "heavy" for a beginner.

[canman]

Yes, perhaps a bit too heavy to start off with...but certainly something to keep in mind down the road!  Thanks again for all the suggestions!

[PRR]

> Tubes went to hell when they started using glass envelopes instead of the original metal.

Tubes were glass.

Most non-WE tubes were really light-bulb products. UV201, 1920, is clearly a light-bulb on a 4-pin base.

Long-long after all that started, RCA introduced the Metal tubes. Around 1935? It was more about fashion than performance. This is closely related to the Octal socket. Around 1940 the internal structure of the "metal tube" was greatly simplified. Still the glass tubes out-sold metal. 1940 saw the glimmer of the dinky Miniature Tube (all glass, even the base) and 1946 saw the Mini capture all new designs under a few Watts.

[tubegeek]

Leave it to you, PRR, to catch me on that one!

Well, how about:

Tubes went to hell when they went back to using glass envelopes from metal.

[tubegeek]

Another stunningly good book (recc'ed by several here) is:
Transistor Circuit Approximations, THIRD Edition, 1980, Malvino

My beat-up paperback copy @$4 just arrived today - looks quite good, I might just upgrade to a hardcover. If I do, I'll post the paperback as up for grabs in this thread.

[canman]

Very cool!  I may have to buy the paperback off you if you upgrade

The Malvino books seem to be the the go to, I really need to order one soon!

[CodeMonk]

How about the old Forrest Mimms books??  "Engineer's mini notebooks". They were great, esp. the ones around projects like 555 circuits, sensors, etc.

Another thing I used to read a lot were the ARRL Ham Radio handbooks (library, maybe...)...they had a lot of good theory, would work problems thru so you can see what's going on.  A lot in there we'll never use, tho!

This + Craig Andertons Electronic Projects for Musicians , Projects for Guitarist.  I learned a lot from the old semiconductor data books just leafing through and trying to understand the circuits.

I've got both of these.
Very good for starting out.
Unlike some books, he assumes the reader knows nothing or very little about electronics.

Brian Wampler wrote a few books.
Advanced DIY Pedals.
How To Modify Effects.
I don't know if they are available ATM, but last I heard he was working on an updated version of one of them.
IIRC, they are available for download (With Brian's OK). There is a link on the other site.
There is info about them here : http://www.wamplerpedals.com/contact/