Looking after your power tubes at home

[Ailean]

Hi all

We all know that valve amps sound best when the tubes have gotten good and hot, and we all know that you should put the amp on standby when not playing. However, at what point should you switch off the amp?

If you are not intending to play for say an hour, is it better to leave the amp on standby and keep everything warm, or turn off and let it cool off?

If you are likely to be switching the amp on and off 4 or 5 times in the day it it better to just leave it running (in standby).

 

[bronz79]

I put on stand by when i make a longer break (10-20 minutes), if i smoke a cigarette
i leave stand by in run..but if i play one hour and pause for another one sure i put all
to off.

 

[deathtoll]

Also when switching off it is generally better to turn off the main power first then the standby. This helps the life of the capacitors as they will drain completely.

This issue is worse with older amps that don't have efficient cap drains.

 

[smdb]

Also when switching off it is generally better to turn off the main power first then the standby. This helps the life of the capacitors as they will drain completely.

This issue is worse with older amps that don't have efficient cap drains.

Are you sure? I have ALWAYS been told when powering an amp off you turn it to stby first for 30-60 seconds, then turn it off.. Just the opposite when turning the amp on. Stby first 30-60 seconds, then turn it on....
Am I high?

 

[CaptainBob]

si i do:
ON: power on, wait 30 seconds - 1 minute, standby off, ROCK
OFF: standby on, wait 3 - 5 seconds, power off

the reason i think, why you switch off the standby switch before you turn the amp off is,
to prevent the speaker from a possible loud (crack) noise which can destroy the speaker at high volume settings
... and of course, to prevent accidental power on with deactivated standby switch

Robi

 

[smdb]

Ok,
Not saying I have never been high, But I thought I was right on this one.

 

[Hey_bert_whtcha_doin_bert]

ON: power on, wait 30 seconds - 1 minute, standby off, ROCK
OFF: standby on, wait 3 - 5 seconds, power off

Peter said pretty much(well exactly) the same thing about a year ago. He makes the amps, so that's what I do.

 

[deathtoll]

You should always turn the master on any amp to 0 before shutting it down. That way you get no popping of speakers. The only time I turn the stanby off first is when in the studio & I need to leave the amp set the same for the next day. So I don't touch the master setting.

Although these days I tend to reamp. I get the tone / tones right whilst recording the dry guitar & running it out to the amp. By the time all the guitars are tracked I have the tone down. I then fire it up & go for broke getting the entire cd reamp tracked in 1 day 2 @ most. I try to leave the amp set & miked for the duration of the recording so if anything needs dropping in or changing it is ready to go, still miked up.