Hot swapping preamp tubes?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mindseye
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mindseye

mindseye

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Is ok to swap out preamp tubes without turning the amp on and off every time?
I got a bunch of tubes I wanna try out and was just wondering.
 
Id probably wear some gloves. Not latex tho.
 
Yeah sure no problem but I would at least switch the standby , it will make an aweful sound inserting a new one...Do it all the time on my Marshall
 
Just curious Jerry, why it is neccesary to turn the amp off instead of just onto stdby? I swap pre tubes a lot and seems to me more of an issue with hitting those power tubes with on off as I am trying various tubes in multiple positions, could be as many as 5-10 cycles while I'm trying different combinations. I would hate to turn whole amp on and off that many times so quickly. Thanks
 
Leave it on if you want.
Turn the volume down before swapping.

JJ
 
Id prefer to be safe and spend the extra 30 seconds.
 
Thats the real question, on pre tubes is there any part of the swapping that if in stdby is unsafe? I don't like powering down and up the amp so many times in a short period, tough on the output tubes I would think.
 
Question is, when a preamp tube completely fails during operation, what happens to the amp?
Does is do harm to it? Or is the signal just interrupted and it goes silent?
 
Do you guys not realize that tubes are obsolete? Get with the program, fellers!

Steve
 
sah5150":2wwvkypl said:
Do you guys not realize that tubes are obsolete? Get with the program, fellers!

Steve
I have a AxeFx but I can't find the tubes in it to swap them out but then again I dig the way it sounds the way it is....lol

The reason I was asking was because I noticed that on the Fryette Memphis it has the pre's up front for easy swapping and in the owners manual says they can be swapped when the amp is in standby so I was wondering if that was true for other amps.
 
mindseye":1m5hgaw6 said:
sah5150":1m5hgaw6 said:
Do you guys not realize that tubes are obsolete? Get with the program, fellers!

Steve
I have a AxeFx but I can't find the tubes in it to swap them out but then again I dig the way it sounds the way it is....lol

The reason I was asking was because I noticed that on the Fryette Memphis it has the pre's up front for easy swapping and in the owners manual says they can be swapped when the amp is in standby so I was wondering if that was true for other amps.
The big problem is the 3rd degree finger burns when removing the preamp tubes depending on how long you've been playing...

I always say, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Steve
 
I just switch to standby . I guess the argument could be made that if you get it in wrong ( i know thats almost impossible but you may get it in far enough to make a connection across at least part of the tube ) you could screw something up
 
splatter":1usfqybh said:
I guess the argument could be made that if you get it in wrong - SNIP - you could screw something up
That's what she said...

Steve
 
in the least, put it in standby.
i'd go with what Jerry said though....whats that saying....An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
 
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