2. amps-preamps
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Tube newb, what to do?

Hi Guys,

Finally got my tube amp back from service and I'm a little wary. When I first got it it smoked a couple of output KT88 tubes. Now it's back fully fixed and biased correctly, so I've got a few questions;

Should the amp be "babied" for the first hours/days of use?

Should I leave it on and "burn in" the tubes?

Can you damage anything by incorrectly doing either of the above?

Will the amp sound better after buringing in the tubes? The output tubes are the re-issued Genelax KT88's.

Right now it sounds pretty good, but I've yet to put it through it's paces. (really can't wait!)

This is my very first foray into tube amplification and any help you can send my way is going to be of great help!

Thanks,
Geoff
geoffcin

Showing 1 response by musicslug

musicslug
430 posts
 
don't leave the amp on to burn in the tubes

yes, the KT88s will sound better after they're burned in - something like 100 hours

don't worry so much about 'babying'. the cool thing about tube amps (besides how good they sound...) is that they don't really have that many parts and when things go wrong, it's usually a tube, so you can fix the problem yourself.
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