Tube amp powered up?

I've owned tube amps that were turned off and on thousands of times over decades with zero damage to anything.  Jolida amps have a "soft start" feature that warms the tubes up before the amp goes to the "actually on" mode and that likely helps tube life, but note that tubes can blow up on their own which could burn down your yurt…my tube amp is off if I'm out of the house for more than 15 minutes…love my yurt.

Roseofsa, it's true that turn on is hard on tubes, however, many new tube components have soft start that ramps up the voltage/current so as to minimize the impact.  From the perspective of leaving components always on, yes they will sound better, but in a year you will have 8,760 hours on those tubes.  Consider that power tubes last 1000 - 4000 hours (rough estimate) and small signal tubes last around 10,000 hours (again, rough estimate) you will be replacing tubes much more frequently.  Now if you listen from morning to evening then it may not make much of a difference.  Personally, I switched from a tube amp to a hybrid amp (with 2 small signal tubes) since I have the amp on pretty much all day.  One other thing, tubes are much more likely to fail catastrophically, so I don't like leaving the house with them on all the time.

Its not the turn-on surge that messes with tubes, its something called 'cathode stripping' but it only happens in any significant way to power tubes, and that occurs when B+ (voltage) is applied before the tube is completely warmed up. The Jolida has a 'soft start' system for this reason- essentially a timer that waits until the tubes are warmed and then applies B+.

We do it the old school way, just like many guitar amps, where there is a Standby switch so you can apply the B+ (or shut it off) when needed.

Generally speaking, you don't leave tube gear on 24/7 as tubes do have a lifespan, most of which will likely be used up when you are not even around. Some tubes are really expensive, and unlike solid state which can take a day or even a week to sound right, tube gear generally will be sounding pretty good in about 15 minutes and sounding their best within 2 hours. So even though tubes take longer to warm up compared to transistors, they actually don't take as long to warm up  compared to transistors :)

1. tube life is near 100 times shorter vs. transistor
2. idle power is substantially larger vs. solid states
3. SAFETY when on all the time is VERY LOW and may set PC board or wires on FIRE when all of a sudden tube goes bad.

Now figure out what best for you.

Tubes…utterly worth it.

Nothing like hot glass

Rollin, Rollin,Rollin.......
Now using Rogue Cronus Magnum. The JoLida has the day off. 
Ive been told that replacing the AX7 right in the middle of the chassis will give me more bloom, space and air, but at the expense of pinpoint imaging. If anyone has done this switch, what tube did you use, and how was the result?

I found that the current version of Gold Lion's 12AX7s sound great, aren't expensive (at least relative to "vintage" tubes), and, most importantly, look cool. 

I save on oil up here in New England with my mono heaters.....but I do turn them off when not listening.   They are on more than off during most weekends but are always off when I'm not home