left my amp on standby overnight...

[punkrockmike]

so after practice yesterday i forgot to turn my amp off, and it was on standby for about 18 or 19 hours until my roommate got to the practice space and noticed it was on. he turned it off and tried turning it on and playing through it before he left and said it sounded fine. did i just make a very expensive mistake? its an SVT 2 pro, and ive already had some problems with it, and just spent $500+ in september having it serviced and replacing the tubes. what kind of things could i have damaged by doing this?

 

[bassboysam]

should be fine. I have done it before many times and never had any issues.

 

[AdamJames306]

You just wasted some electricity. Don't sweat it.

 

[punkrockmike]

alright good. i was really worried for a minute there. you dont think it wore down the tubes at all?

 

[bassboysam]

It does, but not siginificant.

 

[hifibass]

Yup, like they said.........

 

[Liam Wald]

It is pretty much true with all things electrical that thermal cycling is what wears things out. Thermal cycling is heating then cooling then heating then cooling etc etc.
Example a light bulb that is turned on and left on will last more hours than a light bulb that is turned on and off. Same is true with tubes. That is why radio stations, back in the days of tube amps, never ever turned the equipment off even if they were off-air.

 

[eyeballkid]

nah.. I think its toast. Ill give ya $200 for it for parts.

 

[punkrockmike]

haha well it is for sale but im not sure if $200 is gonna cut it

 

[MAMMOTHvolume]

It is pretty much true with all things electrical that thermal cycling is what wears things out. Thermal cycling is heating then cooling then heating then cooling etc etc.
Example a light bulb that is turned on and left on will last more hours than a light bulb that is turned on and off. Same is true with tubes. That is why radio stations, back in the days of tube amps, never ever turned the equipment off even if they were off-air.

The valves they used as radio transmitters were a lil different.

Turning lights on and off does wear the filiment down a bit but not badly.

Valves should have a few hundred hours on them before you should really be expecting any problems

 

[Pilgrim]

I'm amused by the folks who didn't grow up with tubes....

No, no harm done. You could leave that amp on for weeks and it wouldn't hurt a thing. Tube life is measured in thousands of hours, and you won't hurt it by leaving it hot.

To amend the statement immediately above: you should not expect problems with any tube until it has been on for more than a thousand hours. Most of the tubes in my 1967 Bassman amp are the ones that were in it when I bought it in 1967. I don't use it a lot, but that's a lot of years.

You "wore down" the tubes about as much as driving a mile to the grocery store and back wears down a set of 60,000 mile tires...if even that much.

 

[jungleheat]

If your friend already said it plays fine why were you even worried in the first place?

 

[punkrockmike]

just wondering if there was any possibility of anything being damaged by leaving it on overnight. and what "sounds fine" to him may not "sound fine" to me, since i haven't had the chance to check it out yet today.

 

[Liam Wald]

If your friend already said it plays fine why were you even worried in the first place?

Some people just like to run around like their hair is on fire before they look in a mirror to see if it is... no worries. That's cool.

 

[madmatt]

Actually it is beneficial to leave them on standby. If you could leave them in standby all of the time they would probably last longer.

 

[SBassman]

You're good. Enjoy it and don't worry about.

 

[punkrockmike]

Some people just like to run around like their hair is on fire before they look in a mirror to see if it is... no worries. That's cool.

i definitely fall under that catagory of person

 

[Nightlyraider]

I'd fret about it.

Ba-duh-cha!

 

[JimmyM]

i definitely fall under that catagory of person

But you're punk rock...you're supposed to sneer at stuff like that, then throw it on the floor as hard as you can!

 

[soulman969]

I'm amused by the folks who didn't grow up with tubes....

No, no harm done. You could leave that amp on for weeks and it wouldn't hurt a thing. Tube life is measured in thousands of hours, and you won't hurt it by leaving it hot.

To amend the statement immediately above: you should not expect problems with any tube until it has been on for more than a thousand hours. Most of the tubes in my 1967 Bassman amp are the ones that were in it when I bought it in 1967. I don't use it a lot, but that's a lot of years.

You "wore down" the tubes about as much as driving a mile to the grocery store and back wears down a set of 60,000 mile tires...if even that much.

I haved to chuckle at that too. Heck the old tube radios and TV's that were still around when I was a kid played for hours and hours and weren't in any kind of stand by mode. How many times did we fall asleep to wake up to a test pattern? How many have actually seen one of those?

Like you I had a 60's Bassman that was always on for hours on end when I was trying to practice and work at the same time. It must have gotten to be a habit because my GK is on right so when I take a break from posting I don't have to flip the switch. I just strap the bass on and play.