Will a THD HD-16 Hot Plate attenuator lessen tube life?

[woolybooly]

I've been experimenting with a HotPlate on my JCM 800 and I love the warmth and tone it brings to my ears with my amp. I have the master volume set to around 6 and the attenuator around 9 or 10 o'clock.

Does an attenuator lessen tube life of the output tubes? Even if my master is set at 10 and volume adjusted through the THD?

WB

 

[Wireneck]

Im not technically quallified to answer this but its my understanding that the louder you play and more of a load you put on the amp the shorter tube life will become. So if this is true (which possibly isn't) then yes the attenuator could shorten tube life. Its attenuating the volume but not taking the actual load off the amp correct?

 

[boingoman]

Here's the blurb from them, for what it's worth:

"Will it hurt my amp?
The THD Hot Plate will not damage your amplifier. When you play continuously at full output, you cause your tubes to age more quickly than they would at lower volumes. Using a Hot Plate will maintain the life of your tubes at exactly the same rate, no more or less, as when you play straight through the speaker."

So, no, it doesn't have an effect.

 

[SteveK]

It doesn't have an effect if you would be playing your amplifier that loud to begin with. An attenuator is used to allow you to crank up the master volume(power tubes) so you get the gain from the power stage instead of just from the preamp stage. In other words, you can crank your Marshall/Boogie/Vox/tube amp and use the attenuator to bring the overall volume down to a useful level. By allowing you to play your amp at 10 and still be at a easonable volume is what will cause the tubes to age faster. But if you play with the master at 3, and use an attenuator, your tubes will age slower because they are not being pushed as hard. It's not that it will hurt the amp by pushing the tubes, you will just have to replace the tubes more frequently. Hope this helped.

 

[woolybooly]

I just saw that on their site after I posted this thread. Thanks again for the info

WB