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Question
Oct 26, 2016 18:37:27 GMT -5
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Post by briman on Oct 26, 2016 18:37:27 GMT -5
When i am finished playing guitar, I always turn my amp on standby, wait 20 seconds and then turn it off. Last night I got distracted and forgot to turn it off after turning on standby. I woke up this am and noticed i left it like that all night (7 hours). Does it wear down your tubes while on standby? I hope not! I assume it would a little but alot less than leaving on and not on standby?🤔
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Post by gtrjunior on Oct 26, 2016 19:01:15 GMT -5
I'm also assuming that on some level, if current is flowing through them it would wear on the tubes in some way but really, I'm not sure. I'll bet splawndude knows!!
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Post by splawndude on Oct 26, 2016 20:44:59 GMT -5
Yeah, you won't hurt anything by leaving the power on and the standby off all night long. The heaters are on to the tubes but there is no signal passing through so therefore there is no voltage being applied. I wouldn't do that out of habit of course but you won't do any damage. I doubt very seriously it shortened the life of your tubes by any measurable amount. There are far too many other things that come into the life of your tubes than leaving the tube heaters on for an extended period of time. Switching the tubes on and off a lot over the course of a day would probably be worse actually, to give you an example. Other factors such as: tube manufacturer, volume, hours of use per day, attenuaters, poor speaker load mismatch, poorly biased tubes, poorly matched tubes, etc are things that I would consider far more detrimental then simply leaving your amp on all night long. I'm glad you asked though and I'm glad that you cared enough to create a thread because maybe it will help someone else and if it helps at least 1 other person then it is worthy right? Back to the on/off thing. Some (not me) would make an argument that leaving the amp on all the time is better than turning it on and off all the time. There is something to be said for that though. Your tubes go through a lot of stress when they are turned on (more so then being turned off I believe). So if you were the type that turned your amp on and off 10-12+ times a day it 'might' be better to just leave it on. That said, there is no way that can be measured and I think most would agree to turn your amp off if you are not going to use it. But that's why the standby switch was invented in the first place. Also, I turn my power to off almost immediately after turning standby to off. I don't think there would be any value to waiting any amount of time before switching power off completely. You can technically turn both switches ON at the same time too, just wait a bit for tubes to warm up. The standby switch was added just for that reason. To put the voltage on standby while you take a break or grab another beer You'll be fine (sorry for the long explanation LOL)
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Question
Oct 26, 2016 21:07:59 GMT -5
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Post by briman on Oct 26, 2016 21:07:59 GMT -5
Thanks for the info Splawndude. It is great having someone knowledgeable like you on the forum to help us find info! I have always turned my amp on and then waited roughly 3 mins before turning off standby to let tubes warm up. A buddy told me that would prolong your tube life. Then when i finish playing i turn on standby and wait roughly 20 seconds before turning it off and the reason i do that is if i turn it off immediately after putting it on standby, i will hear a fading squeel noise from the speakers. It lasts about 2 or 3 seconds. ALL of my Splawns have done this. I have had 3 different Splawns. Maybe you know what causes that?
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Post by briman on Oct 26, 2016 21:10:55 GMT -5
And depending how loud the volume is set ......that squeel has scrared the crap out of me a few times!! lol You turn everything off and start to walk away in silence and then ......SSQEEEEEEEKK!!!
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Post by splawndude on Oct 26, 2016 21:53:39 GMT -5
briman - my answer to you is to do what you think is comfortable for you and your gear.
Personally, I think 3 minutes prior and 20 seconds post is excessive but it certainly won't hurt anything. I often turn on my amp and then tune up my guitar or hit my frets with GHS fast frets, etc, before turning standby to play position. But sometimes I just start at it right away even though it doesn't really sound as good until things warm up. I'm convinced that my Splawn needs a good 5-10 minutes before it really starts sounding its best. Not sure if that is the tubes coming up to optimal temp or just psychological.
Remember, we went a long time without standby switches. I've also read plenty of stories about guys who leave all of there switches on and use a power strip to turn everything on and off. No problem.
Yes, I am aware of that loud popping squeak. It is common with most tube amps. Some more than others obviously and also depends on how the amp is rectified. That is the sound of the filter caps bleeding out whatever voltage is left. From everything I've read - that cannot hurt your amp or your speakers - but can be annoying. Simply turning the amps volume down and turning the standby off and then power off is sufficient.
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Post by gtrjunior on Oct 27, 2016 2:56:32 GMT -5
I emailed Scott about that squeal....like splawndude said: it's the voltage bleeding off the caps and won't hurt your amp at all. When I was biasing my amp a couple of months ago I made a point to watch the voltage rise to operating voltage when powering on. It only takes about 20-30 seconds to rise up and about the same to drain once standby is engaged. My routine is to turn the power on, and then get the guitar, attach the strap etc , etc. which takes 30-60 seconds. By then the amp is ready to go and I'm comfortable flipping the standby to the play position. And I usually wait about 10-20 seconds to power off when I'm done to avoid the squeal.
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Question
Oct 27, 2016 18:45:49 GMT -5
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Post by briman on Oct 27, 2016 18:45:49 GMT -5
Yeah my QR definitely starts to sound better after 10 mins also. I guess because the tubes are warmed up. The only reason i wait 20 seconds to turn off os because i don't want it to scare me lol. I could just turn the volume down to zero also......
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Oct 28, 2016 20:17:14 GMT -5
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Post by TheFight on Oct 28, 2016 20:17:14 GMT -5
My tech once told me that you have to wait 10 min before playing your amp after taking it off stand by. He said that your tubes don't warm up fast enough and in result you strip the cathode or something. He also recommended that when I play live and go take a break, to not put the amp in stand by, but rather turn down the volume. He said if you'll be back in 30 min, better that way for you amp and the longevity of your tubes.
Apparently the reason tubes lasted so long back in the day was bcs there was no stand by and no one wanted to turn the amp off for 30 min to an hour having the tubes cold, so they left them on and simply turned the volume down. If you notice when you take your amp off stand by, the tubes dim. He said even though the tubes are glowing they cool down quite a bit. Taking the amp on or off stand by, or even turning it on and off puts stress on the tubes.
I've been doing that lately. I'm not sure how true that is, but this guy is really old and I've seen some cool stuff at his place, so think I'll try it out.
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Post by splawndude on Oct 28, 2016 23:33:36 GMT -5
I certainly wouldn't argue with someone with that much experience. I'm still pretty 'young' when it comes to amp technology. I'd say personally, those are some pretty extreme or interesting procedures but like I said before - if it make you feel better about the health and tone of your gear that is all that matters. Also, like I said, I think there is something to be said for the stress on a tube as it warms up an cools down. The cathode filament is the most susceptible IIRC.
But like gtrJR said, you can watch the voltage rise and fall when come on and off standby. To me, the tube is more under stress when voltage is applied than warming up and cooling down but I am by far not the expert. There is plenty of good reading out there though if you search on the topic.
Also, my guess is the reason tubes lasted so much longer back then is because they were made a hell of lot better LOL. NOS tubes are where it is at if you can afford them.
just my .311 cents.
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Oct 28, 2016 23:39:59 GMT -5
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Post by TheFight on Oct 28, 2016 23:39:59 GMT -5
Yeah your totally right about that. I love nos tubes, but man are they some serious moneys!
Honestly, I wish they had some sort of amp timer. So when I come home my amp is all warmed up and ready for me to play, I just don't really feel like burning down the house..
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