Re: Jack Darr Guitar Amplifier Service Book at Ebay

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5/18/1999 7:38 AM
Dan Ramage	Re: Jack Darr Guitar Amplifier Service Book at Ebay What topics does the book cover? Does it   cover any "theory" for guitar amps specifically, ie distortion circuits, ect. I'd   be interested if it was more of a techinical   book, HW Sams is on the net, perhaps they   have old stock copies for sale.     Dan

 

5/18/1999 11:30 AM

Mark Hammer

Much like the Pittman books, it is a smattering of everything, a chapter here, a chapter there, ending up with a compendium of *readable* schematics that are about 50/50 tubes/transistors, divided up into low, medium and high power amps.     There are chapters on troubleshooting pre-amp and power stages, a wee bit on effects (tremolo, fuzz, waa-waa, Maestro Rhythm N' Sound) and pickups, but it's really more of a mindset setter for the repair person. I.E. a guy shows up in your shop with an amp and says "It sounds like crap. Fix it." Where do you start?     If you want to know more about hotrodding, supercharging, and understanding particular aspects of amps, this ain't the book. Go for Kevin O'Connor's, Gerald Weber's, Dan Torres', or Aspen Pittman's books. The Darr book is published in 1973 and it reads like it. Expect nothing about cascaded gain stages, tube substitutions, master volume, and only a wee bit about input and output impedance.     In its defence, a lotta schematics you won't find anywhere else.

 

5/19/1999 12:35 AM
Steve A.	Mark:     :"low, medium and high power amps"         That must be the book I remember borrowing from the library back in the mid-70's to work on my '65 Pro! (Never bought the book but I still have the amp!) Wasn't that like the first real book published on servicing guitar amps? (That sure brings back some memories of a different time and place!)     Steve Ahola

 

5/19/1999 10:03 AM

Mark Hammer

First edition was published in 1965, so it MIGHT be one of the first books dedicated to the topic. I tell you one thing, there is a WORLD of difference between your contemporary amp guru and Jack Darr. The picture of him on the back looks like every high school shop/math teacher you've ever seen in every yearbook from 1962-70!     Actually, I think I may have downplayed its usefulness in my earlier posting. Flipping through it now, I realize it has one of the most extensive discussions of tube-based tremolo circuits I've ever seen. It also has a lot of how to fly by the seat of your pants info, e.g., "Determining voltages without service data".

 

5/19/1999 11:46 AM
Steve M.	Mark,     Just wanted to note that there is a third ed. as well. I've seen both the first and third, (never seen a second, I wonder if it exists). The third ed. is larger and has more schematics.     There still are copies of this book out there available thru interlibrary loan (ILL). When I got the first ed. I copied the whole thing.     Regards,     Steve

 

5/19/1999 4:43 PM
SpeedRacer	I did the same thing. It was stolen from all the local libs, so I got it on ILL from the state lib in Albany.. at which point I introduced it to the Xerox 5024..   (it's the 1st edition)

 

5/20/1999 10:09 PM
pinout	I have a second edition..Fifty cents at the surplus place( sorry)...I found it to be a tremendous help learning about amps. I just get a chuckle everytime out of his distortion elimnation quest

 

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