[Leon]

^ those are brand specific, so it's not exactly an unbiased resource.



but seriously, yeah, that's a gigantic list of tubes. kinda cool, though... makes you realize how many tubes COULD be utilized, and how few actually make it into production amplifiers.

[budda]

yeah it's biased - the man wants to sell his product lol. (and it is a good product)

is anybody opposed to me copying and pasting the info post to another site? i'd link it to here..

[JohnnyCNote]

This is well worth checking out if you haven't already:

How Amps Work

[7 Dying Trees]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCNote

This is well worth checking out if you haven't already:

How Amps Work

Cool, added it in as a resource link

Originally Posted by budda

a bit late in this response..

euro-e

should be it!

Also cool, have added the warning about bias as well

Originally Posted by budda

yeah it's biased - the man wants to sell his product lol. (and it is a good product)

is anybody opposed to me copying and pasting the info post to another site? i'd link it to here..

No problem, I don't mind, as long as the corrections make it back here, as there may be mistakes, and it'd be nice to have them rectified

[budda]

shibby, thanks james

I'll post a link back to the thread, but i dont know if non-ss.org members will be able to get to it? they should..

cheers!

[FoxZero]

Kickass explanations! A lot of things I wanted to know in here.

I was actually never sure how you were supposed to turn on a tube amp.

[Dr. Von Goosewing]

There's a lot of useful info in this thread, I certainly leant a lot about tube amps... just makes me want a "real" amp more & more now...

[lordcliffton]

Originally Posted by 7 Dying Trees

Added it in. Interestingly, in another thread, some people were recommending flipping it onto standby and then turning it off. Well, looks like that's the wrong way of doing it as well as the caps don't discharge, and something I never knew properly either! Well, kind of cool, as I am learning stuff by doing this!

great ceasars ghost.. I actually didn't know that , not that I'm super knowledgeable .. but I was doing it the way you described it above most of the time,,, & sometimes just shutting it down(power-off only) when pressed for time. THANKS!

I'll be sure to pass along the info-just shut it down & nvm the standby.

[TheHandOfStone]

I am considering buying my first tube amp, and found this page very helpful.

[playstopause]

Stupid question : how long you guys generaly wait before putting the amp on "Standby" if you want to take a break, but know you'll be playing later on?

Like, is it worth putting the amp on "Standby" if you only stop for 15 minutes?
I know I wouldn't let the amp "on" for an hour without playing, but I'm just curious to see.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by playstopause

Stupid question : how long you guys generaly wait before putting the amp on "Standby" if you want to take a break, but know you'll be playing later on?

Like, is it worth putting the amp on "Standby" if you only stop for 15 minutes?
I know I wouldn't let the amp "on" for an hour without playing, but I'm just curious to see.

I've left it on standby for an hour before, really the longer it's on standby the better it'll sound when you come back to it. Generally I only turn the amp off when I'm going home/leaving the gig. In fact, sometimes if we're headlining and the venue wants to setup a backline, I'll turn my amp on and let it warm up while the other bands play, then I just show up on stage and go.

So to answer your question: yes.

[playstopause]

Thanks Zim.

[djpharoah]

This amp is awesome and is chalk full of information. Great read.

[budda]

dont you mean thread?

[winterlover]

that...was...awesome

[petereanima]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

I've left it on standby for an hour before, really the longer it's on standby the better it'll sound when you come back to it. Generally I only turn the amp off when I'm going home/leaving the gig. In fact, sometimes if we're headlining and the venue wants to setup a backline, I'll turn my amp on and let it warm up while the other bands play, then I just show up on stage and go.

So to answer your question: yes.

late reply i know, but i just read it and wanted to add a quote from the Diezel guys:

Originally Posted by Question

]

Sometimes I turn the amp on, and play a little bit, but the switch it to stand by and go do something else and come back half an hour later and jam a bit more, then go do some other thing and so on, leaving the amp in stand by for more than 2 hours sometimes.

Is this safe? will this wear th tubes out faster?

Originally Posted by Answer

You are wasting way too much ressources and increase the CO2 emissions when you are doing this.
Standby is ok for the startup (even that is doubtful) and for short (!) breaks.
If you keep it too long in standby mode you can get cathode poisoning as well.

[Scali]

Originally Posted by 7 Dying Trees

Added it in. Interestingly, in another thread, some people were recommending flipping it onto standby and then turning it off. Well, looks like that's the wrong way of doing it as well as the caps don't discharge, and something I never knew properly either! Well, kind of cool, as I am learning stuff by doing this!

I think it depends on how the amp is designed?
On my Marshall 6101 when I put it in standby, the signal will slowly drop out and distort until it's gone. Clearly a sign of the caps discharging. It does the same if you just turn it off (I'll see if there's something in the manual that recommends how to turn it on/off).
Aside from that, modern amps are required to have 'bleed resistors' on the caps. Basically this is an artificial leak, which ensures that the caps will always discharge to ground. I'm not sure how long it actually takes for the caps to bleed empty however, but it's probably below lethal levels in only a few seconds at most, so it's probably safe enough to open the amp right after it's turned off/unplugged.

Vintage amps are a death trap however. If I see how some of those old 50s/60s Fender amps were built... geez, I'd be scared to go near one.

[7 Dying Trees]

Modern amps have bleed resistors, yes, but I've had a mid-late 90's rivera amp that retained charge for a very very long (as in keeping the standby light lit up) which would happen if you flipped the standby on, the powered off, as opposed to powering off.

It's not required by any means, ie, modern amps as you point out, however, as a general hard and fast rule, especially when dealing with vintage amps (ie, the ones you should not try to service unless you know what you are doing, or how to discharge caps) it works.

[winterlover]

what's an amp load i have to get then?

and also i have another question.
if an amp's bulbs are supposed to glow red and have faded what wpuld be a good way to make them red again? i thought maybe a paint pen, what would be the best way you think?

thanks again everyone

[CrushingAnvil]

Awesome Thread, Jimbo! If only I could memorise that list I'd land a job as a sales rep a little quicker

+1

Originally Posted by winterlover

what's an amp load i have to get then?

and also i have another question.
if an amp's bulbs are supposed to glow red and have faded what wpuld be a good way to make them red again? i thought maybe a paint pen, what would be the best way you think?

thanks again everyone

you've got to be shitting me, dude...

[chrismgtis]

So that's why the tubes in my amp went bad.

Well I guess after 10 years or so that was expected.

I really didn't know the standby switch had such a purpose though until now.

[WarriorOfMetal]

You know what I just realized seems to be missing from this thread? Descriptions of how to tell when your tubes need to be replaced.

[ohio_eric]

MetroAmp.com Forum • View topic - Decription of output tube types....

Popsyche posted this link a while back and it's very good at explaining different power amp tube types.