circuit modifications in amps

usernamename said:
I want to mod an amp (toobs!). But I dont know what I'm doing and dont feel like taking an EE course.

I'm not touching the power amp, only the pre-amp.
I know not to touch things while the amp is on without covers (High voltage)
Is it safe to add/remove resistors and capacitors at random and not damage anything. Or are there rules to follow?
Antying else I should know to stop the deadly sound of sudden silence?
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I don’t have much to add to what others have said:
i.e. read up on existing resources, come up with and articulate a plan about what you’re trying to accomplish, etc.

I will say, as someone whose day job is Master Electrician…

Things I would do:
go poking around in a 480V electrical panel, as needed

vs.

Things I wouldn’t do:
Start vivisecting an amp without a clear goal.

Even if you have a solid grasp on safety, it’s still pretty easy to brick a perfectly good piece of gear if you’re flying mostly blind…
 
pricklyrobot said:
I will say, as someone whose day job is Master Electrician…

Things I would do:
go poking around in a 480V electrical panel, as needed

vs.

Things I wouldn’t do:
Start vivisecting an amp without a clear goal.
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My previous job was working on power supplies capable of putting out 52v....with a short current of over 100kA. You had to use fully insulated tools everywhere; not for the risk of electrocution, but because a short would likely turn whatever you were holding directly into plasma and the temperature/shockwave from it would take anything off up to your elbow while spraying your entire body with molten shrapnel.

Working with that sort of stuff is much, much less dangerous than working inside a tube amp with no clue what is going on IMO.
 
setting aside the safety aspects, it's just plain expensive to be tearing around in a tube amp without a clue. plenty of us are capable of helping you give it a go with some reasonable boundaries and goals but just diving in like you're asking about is something from which you may not physically or financially recover.
 
Jokes aside, if you want to learn to modify them you should start by learning how to build / repair them.

You can't reliably modify something if you don't understand how it works to begin with.
 
Luckily I've been on the internet long enough to expect the meme brutality to general questions.

But yes, to the naysayers I'm going to cover myself in something copper, sit in a vat of water and probe the amps power source with my tongue (which will also be covered in silver or something) during a thunderstorm!

I'm also thinking about replace some of the higher voltage components with dynamite!

My first thread to be reported, will i be deported by ICE?😂
vigilante398 said:
A quick summary:

1) Don't rush. You seem to be in a hurry to get in there and start poking around, and I think that is what is scaring people. "Tube amps can kill you" is not hyperbole. You can actually feasibly die.

We're not trying to gatekeep, obviously you can't learn how to work on amps if you never try working on amps, but if your goal is just to jump in and start circuit bending, I think the risks far outweigh the possible rewards.
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Patience, to hell with that!

But srsly, what would be required technical learning for a solid foundation to move forward.
Should I download an introduction EE course and focus on circuit basics or would that be pointless without prerequisite EE knowledge? (Most things I've looked at would be jumping into the deep end)
The issue I have with amp sites is they arent structured learning A then B then C in required detail, they're usually various bits some general some specific thrown together by the author. Great for learning some things, but usually leaves more questions and adrift in the wilderness searching.
 
usernamename said:
Luckily I've been on the internet long enough to expect the meme brutality to general questions.

But yes, to the naysayers I'm going to cover myself in something copper, sit in a vat of water and probe the amps power source with my tongue (which will also be covered in silver or something) during a thunderstorm!

I'm also thinking about replace some of the higher voltage components with dynamite!

My first thread to be reported, will i be deported by ICE?😂

Patience, to hell with that!

But srsly, what would be required technical learning for a solid foundation to move forward.
Should I download an introduction EE course and focus on circuit basics or would that be pointless without prerequisite EE knowledge? (Most things I've looked at would be jumping into the deep end)
The issue I have with amp sites is they arent structured learning A then B then C in required detail, they're usually various bits some general some specific thrown together by the author. Great for learning some things, but usually leaves more questions and adrift in the wilderness searching.
Click to expand...
there's a holy grail set of books (yes, plural) by Merlin Blencowe https://valvewizard.co.uk/
 
Both Uncle Doug and Psionic Audio on the youtubes are great resources of information on tube amp modification and repair.
 
usernamename said:
But srsly, what would be required technical learning for a solid foundation to move forward.
Click to expand...
There have already been a large number of resources suggested in this thread. Start with those.

Also, as stated before, if you want to share what your general goal in modification is we can certainly point you in a more specific direction.
 
usernamename said:
The issue I have with amp sites is they arent structured learning A then B then C in required detail, they're usually various bits some general some specific thrown together by the author. Great for learning some things, but usually leaves more questions and adrift in the wilderness searching.
Click to expand...
That's how it all is. There's no one source that tells you everything you need to know for this specific thing. If you take a bunch of EE courses they won't be super specific about our range of AC, and if you learn just from guitar courses they won't get into the theory and math behind it. You just have to spend the time and go through all the articles and youtube videos and piece it together yourself. You have to recognize how thorough your understanding needs to be and then absorb information until you feel satisfied. Unfortunately you have to put in some work to really see what's going on.

Just go through and click all the resources mentioned here and spend a couple weeks getting familiar with them. This is the pedal version of learning music theory for guitar.
 
usernamename said:
But yes, to the naysayers I'm going to cover myself in something copper, sit in a vat of water and probe the amps power source with my tongue (which will also be covered in silver or something) during a thunderstorm!

I'm also thinking about replace some of the higher voltage components with dynamite!

My first thread to be reported, will i be deported by ICE?😂
Click to expand...
1000015961.png
 
usernamename said:
...
Antying else I should know to stop the deadly sound of sudden silence?
Click to expand...
usernamename said:
...
But srsly, what would be required technical learning for a solid foundation to move forward.
Should I download an introduction EE course and focus on circuit basics or would that be pointless without prerequisite EE knowledge? (Most things I've looked at would be jumping into the deep end)
The issue I have with amp sites is they arent structured learning A then B then C in required detail, they're usually various bits some general some specific thrown together by the author. Great for learning some things, but usually leaves more questions and adrift in the wilderness searching.
Click to expand...





Find a mentor — doing so may help you from being silenced.


Caps in a tube amp can store deadly voltages long after the amp is switched off.

A mentor will be able to teach you how to safely drain the caps and further guide you on how to handle an amp, safely acquiring knowledge along the path A to B to C... to ... better Zed than dead.


Maybe even stick to just pedals for a little while longer.
You can learn a lot from pedal-building that can be then applied to amp-building, such as understanding what you need to do to modify an EQ, or overall tone-shaping aspects from input to output...
For instance, try putting an LFO right next to the input/output of a pedal, then see what it takes to get the pedal to stop "ticking". Pedal-building can give you a strong foundation in trouble-shooting methods, which may be critical in Amp-Builds... Some knowledge will transfer well, other information won't — like how understanding a Bbm+9 is good for both bassoon and double-bass, but learning how to blow a bassoon won't teach you how to bow a double-bass.

Wishing you safe passage into the amp-realm.
 
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ICTRock said:
there's a holy grail set of books (yes, plural) by Merlin Blencowe https://valvewizard.co.uk/
Click to expand...

PunchySunshine said:
Both Uncle Doug and Psionic Audio on the youtubes are great resources of information on tube amp modification and repair.
Click to expand...

Passinwind said:
Start here: http://www.tubebooks.org/technical_books_online.htm

The RCA compilations and the Radiotron ones are a classic starting place. The Crowhurst and Seely texts get a lot of recommendations as well.
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Now i have to learn to read! :geek:
 
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