The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps (Book & CD) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is really a treasure of information on Fender amps with enough pix to make you salivate.

The CD is ok but I expected more.Greg Koch's over the top playing (and commentary) can get a bit annoying.

Also, they just don't cover enough amps for my taste.No tweed pro, no tweed super, not enough time on the bassman.

The CD's are broken into two CD's.Vintage and Modern.

When they are talking about vintage deluxes, Koch decides to demo and spend most time onthe '57 Tweed Deluxe REISSUE!!!!!!!!!This to me dropped them a star since that should have been placed on the modern CD.

I guess there is not enough time to cover everything but I wish he did more.

The idea of a short clip of every Fender amp model ever made played with a tele, strat and LP makes me salivate ;).

This CD was an attempt to do that but falls short IMHO.However, it's better than nothing.

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Product Description:
From the same "dream team" that created The Fender Stratocaster Chronicles (Vintage Guitar magazine's 2004 Book of the Year) comes this new publication covering the other side of Fender's legacy, the instrument amplifier. Revered as much as one's guitar, the Fender amplifier gets its due in this full-color, richly illustrated book. Features over 400 images, including legendary guitarists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Neil Young, Pete Townshend, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Robbie Robertson and Dick Dale, and two CDs featuring over 100 tracks that make terms and topics come alive.

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Ultimate Bench Warrior: How to Design, Build, and Modify Custom Guitar and Bass Amps (Book) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The author begins with a cursory look at the tools used when building and servicing amps. Unfortunately, how to use the less common tools, such as an oscilloscope, in practice is not discussed. We do, however, find a few pages on how to make a guitar cable with a soldering iron.

Plenty of reprinted tube and solid state component data sheets made it into the final product--as did a guide to reading resistor color codes. A few vintage transformer data sheets are included as well. In light of the book's title, a section covering transformer selection along with power supply and output stage design would have been more useful.

The author does include schematics for some isolated circuits, but many are of little value or irrelevant to the subject matter expressed in the title. For example, one schematic shows how to wire a foot pedal to control three separate Fender amps. Other included circuits may have broader appeal, but there is little guidance as to how to implement them in original or existing designs. In some cases, component values are not included.

The "Extensive collection of top Amplifiers schematics, including all of Lee's equipment" and "A great collection of Effect Pedal Schematics, Vintage and New" promised on the author's website are not in the book.

The biggest issue, and the reason for the single star: this volume doesn't deliver what it promises in the title. There is nothing about designing or building amplifiers. Instead the reader is offered an eclectic collection of data sheets, isolated circuit mods, and rudimentary, yet incomplete, information. But there's no math! :| (When I pre-ordered this work, I was unaware of the diminutive page-count, which would have made me question the depth of material covered.)

The Guitar Amp Handbook by Dave Hunter would be a better choice. It's not an exhaustive treatment of the subject, but it covers two important areas that Jackson's book does not: how an amp works and how to build a vintage-modified amp. For those interested in the math, check out Richard Kuehnel's works. Tino Zottola has three volumes on building specific amps--all of which contain step-by-step instructions, component lists and schematics. For the well-funded, Kevin O'Connor's Ultimate Tone series would be another option.

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Product Description:
Amp guru Lee Jackson covers: tools of the trade; the basics of soldering; different tube types, with specs and histories; electronic symbols; amplifier modifications from gain stages to adding reverbs; schematics of solidstate circuits and power supplies; lists of parts suppliers; and more. Features 180+ photos and illustrations.

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Basic Mastering (The Basic Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is extremely small, but still, it could have been shortened into a few concise paragraphs.
The first third of the book is a repetitious litany on how to splice tape, label boxes and use a DAT. It haphazardly hints at the numerous steps one most go through to prepare the audio for reproduction. Then states that if you're going to burn a Red book CD, none of this is necessary. Good then, let's skip it.
The second third is about how to cut and paste digital audio using editing software. If you've ever used audio software then you can skip this part too. Actually if you even have audio software, you're better off just playing around with it, so you should skip it also.
The last third is a glossary. Yes, an entire third of the book is an appendix. It gives the definition of many useful industry terms. For instance, STEREO, WAH-PEDAL, TRACK, and VOLT.
Example:
VOLT,
A unit for measuring electricity.
I would skip it.

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Product Description:
Further titles in this exciting new pocket sized series, designed to make music technology simple.

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The Guitar Pickups Handbook Review

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(More customer reviews)If you love guitars, tone, and modifying your instrument, this book is a must-have. But it has a couple of problems that keep it from being perfect. Hopefully a revised edition will take care of these issues, but as is, it's still worth getting if you're interested.

Even if you're just considering ordering a set or two of pickups, it's worth the $17 to read this book, and make sure you're getting the right set for you and your guitar. There's a lot of great information here.

Dave Hunter has (once again,) done a great job with this book. It discusses the history of pickups, from all the major companies. Then goes on to describe most of the major pickup makers, as well as many big boutique names like Lollar and Fralin.

His writing is clear, and to the point, and makes a sometimes tedious subject fun and interesting.

What's very useful is that it breaks down the specs of almost every pickup made by these makers, and gives a good description of the tone they produce, (the descriptions are independent of the makers descriptions.)

There's a lot of useful tech info, and specs, but plenty of stuff for just interesting reading.

The best part, imo, is the in-depth interviews with the makers.
Dave HUnter talkes to Kent Armstrong, Joe Barden, Larry Dimarzio and Steve Blucher, Seymour Duncan, Mike Eldred, (Fender Custom Shop,) Lindy Fralin and Jason Lollar.

It's interesting, for example, that Seymour Duncan designed the Alnico Pro II's for Billy Gibbsons, (as well as the Pearly Gates later on,) the Duncan Custom was for Santana, the Full Shred for Nancy Wilson, and his strat and tele pickups had input for Eric johnson, Mark Knofler, Ralph Trower, James Burton, Jerry Donahue, Albert Lee, on and on.

It's a recent book, and mentions the TQR articles on PAF's, and has a lot of information on Gibson's pickup history.

There's also a very useful CD that demos many different kinds of pickups, from several vintage PAF's, to boutique stuff and production line pickups.The downside is that there appears to be an editing problem. I have a version with a black cover, and in the Dimarzio section, it seems like a page is missing,( pg. 134-136 don't follow.)

You could also argue that with the huge numbers of small hand-winders, it would be nice if the covered some of these makers as well, (WB, WCR, Tom Holmes, etc.)
I wouldn't be surprised to if save space, they cut out some of the more obscure names in pickup making.

That said, it's a very comprehensive book, and for the majority of its audience, it covers more than you'll ever need to know.Anyway, that aside, it's a great resource, a fun read and provides great answer for many common pickup questions.

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Product Description:
For every electric guitarist, a book that goes right to the source of the sound! The pick-up may be a humble piece of technology, yet without it there would be no electric guitars. In The Guitar Pick-Ups Handbook, guitarist and author Dave Hunter explores the history of the transducer that captures mechanical vibrations, from its beginnings in the early 20th-century through to the present day. He explains why different designs affect the sound of classic electric guitars, and provides complementary aural demonstrations on a specially recorded accompanying CD.

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