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Post by Johnkenn on Nov 15, 2014 12:19:12 GMT -6
Was talking to an engineer here in town and he talked about how he never turns his tube gear off. I can go for a week or so between using my gear, so, surely that's not the best option for me...What's the general consensus? I know there are different opinions on this...
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Post by tonycamphd on Nov 15, 2014 12:28:42 GMT -6
I like to run any piece of tube gear for 1/2 to an hour before i record with it, but i always turn them off with no plan to use them, why accelerate the killing of the tubes? Applies to guitar amps as well.
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Post by jeromemason on Nov 15, 2014 12:36:03 GMT -6
I turn all my gear off... tube or not. I've got some UPS's and after I shut the comp down I shut down the UPS's and kill all the power to every piece of gear I have. Electrolytics are rated by hours.... IC's produce heat, so do resistors, heat shortens the life of electronics so it makes since to just turn it all off when ya get done. I also like Tony power everything up and let it settle for about 30 mins including my monitors and then I get rolling.
I can't believe anyone would say leaving tube gear on all the time would be a good idea.... it's basically a light bulb and it burns out, also tubes start losing their high end during the end of their life.
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Post by unit7 on Nov 15, 2014 12:48:22 GMT -6
I turn all my gear off... tube or not. I've got some UPS's and after I shut the comp down I shut down the UPS's and kill all the power to every piece of gear I have. Electrolytics are rated by hours.... IC's produce heat, so do resistors, heat shortens the life of electronics so it makes since to just turn it all off when ya get done. I also like Tony power everything up and let it settle for about 30 mins including my monitors and then I get rolling. I can't believe anyone would say leaving tube gear on all the time would be a good idea.... it's basically a light bulb and it burns out, also tubes start losing their high end during the end of their life. I turn off too. The argument I've heard against turning off is that the wear on the tube each time it's powered up equals many days of usage. I don't know why I haven't asked for instance Christian Whitmore about this. Think I will. A sidenote: On the Analoguetube Fairchild clone there's a built in dim up at power up to save the tubes from some of the wear. Makes sense with 20+ tubes in that unit alone.. |
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Post by drbill on Nov 15, 2014 14:23:17 GMT -6
I can go for a week or so between using my gear I turn mine off every night when I'm done using it. But it's your above mentioned statement that really concerns me John. What are you doing? Watching too much TV?  hahaha!!! |
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Nov 15, 2014 14:27:37 GMT -6
Turn mine off. Learned my lesson replacing tubes. Gets expensive.
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Post by Johnkenn on Nov 15, 2014 15:26:30 GMT -6
I can go for a week or so between using my gear I turn mine off every night when I'm done using it. But it's your above mentioned statement that really concerns me John. What are you doing? Watching too much TV? hahaha!!! Writing! |
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Post by Ward on Nov 15, 2014 16:07:21 GMT -6
Just fire it up 30 minutes before you're going to use it. That's sufficient to get the electrons moving efficiently.
Vacuum tubes have a finite life. Why waste it?
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Post by drbill on Nov 15, 2014 16:41:07 GMT -6
I turn mine off every night when I'm done using it. But it's your above mentioned statement that really concerns me John. What are you doing? Watching too much TV? hahaha!!! Writing! <<<<thumbsup>>>> |
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Post by henge on Nov 15, 2014 22:17:21 GMT -6
What about non tube gear?
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Post by tonycamphd on Nov 15, 2014 22:59:45 GMT -6
The truth is heat kills electronics over time, but it's a loooooong time, the "leave it on" theory is that it avoids the expansion and contraction that happens with heating up and cooling down, and avoids a spike with inrush, but most higher current rigs have inrush suppressors. As far as tubes, its cathode is it's fuel, there is only so much fuel, if you leave it on, it burns the fuel, and fails in a quicker birth to death duration, still the same amount burn time, maybe a little longer?
IMO shut it ALL down unless you're working around the clock.
edit; the other thing I should have added was the "leave it on" theory is generally commercial studio based with 24hr climate control a must.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Nov 15, 2014 23:12:29 GMT -6
I shut down everything. When I start up, I wait about 35-45 minutes before recording. Sometimes I'll give the tube in my mic an hour or more before tracking, it seems to sound better to me.
I used to hate replacing tubes in my Marshall 100, and the thought of keeping it on all the time seems whacky. I'm sure there must be tests done to prove this one way or the other.
If you leave a light bulb on or turn it on and off, which ways gives more hours. I'd expect tubes to react in a similar fashion.
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Post by littlesicily on Nov 15, 2014 23:46:54 GMT -6
turn mine off for the day when done recording. i always figured saving tube life. power up following day 1/2 hr prior to session.
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Nov 16, 2014 6:31:04 GMT -6
What about non tube gear? I left my Heritage on for a loooong time and ended up having to replace the PS. Could be coincidence I guess but I'm turning everything off now  |
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Post by henge on Nov 16, 2014 7:17:51 GMT -6
What about non tube gear? I left my Heritage on for a loooong time and ended up having to replace the PS. Could be coincidence I guess but I'm turning everything off now Cool! I guess I better start turning stuff off... |
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Post by Randge on Nov 18, 2014 17:42:56 GMT -6
With as many tubes as I have here at Slack Key, I would be broke from the power bill alone. I most certainly shut everything off. It is much less of a fire hazard when we aren't here also. I do fire everything up for at least a hour before a session starts here.
R
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,940 
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Post by ericn on Nov 18, 2014 18:23:42 GMT -6
For years on always, now warm it up for an hour and go!
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hahaha!!!
