tromprof Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 A question about my new tube amp. It is living in my teaching studio, and I often either record students or play them recordings during their lessons. With my old SS amp I would turn it on and off as needed. Is this ok with a tube amp, or is it better to leave it on during a 4-5 hour teaching session? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cincymat Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 I’d leave it on. The tubes need to warm up and power cycling that often introduces a lot of thermal cycling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 The cold to hot cycle is hard on tube equipment and the tubes themselves...but you also have to weigh in the fact that every hour on is an hour of life used up on the tubes....my rule that has served me well in my shop system is I turn it on when I first enter my shop for the day and turn it off when I'm done for the day. Thoughout the day I might not actual play music for multiple hours out of the day. But I personally still prefer one cold to hot cycle a day. Using this approach has my current VRDs I built way back in 2003 running 14 to 18 hours most days without failure. I often get 7000+ hours out of a set of output tubes and retire at that point because they start to show unstable bias. I've to date never had an output outright fail. I have lost a few used Mullard 5AR4's over the years.. So I suggest turning your tube gear on once a day about 20 minutes before your going use it and then off when you know your done using for the day. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopardave Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 20 hours ago, tromprof said: A question about my new tube amp. It is living in my teaching studio, and I often either record students or play them recordings during their lessons. With my old SS amp I would turn it on and off as needed. Is this ok with a tube amp, or is it better to leave it on during a 4-5 hour teaching session? I only use mine on the weekends and same as Craig, turn it on in the morning and off at the end of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 Thanks for the responses. Once it goes on it will stay on until I finish teaching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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