DIY bass preamp ?

[PeaveyPlayer]

Best to start with an electronics education IME.

Ouch… sorry I asked lol just wanting to learn !

 

[agedhorse]

Ouch… sorry I asked lol just wanting to learn !

That’s exactly how you learn. Even some of the on-line courses are pretty good. You need to know how electronics works in order to design electronics.

 

[Geoff Wood]

That’s exactly how you learn. Even some of the on-line courses are pretty good. You need to know how electronics works in order to design electronics.

Or, less deeply, electronics hobbyist magazines or websites. And some starter electronics kitsets. But unrealistic to expect to be able to 'design' such things without a fair amount of knowledge.

 

[agedhorse]

Kits are another way of playing with electronics without knowing what you are doing and still possibly getting good results (if the kit is well designed).

 

[beans-on-toast]

I was also looking a trying my hand in designing a preamp…but not sure where to start? Anyone have any advice

I would start by building a kit or buying a PCB and then ordering the parts. Here’s an example of a good DIY pedal place: Aion FX - DIY guitar pedal kits & PCBs .

 

[fdeck]

I started learning about electronics while in high school, before I got any formal training. My dad taught me how to solder. I read everything I could lay my hands on from the public library, including Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics. I read Craig Anderton's Electronic Projects for Musicians and built a fuzz box for the guitarist in my band. I learned to "design" things by modifying those circuits, and combining published elements together.

Walt Jung's Audio IC Op-Amp Applications explained many of those circuit elements. Along with making things, I was also learning the basics of electronic measurements, such as the voltmeter and oscilloscope. My dad had brought home a long-obsolete scope from somewhere.

At the time I had no professional responsibilities -- the consequences of my mistakes were having to make another trip to Radio Shack for more parts. I was working with "small signal" circuits, such as preamps and effects, so the cost of damaged parts was minimal, and I wasn't doing anything with line voltage.

Later on in college I majored in physics, and part of the traditional curriculum is a one-year course in electronics, that covered both analog and digital. The textbook was The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill, which is still a classic today in newer editions. Taking it from a real teacher, who was interested in both theory and actually making things, helped pull everything together for me. While I'm not a real electrical engineer, I have continued to learn more about electronics, and have used it at my day job, developing scientific instruments. Physics has had a long relationship with electronics.

There are modern versions of these things, but I don't know what they are. The point of my story is that you can develop an interest in electronics without getting a formal degree, if your expectations are realistic, and you're patient. Being reasonably comfortable with math helps. And have fun.

 

[Snert]

Try the US Navy NEETS course. Available online for free and very good for analog.

 

[fdeck]

Try the US Navy NEETS course. Available online for free and very good for analog.

I looked it up. It's "unclassified." I wonder what the classified version looks like.

 

[Snert]

I wonder what the classified version looks like.

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, and I'm trying to give that up.

It's a good course, just a little old, but analog is analog, and the basics are covered more than well enough for a beginner to take it and run with it.