tube amp vs cold weather..

[Dethrats]

i have a gig coming up and the bar is short on space, so i must keep my rig out in my ride until we play. its gunna get down to about 20ish tonight.

should i be worried about leaving it in the van for a couple of hours? i know i must let it warm up before playing and all that jazz.

[ezstep]

As long as moisture is not a problem (rain, snow), it shouldn't hurt. Think of all the music trailers filled with speaker cabs and heads, when the temps drop well below freezing. Just unload it first and let it sit inside for a while before turning it on. It should be fine.

[jmattbassplaya]

Just make sure the head warms up to room temperature before turning it on and it should be fine.

[Dethrats]

thanks for your replies.
and i dont see it snowing/raining, but if it does i always keep a sleeping bag in the van with me. haha

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by Dethrats

should i be worried about leaving it in the van for a couple of hours? i know i must let it warm up before playing and all that jazz.

Damn right you should be worried! More gear gets stolen out of vehicles than any other place.

[Dethrats]

heh, ill be locking it up for sure!!

[Clark Dark]

go inside the bar get a sandwich or two a couple of cold beverages (it doesn't have to be alcoholic) go back to van, pump the CD and turn on the heat. Then go gig.

[Mr. Foxen]

The risk is bringing a cold thing into a warm, moist place, all the moisture in the air will condense on the cold amp, and if that happens to be an electrical bit, there can be issues. Other one to look out for is carrying a still warm valve amp outside, a blast of cold wind disagrees with hot glass.

[christw]

Be careful of the cold glass of water scenario. As mentioned, you might end up with condensation on your amp. If possible, I'd at least have your head inside an hour before your set. As well, the bass response of your speakers may be reduced by the cold so try not to keep tweaking your low end to get it to sound more normal. (Rubber surrounds on cheap car subwoofers really tighten up in the cold! You can lose more then 50% of your perceived bass volume in that situation just due to cold speakers. Ask a guy who has done a lot of car audio work for his friends in years past!)

[derridiandrift]

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

Damn right you should be worried! More gear gets stolen out of vehicles than any other place.

Paul is correct. This should be your biggest concern.

My previous SVT spent the vast majority of its time in vans and trailers from about 2001 until the summer of 2010. Not that I was homeless. The amp was on the road pretty much constantly during that time as it passed from one road hog bassist to the next.

The jacks will corrode from condensation. Pots might corrode too. But one night isn't going to kill it.

[derridiandrift]

I just remembered that I had an SVT-4 that was killed by condensation on the power relay. Let the amp warm up from the deep freeze before you power-up.

[Jerrold Tiers]

For a tube amp with standby..... put it on standby as soon as you can move it in. Even if it's off to the side until you get set up.

Now, if the "20 deg" is 20 deg F, that isn't too bad.... likely no big issue.

if the 20 deg is -20 deg F, that's another issue altogether, and you should definitely have it in early, and plugged-in on standby.

No standby switch? Stick it somewhere warm while you set up, it's all you can do.

Old-time amps with no PC boards are MUCH more resistant to problems. Those old Fender "Mars bar" tagboards usually are not overly bothered by condensation, for instance (unless they are defective).

[AwkwardLoudness]

If an amp is cold from being out in the vehicle, sometimes I warm it up in and out with a hair dryer if it's inconvenient to wait. Then, I put it on standby for a 10 minutes. On a warmer day, 2 minutes on standby is enough.

[okcrum]

Unless the van has no heater, or the club is 5 min. away, the amp will be warmer than is being assumed when the OP gets to the gig.

[nysbob]

I've gigged tube amps for forty years in & out of cold garages and trucks & never had any issues that could be attributed to temperature changes. Even if the thing is stone cold, 15 minutes in the heated environment and it'll be ready to power up. I just do the rest of my wiring and set up before hitting the on switch. Ditto on the back end - power down when the gig's done and by the time you get yourself packed up it'll be sufficiently cooled to handle the arctic blast.

Just use a little common sense.

[Dan Knowlton]

Originally Posted by Dethrats

heh, ill be locking it up for sure!!

Good idea, we know that a thief would NEVER break the glass to get inside!

Dan K.

[JimmyM]

well what are you supposed to do? take it into your hotel room?

[Rezdog]

Greetings from the North,

It should be just fine. The only thing I made sure of was letting the tubes cool off a bit before going into sub zero weather after a gig. The ole Pegs were pretty rugged.

Rezdog

[onosson]

I live up in the frozen north... it's already into the minus teens to -20 overnight (that's Celsius by the way) and it regularly heads into the -30s overnight for long stretches of January and February. In 20 years of gigging, I've only once had a problem taking an amp from the cold into a club, plugging in and starting playing. That's just my experience, but I doubt that in most parts of the U.S. you have very much to worry about re: temperatures.

[Growly Lytes]

What if you have a S.S amp not in cold temp......Is there a need to warm a S.S amp up in normal conditions ?? I understand if its cold but what if its not should you give it a little bit of time before cranking it or is it o.k to just crank it right away once youve turned it on ??