question about TubePre

[jbucla2005]

Do I have to be careful when connecting or disconnecting equipment while it is on or loud noises to the mic, like causing my TubePre to clip a lot, is this going to damage or wear down the tube faster?

[dementedchord]

no the tube probably wont suffer but your gonna seriously fuck your speakers....

[scrubs]

I would advise turning phantom power off and turning the gain all the way down before connecting/disconnecting equipment.

[jbucla2005]

Originally Posted by scrubs

I would advise turning phantom power off and turning the gain all the way down before connecting/disconnecting equipment.

im lazy, cant I just turn the volume down some or hit the 20db pad? I sometimes need to unplug the mic and plug it back in to remove it from the tripod. Is this really dangerous? Is this unit gentle on tubes? I have some nice tubes I like using in it.

[SRR]

Originally Posted by scrubs

I would advise turning phantom power off and turning the gain all the way down before connecting/disconnecting equipment.

+1









filler here

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by jbucla2005

im lazy, cant I just turn the volume down some or hit the 20db pad? I sometimes need to unplug the mic and plug it back in to remove it from the tripod. Is this really dangerous? Is this unit gentle on tubes? I have some nice tubes I like using in it.

You can do whatever you want...the effect on the longevity of your mics and preamp may, however, be affected by your decisions. The real problem is phantom power spikes to your microphones and overloading your inputs/monitors with the volume pops that occur when you plug/unlplug in such circumstances. Many classic mixing boards have/had phantom on all channels, so the risk is probably not great, it's just a precaution.

If this is a cheap presonus/behringer type tube pre, then the tube is running at very low voltage (starved-plate) and should last for years and years. Changing the tube will have minimal impact on the sound, as the tube is just adding distortion and has no role in the gain structure of the preamp.