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Can you leave your amp on too long?

#21
wvbass said:
Pretty sure my SWR Baby Blue owner's manual warns against leaving the amp on for extended periods of time with no input signal. IIRC, the manual indicates that doing so could cause the amp to need to be serviced.
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Well the amp in question here is actually an SWR Super Redhead. I got mine second hand, so I never had the manual, but it might say the same for mine. It's a tube preamp, but still has solid state power, and I'm assuming that's where most of the heat would be generated.

How about leaving a DC Brick on, cause if my amps on, the pedals are powered up too. The question is pretty much answered already, but I don't know man, could be somehow different.
 
#23
derrick007 said:
Well the amp in question here is actually an SWR Super Redhead. It's a tube preamp, but still has solid state power, and I'm assuming that's where most of the heat would be generated.
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The tube generates plenty of heat. Eventually it will crap out, which is why the amp would need service. And that heat will age components.
 
#24
Rick Auricchio said:
The tube generates plenty of heat. Eventually it will crap out, which is why the amp would need service. And that heat will age components.
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Well, I have, almost literally, a pile of various different 12ax7 tubes laying around, (well, stored properly, not just laying around) so if the tube did go out, wouldn't it just be a simple swap to fix it again, or can a tube blowing cause further damage.
 
#25
derrick007 said:
Well, I have, almost literally, a pile of various different 12ax7 tubes laying around, (well, stored properly, not just laying around) so if the tube did go out, wouldn't it just be a simple swap to fix it again, or can a tube blowing cause further damage.
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12ax7's and all preamp tubes can be replaced easily and at will.
 
#26
derrick007 said:
Well the amp in question here is actually an SWR Super Redhead. I got mine second hand, so I never had the manual, but it might say the same for mine. It's a tube preamp, but still has solid state power, and I'm assuming that's where most of the heat would be generated.

How about leaving a DC Brick on, cause if my amps on, the pedals are powered up too. The question is pretty much answered already, but I don't know man, could be somehow different.
Click to expand...

The Super Redhead has a cooling fan that should kick on to try to keep the temperature in check. And, the Super Redhead (or the Baby Blue II) never had the "don't leave it on" warning in the manual, afaik.

Still, I would try to avoid leaving it on for hours on end if I wasn't using it. Probably wouldn't hurt anything, but it is a bit of a nuisance to get to the tube in the Super Redhead.
 
#27
JimmyM said:
never understood the turn it on and leave it on thing. are these amps so fragile they can't stand to be turned on and off? i say no, and i think it's a bit of superstition or ocd involved.
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The idea is that constant thermal expansion and contraction damages the microscopic semiconductors, so keeping them on reduces the temp variation.

Sure, excessive heat will obviously burn and damage things, but as long as the temperature is within operational limits, and is stable, it wont wear the electronics out at all.

Every large institution I know leaves the PA's, recording and mixing desks on 24/7. Thats gear totalling in the millions too.

But realistically Ive never worried about it myself. Amps arent bad at all. Regulator/rectifiers on motorcycles are an example of the same prob, only much more common.
 
#28
Leaving the amp on for the afternoon isn't going to kill it. I've done multi-band shows where the rented SVT is in the backline for every act starting at noon and ending with the band just before the headliners at 11:00pm. But all electronics has a finite life-span. It's better to be sure to turn it off when you're done with it. You could kill somebody in a house fire if something goes wrong with an amp that is left on when you're not there.

You can, however, damage a tube amp by being in the habit of turning it on and then back off again before the tubes warm up and are running for a while. I think it's called cathode stripping. Plan on leaving your tube amp on for at least 15 minutes once you turn it on. You won't kill it by doing it once, but if you do it too many times, you'll burn out the power tubes. Preamp tubes and SS power amps are not affected by this.
 
#29
Here's a good post regarding the use of stand by with tube heads with input from some pretty savy guys on this board:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=532781&highlight=standby

Conversely, I bought a Peavey CS800 years ago from a pal who accidently left it on for over a year when he went to Canada; I ran it hard, sold it to a friend, who continues to use it

I use the 3 hour rule with SS heads; if I'm not going to use it for 3 hours, I shut it off
 
#30
Rick Auricchio said:
The tube generates plenty of heat. Eventually it will crap out, which is why the amp would need service. And that heat will age components.
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The tube filament is the only thing that fails from simply being left on. It's just like an incandescent light bulb in that sense. If the amp is properly ventilated, the heat gets carried out.

Oh, and tube gear was left on 24/7 in plenty of places before solid state became big. The engineering (as opposed to fantasy) argument was that the current inrush to cold filaments could damage them more than just leaving them on all the time. 1st generation computers that used tubes had to be left on, because there were so many tubes in them you'd invariably pop one at power up.

Um, what did studios, radio, and TV stations do before solid state?

Another pile of FUD thread. :rolleyes:

Like Munji said, you might fractionally decrease the lifetime of the tubes. No houses will burn, no black holes will open, and no kittens will be killed.
 
#31
Think about it - When do light bulbs usually burn out ? When you first turn them on when they are cold. The inrush current blows out the filament.

The same thing happens inside semiconductors. The silicon dies are connected to the pins with tiny gold wires that expand and contract. After they do it enough, one of them fails. SO - I turn my SS amps on and off as seldom as possible. My computer is never turned off.

For tube amps - the heater inside the tube will wear out after a while, so they are best not left on, say overnight.
 
#32
JimmyM said:
recorded a guitar part for a session here, then promptly forgot about it because the pilot light doesn't work. i should probably fix it but eh...probably just as much to fix the pilot light as replace a rec tube ;)
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Unscrew the "jewel" and you'll be able to access the lamp. Replace with an identical lamp.

I also suggest that the length of time had nothing to do with the death of your rectifier. More likely is a spike from a very short term AC outage.

Paul
 
#33
Reviving this thread as I think I just fried my new (old) Ampeg V4. My 1-year old son like to flick switches and turned it on while I was gone (I usually keep it unplugged, but had left in a hurry and forgot after that practice). It was probably on for 3 days, and now doesn't power on or make a sound. So I guess I'm probably looking at replacing the tubes?
 
#35
I was once in a band that went on a long summer hiatus.
I mistakenly left my Oliver tube amp on, on standby, for nearly 4 months.
Turns out, during that period, basement enjoyed an approximate humidity of 200%.
My amp was the only one that survived, and continued to do so for many years.
 
#37
Nightlyraider said:
The audiophile's also leave their CD players on 24/7. The old Playstation 1.02 or 1.03 are still regarded as THE CD playback method; and they let them run forever. Not quite an amplifier; but electronics like that balanced steady load vs turning on and off spikes.
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The lasers have a finite lifetime of a few thousand hours.
 
#38
this is an ole resurrected thread ~

FWIW: when I buy a new amp(SS) I leave it on for about 48hrs (2days) and when I'm not playing bass through it, I play programmed music through so not only is it on for 2 days, its also being driven too. My thinking is - if it going to fail, I want it to happen right away so I can return it and if doesn't fail within the first couple of days of being continuously driven it will last for years (so far its always proven true too) it also helps break in the speakers faster.
 
#39
JtheJazzMan said:
Every large institution I know leaves the PA's, recording and mixing desks on 24/7. Thats gear totalling in the millions too.
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Yeah we just updated all the sound amps at our church and it's all meant to be on 24/7. Not a big deal.

Not sure how that translates to a bass amp, especially a tube amp. At a gig, when everything is set to go and I turn on my amp, I just leave it on until the show is over...so it's on for 5 hours or so. Can't be anything wrong with that.
 

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