crazytubepower Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 I was thinking about how many hours my new tube amp is going to be on buring the week, and I came up with the astounding figure of 70 hours. Is that acceptable to do with tube gear, and with running that many hours is there anything I should expect differently. (sorry for my ignorance about this subject) James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 I was thinking about how many hours my new tube amp is going to be on buring the week, and I came up with the astounding figure of 70 hours. Is that acceptable to do with tube gear, and with running that many hours is there anything I should expect differently. (sorry for my ignorance about this subject) James That's almost exactly what worried me about mine. However, and with me, it was about 3 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whamo Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Hey crazy, back in may I bought a st-70 from one of guy landau's friends. The thing is probably about forty years old. Since I've had it I've put hundreds of hours on it and who knows kow many thousands of hours were on it previously. I can honestly say that I see no reason why this thing cant last another forty years, granted it may need to be fixed or rebuilt in that time period. I say enjoy your amp. Or you could put an hour meter on it like they have on forklifts and log those hours lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 CTP, This is from the upscale audio website: "Tubes age in a couple ways. One is they lose emissions over their lifetime. In other words, they run out of gas. Or better yet steamas they dont just "quit" but lose their drive capability gradually. If you figure a tube like a 12AX7 or 6922 to be good for about 10,000 hours, and you leave it on 24 hours a daywellyou do the math. There are 8,736 hours in a year. So when did the tube go bad? It depends on how picky you are. Its like a tube of toothpaste. Kinda peters out at the end but it seems you can squeeze out a little more. Some products (and audiophiles) are more picky than others. I recommend to folks that want to upgrade to premium new old stock tubes that they do it while their stock tubes are good. That way you have the cheap ones working and available should you decide to sell the pre-amp." In other words, they should last a long time. Many factors come into play. Some amp designs have the bias up on the power tubes, thereby shortening their life span. Ventilation could make a difference, but probably a smaller one. You small signal tubes will last longer than the output tubes will. Mac amps are pretty easy on the output tubes by design. But enjoy it. I never changed tubes in my Dynaco from the mid '70s to 2002. There were times I had in on for many hours a day. I should have changed them, but they were still working. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 At 70 hours ON time a week I would say you can plan on power tube replacemet in 1 1/2 to 2 years if the amp is kind too them and there of good quality. If its not kind your talking about new tubes every year with that ON time (my guess is its not all that kind to them). The small signal tube should last at least 3 to 4 years. The amp itself doesn't care one way or the other in fact most components in the amp suffer more from Hot/Cold cycle more then always on. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 I would be worried about fire leaving a tube amp on 24/7, especially an old one, that has not been checked thoroughly by a good tech. At least if it is only on when you are using it, there is a human nearby to pull the plug in case something nasty happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazytubepower Posted October 30, 2005 Author Share Posted October 30, 2005 Every year isn't too bad, I probably wont have the amp in a year so... doesn't really matter I guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Ground Fault Receptical and proper fuse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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