Don't forget to warm your tubes...

[cellardweller]

It seems I recall someone, somewhere saying that tube amps should be warmed up prior to usage. Does this extend the longevity of tubes?

[Light]

It may or may not make a difference in the life of the tubes, I don't know, but it absolutely makes a difference in the SOUND of the tubes. This is why recording studios always have the tube gear on at least a half hour before any session.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[cellardweller]

Ahh, good to know!

Will tubes warm at all with an amp on Standby?

[Thatupstateguy]

Usually when an amp is on standby, the tubes will be glowing,...... at least in my experience,... which means they will be warming up,....

Steve

[lpdeluxe]

Standby keeps the tubes warmed up (B+ voltage) but doesn't allow any signal to go through. That way you don't wear out the wires by all those notes getting pushed through the tight spots. In digital gear, standby allows the 0s through but not the 1s, because the 0s have round edges and thus causes lower wear & tear.

[Aaron Cheney]

I've had to pass 1's before, and it looked something like this:

Trust me... the zero's cause much less wear and tear...


A
www.aaroncheney.com

[lpdeluxe]

LOL, Aaron...if a little more graphic than I expected!

[David]

I alway's let mine cool on standby for at least a good five min before turning it off. Don't know if it helps that much, but I alway's do it.

[geet73]

If standby is what warms up the amp.. then wouldn't it be impossible to "cool" the amp in standby?

[Light]

Tubes should be cooled with the amp turned OFF, and should be completely cool before you move your amp (if at all possible).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[arcaxis]

Probably the most wear and tear on tubes that shortens their life is heating and cooling of the filaments. The standby switch allows the filaments to stay on, but turns off the B+ high voltage to the tubes. This allows you to put the amp into "quiet mode", preserve tube life, and be able to put the amp back on instantly without a warm up period.

[David]

Originally Posted by Light

Tubes should be cooled with the amp turned OFF, and should be completely cool before you move your amp (if at all possible).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

Okay, maybe what I ment to say was I don't just turn the damn thing off after I'm thru playing, I put it in standby for a little while. Is that better, or does it even matter?

[lpdeluxe]

Yes, it's better. Yes, it matters. Vacuum tubes are human, ya know, and it never hurts to warm them up and cool them off. In fact, one of the design goals of the transistor was to have a device that didn't have the long warmup/cooloff cycle of tubes. Look up the early tube computers' specs sometime: they each had a crew of many people whose only job was going around replacing the 1000's of tubes required to amplify the signal to the required level.

[Tapehead]

Passing ones is easier than zeros in my opinion since they are narrower, as long as the ones don't get stuck sideways. Keep your circuits well greased and they should just slide right on through.