FAQ: Book Recommendations

[Samuel]

To add to the similar thread on a catalog of weblinks, I thought this could be a good place to get solid book recommendations. I've been looking for some good theory books recently, and have no idea what is good and what isn't. So recommend away if you know of anything helpful.

Potential categories:

General Audio theory and application
General Electronics
Transistors (Technology of, Application of, etc.)
Tubes
Opamps

etc
etc
etc.

[cd]

Relating to music/guitar electronics in general, anything by Craig Anderton.  His books should be a DIYers bible.

[MartyMart]

Book tips, i also think Craig anderton's stuff is great .. :
"Starting Electronics" second edition by Keith Brindley
ISBN 0 7506 4435 4
"Mastering Electronics" fourth edition by John Watson
ISBN 0 333 69343 4

These will tell you all you need to know about components, what they all do and how to build some simple circuits also.
Cheers,
Marty.

[mlabbee]

The Kevin O'Connor books (available from http://www.tubesandmore.com/ and, I think, the London Power website) are all very good - I have read the Ready Set Go and Ultimate Tone I books and learned a tremendous amount from both.  Basic electronics theory (resistors, capacitors, inductors) and working with tubes.  Ultimate Tone I is very expensive ($55?) but worth it's weight - very detailed information on designing each stage of an amp, including a ton of info on fx loops and channel switching.  I'd like to see a bit more on tone stack design, but there's a fair amount of that available on the web.

The Bruce Rozenblit book on tube amp design is also very good, but more applicable to hi-fi amp design. Still, an excellent explanation of how to use tubes in a circuit.

Someone recently posted a TI tutorial on op-amps that was also very good.

[travissk]

Guess I'll be the first to suggest Horiwitz/Hill's "The Art of Electronics." The latest version is the second edition, and it's from ~1987, but still a great book (IMO - some people find it too technical, which is understandable)

One of my classes used "Microelectronic Circuits" by Sedra and Smith. It was well-written and goes into lots of detail on how transistors work at an understandable pace, but it's a textbook for an EE class, complete with lots of problems and math. I'm sure there's a shorter and more practical book with the same stuff, but I felt I learned a lot from this one.

I need to read more of Craig Anderton's stuff; what I have read is very practical and targeted toward our demographic.

I want to read RG's book on stompbox PCB making, but still waiting for that to get back into production.

[bwanasonic]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I really like the "Basic Electronics" Naval Personnel Training Manual (Great section on tubes!):

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2s07FL4AUC&isbn=0760752389&itm=1

Also "Electricity And Electronics" by G. Randy Sloane [Tab Elelectronics] :

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071360573/qid=1095483498/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-7305509-1193746

I considered buying Horowitz and Hill's "The Art of Electronics" when I purchased the other two recently, but after spending some time browsing through it for a while, I realized it would be some time before I found that info useful. I'm no where near the *Advanced Wacky Inventor Stage* yet.

Kerry M