Merlin Blencowe Designing Power Supplies for Valve Amplifiers, Second Edition

This is my second Merlin Blencowe book (the other is "designing preamps") and both are worth every penny. Very nicely thought out. Subjects are well explained with examples... And it touches just about all you need to know (and more). Definitietly highly recommend unless you are already a genius and could write this book yourself.

This is a really great book. The second edition is expanded and improved and to summarise gets my wholehearted recommendation. Unlike e.g. books on SMPS design where cold hard facts and measurements rule, books on audio and especially tube amplifiers (of which I own a very large number) are often high on non-quantifiable opinion. While, if you are even considering using a tube it’s for the ‘magic’ effect they have on the guitar amplifier etc., they still obey the laws of physics so knowing how to design with them and not have a great tone but that only lasts a week before something goes pop is I consider a good thing. Likewise the absence of hum or picking up air traffic control… The book does not disappoint in this respect. It covers subjects like using switching DC heater supply that may seem like the suggestion of a heretic but in all honesty if all you are after is a squeaky clean stable voltage to supply your tube heaters then why not? Analogy, fitting disk brakes to your classic car. You can still enjoy the car with the modern tech without worrying about crashing into stuff quite as much. I’ve worked designing electronics, mostly low noise sub-MHz analogue, over the last 25 years but I think anyone who can cope with well explained discrete component design could understand this book; accessible and easy to read. BTW: I purchased it in full knowledge that the pages may fall out as mentioned in the reviews. I have the others by M.B. and have the glue issue. Never mind and this one is OK so far.

Alles Bestens. Habe ich leider schon gehabt.

First edition has been out of print for years and market price had long ago hit collector values. I thought I'd missed my chance to find a comprehensive guide on a little known topic. However I kept checking to see if a 1st edition would surface at reasonable prices and found the updated 2nd edition in print!. Score. I've uploaded the index as well as some of the preface so that others in the same boat as me can judge for themselves if they want to take the deep dive or not. I've never met someone who understood this subject as well as the author and my 2nd edition "holy grail" Audio Cyclopedia by Tremaine only briefly touches on the subject for 38 pages of the 1600+ pages within the ancient tome(dust and all). I learn best hands on but reference material like tube datasheets are a must have whether in pdf or battered shop manual. I hope this book allows me to build a better amp as I continue to pick up old iron and add "useless tubes" into my collection. Enjoy the process.

Un libro veramente interessante anche per chi è del mestiere