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Tube amp on/off: best practice?

My main system, with a tube integrated, is in my studio where I work 10-12 hours a day, interrupted by the occasional offsite meeting or errand.

What's the best practice/rule of thumb for powering it up and down as I duck in and out of the studio? Just leave it on all day?
How long do I need to be away for it to be better to power it down?

Right now I'm firing it up and cooling it down about 3x a day, running it a total of 6-8 hours a day.
soundgasm
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Samhar, turn the preamp ON first then the amp. When shutting down turn the amp OFF first then the sources and preamp.
tpreaves's avatar
tpreaves
2,682 posts
 
Why put extra hours of usage on your tubes? My amp sounds fine on start up and gets optimal after 10-15 minutes.Just my thoughts.
soundgasm OP
152 posts
 
I was under the misconception (?) that the power cycle was hard on the tubes, shortening their lifespan.

Also, Samhar, I thought tubes just went quietly into the night...at least that's how they've failed for me so far. But yikes - is there a fire-hazard variety of tube death I don't know about too?

Thanks for your thoughts and expertise.
jarobertson
14 posts
 
I had a Winged C EL34 go bad on a power amp and it looked like it was shooting sparks inside the tube. It was crazy. I'm glad I was there to cut it off immediately.
samhar
1,048 posts
 
Polk432
That's how I do it.

Soundgasm
The 9 pin tubes stay on all the time in my amp and on standby in the preamp, it's been the "big" power tubes in the amp where I've had problems. The last power tube that failed, a 6C33CB, started to glow cherry red, and the one before that started arcing. I haven't had anything catch fire and don't intend to tempt fate anymore even though my amps take 1 1/2- 2+ hrs to hit their stride, "settle in" and start sounding very good, at 3+ hrs the magic really starts to happen!!!
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