Should I turn my amp off or use the mute?

If its solid state it won't hurt to leave it on. I've seen recording studios leave their solid state gear on 24/7

 

Leave it on. The constant on/off, current in rush, warm/cold cycles are harder on components than just letting them idle.

Whether practice or gigs, when my amps get powered up at the beginning, they don't get powered down until it's over. Just roll the volume off on the bass, or use your mute switch.

 

+1

 

+1

 

I turn my amp and pedals on when I first get up in the morning, and shut them off when I go to bed at night. All I do when I put my bass down is turn down the volume and turn off the wireless transmitter so the battery won't drain. It's a SS amp, so leaving it on all day doesn't hurt it.

 

If Al Gore played bass, he'd read this thread and get all POd.

 

He didn't mind flying all around the world in a plane by himself and his entourage when he was Vice President. If he really cared, he'd have flown commercial.

 

I just leave mine on as well.

 

what about hybrid amps?
like the gb shuttle/streamliners, eden wt-xxx, little mark tube 800, etc.?

 

Anything with tubes you definitely want to leave on during a short break. Tubes go through warmups and cooldowns, and too much of it can put stress on the tubes and cause premature wear. Won't hurt anything to do it occasionally, but just isn't something you'd want to make a habit of.

 

Any modern solidstate amp above a few hundreds watts should have a soft start.
You can usually tell by a delay after you click the power on, you may hear a relay click on and then signal to the speakers.

As soon as I say this, there will be a dozen or so exceptions. Some manufacturers don't add a softstart because - I don't know why... but they'll put in a speaker relay.
You know it when you power on and lights go dim and sometimes you trip a breaker.

It will not hurt anything to turn a modern amp off and on. Even so, it will not be drawing much power with it on mute. Your choice, power on or off. I turn things off for longer breaks.

 

As for Me I have all Planet wave Cables with the Off/On Breaker switches in them So when i am not playing i just hit the switch and unplug my bass so it dont drain the batteries but leave my amp on. I dont like turning the amp off Esp if one is DI'ed through FOH you can get quite the power Up/Down Pops and other stuff that sound guys dont like!! So yeah Leave it on.... cause until it is being used Newtons Law Seam to Apply In My thinking...you know "An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by and outside force" ....Ok Too Much watching Big Bang theory This weekend i think..lol

 

My Ampeg was once left on for three days in standby. When I found it, the room it was in was cozy warm, I was almost convulsing in panic. Then ...I found everything to be ok, so I plugged in and flipped it on. It sounded better than EVER. Then I got yelled at and had to turn it off.

 

Standby and mute are what I put my amps on during breaks and for the entire time I'm at a gig and not playing. On at the start, off at the end, keeps the tubes and components undergoing extra wear and tear from constant power up/ powerdown situations.

 

Looking at what your schedule is... I'd leave it on and engage the mute.

 

I always leave mine on during the entire session. Usually about 4 hours or so. No issues.

 

ALL electronic devices perform better when "warmed-up." In many professional applications, the electronics are NEVER turned-off. Use the mute function. Each turn-on/turn-off cycle decreases the life expectancy of the device due to internal power surges when first powered-up.

 

I use a Peavey Tour 450 that is also solid state, never had a problem with just leaving it on. However when I walk away I generally do use the mute switch just to avoid any feedback or whatnot if the bass happens to be bumped or whatever. Although with these particular Peavey amp's it does not totally mute it 100% for some reason that I still cannot understand. Others have reported this with theirs as well as the 700w model. I have not found much on why Peavey made them this way. But it does the trick.

But to overall answer your question, it's up to you, however wont hurt to leave it on either way.

 

Same with me. My Carvin and ShuttleMax have tubes in them and I leave them on. Some practices have gone on for 5 hours or more and I just turn the volume down on my bass when we're taking a break.