It is now bad to let your tubes warm up before playing

[ghosty999]

I don't understand why you'd want to get rid of a standby switch?

I rely on mine all the time for plugging in and out of the amp without destroying anyones ears, that almost makes it seem extremely important... not redundant?

In THEIR defense, could just turn down your master volume before you unplug.

The flaw with that is if you have your levels set for live and the desk has your levels saved.... turning the knob back to what it was before is never accurate. You always leave it a little louder or quieter even with tape marking. The simple way to avoid estimating is to have a switch. I use mine at least 10 times a day!

 

[ghosty999]

You basically destroy the plate coatings on your tubes blasting them cold with 440vdc.

Will it work ? Yeah, is it good for your tubes, no not really. Especially if they're 40 years old and you really like them.

A tube has heater filament for a reason.

Thats why push/pull amps have a standby.

I thought that you don't get any voltage until the tubes warm up any way. You only blast the plates with full voltage when you let the tubes warm up on stand by and then flip stand by off.

You will get some cathode poisoning if you leave your amp in standby for an extended period of time. Like... days at a time. So that's sort of a moot point because nobody does that.

Rehearsal studios sometimes leave amps on standby between bands all day and all night, that's alot of standby time and they don't seem to have any issue

 

[maddnotez]

I did not write the article. We have a few people we pay to put content out.

Steve Henning chimed in and said what I was going to say, so no point really discussing this any further.

Beg to differ.

Here is what was quoted by Mike Fortin: "Fender essentially misinterpreted the requirements, and everyone else copied Fender. Leo tended not to put anything into the circuit that he felt was unnecessary - but he came from a repair background where a standby switch is a service convenience"

And

"Bypass the standby switch internally so that it does nothing.”

It mentions ripping them from an article but I couldn't find the article and am in a hurry so I'm not going to bother with it.

However, nowhere does Mike Fortin say it is bad to warm up your tubes. As the title to your article suggested.

In fact I recall on that same wampler page we are discussing two other people saying to warm up the tubes. Mike Fortin also uses standby and in the Bones manual suggests to turn the amp on. Dick around for a minute and then turn on the standby. Suggesting to letting the tubes warm up.

When I pointed that out however the FB guy who runs the Wired group freaked out was basically just devensive and and asshole. No discussion, just well we posted it so it's true type of shit lol.

So tell me again, were can I find factual data that proves warming up my tubes is bad for them?

Standby is a great tool for amp builders/repair guys. No one said warming up your tubes BEFORE PLAYING isn't a good idea as the amp will sound it's best with warm tubes (especially older ones), the issue was do you need a Standby to do that and you don't. Simply turning down the volume would be fine. Your confusing letting the tubes warm up before you play with letting the tubes warm up with or without B+ voltage applied.

What about what Trace said? He clearly said he puts a Standby in so that he doesn't have to take a million calls from guitar players asking why there is no Standby...

I understand you are complaining about the title of the article, but the gist of it is about Standbys and whether or not they are necessary. You aren't gonna destroy your tubes by applying B+ immediately, so technically warming them up is not necessary.

Steve

Yeah it was more about the title and just misleading is all but hey, whatever. I made a big deal over nothing, I guess I was more annoyed about how the FB guy was acting about it.

My amp has 1 switch, standby is center position. I turn it on to standby to let my tubes warm up and will continue to do so. Weather or not I actually need a standby I don't know and don't care.

My tubes are 15 years old and sound great

 

[Anonymous]

I did not write the article. We have a few people we pay to put content out.

Steve Henning chimed in and said what I was going to say, so no point really discussing this any further.

Beg to differ.

Here is what was quoted by Mike Fortin: "Fender essentially misinterpreted the requirements, and everyone else copied Fender. Leo tended not to put anything into the circuit that he felt was unnecessary - but he came from a repair background where a standby switch is a service convenience"

And

"Bypass the standby switch internally so that it does nothing.”

It mentions ripping them from an article but I couldn't find the article and am in a hurry so I'm not going to bother with it.

However, nowhere does Mike Fortin say it is bad to warm up your tubes. As the title to your article suggested.

In fact I recall on that same wampler page we are discussing two other people saying to warm up the tubes. Mike Fortin also uses standby and in the Bones manual suggests to turn the amp on. Dick around for a minute and then turn on the standby. Suggesting to letting the tubes warm up.

When I pointed that out however the FB guy who runs the Wired group freaked out was basically just devensive and and asshole. No discussion, just well we posted it so it's true type of shit lol.

So tell me again, were can I find factual data that proves warming up my tubes is bad for them?

Standby is a great tool for amp builders/repair guys. No one said warming up your tubes BEFORE PLAYING isn't a good idea as the amp will sound it's best with warm tubes (especially older ones), the issue was do you need a Standby to do that and you don't. Simply turning down the volume would be fine. Your confusing letting the tubes warm up before you play with letting the tubes warm up with or without B+ voltage applied.

What about what Trace said? He clearly said he puts a Standby in so that he doesn't have to take a million calls from guitar players asking why there is no Standby...

I understand you are complaining about the title of the article, but the gist of it is about Standbys and whether or not they are necessary. You aren't gonna destroy your tubes by applying B+ immediately, so technically warming them up is not necessary.

Steve

Yeah it was more about the title and just misleading is all but hey, whatever. I made a big deal over nothing, I guess I was more annoyed about how the FB guy was acting about it.

My amp has 1 switch, standby is center position. I turn it on to standby to let my tubes warm up and will continue to do so. Weather or not I actually need a standby I don't know and don't care.

My tubes are 15 years old and sound great

Yeah, I getcha! Bottom line is tubes are WAY more resilient in the cricuit than we give them credit for...

Steve

 

[SpiderWars]

Yeah it was more about the title and just misleading is all but hey, whatever. I made a big deal over nothing, I guess I was more annoyed about how the FB guy was acting about it.

My amp has 1 switch, standby is center position. I turn it on to standby to let my tubes warm up and will continue to do so. Weather or not I actually need a standby I don't know and don't care.

My tubes are 15 years old and sound great

I saw a used Gibson Velocette in a store and when I went to test it the 3-way power switch was in the down (ON) position. This is a cathode-biased amp and it runs the EL84s pretty hot. No telling how long that amp had sat there running. It still worked fine.

 

[FourT6and2]

You basically destroy the plate coatings on your tubes blasting them cold with 440vdc.

Will it work ? Yeah, is it good for your tubes, no not really. Especially if they're 40 years old and you really like them.

A tube has heater filament for a reason.

Thats why push/pull amps have a standby.

I thought that you don't get any voltage until the tubes warm up any way. You only blast the plates with full voltage when you let the tubes warm up on stand by and then flip stand by off.

You will get some cathode poisoning if you leave your amp in standby for an extended period of time. Like... days at a time. So that's sort of a moot point because nobody does that.

Rehearsal studios sometimes leave amps on standby between bands all day and all night, that's alot of standby time and they don't seem to have any issue

It's not going to be a day/night sort of problem that jumps out at you like a burnt-out light bulb. It's a long, slow process that eventually leads to shorter tube life. So don't worry about it.

 

[CEG85]

Good toilet reading material.
Been "warming up my tubes" for over 15 years, hasn't failed me yet.

 

[baron55]

Here is the reality and facts. Guitar amp tubes do not, do not, do not need a standby switch. Only for high voltage (1000v+) transmitting tubes. Again like everything else, apples to apples no appoles to blueberries.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html

 

[SpiderWars]

Here is the reality and facts. Guitar amp tubes do not, do not, do not need a standby switch. Only for high voltage (1000v+) transmitting tubes. Again like everything else, apples to apples no appoles to blueberries.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html

Look man, I've been shouting from the mountain top that SB switches are necessary for over 20 years. I can't go back now!

 

[bgh]

Here is the reality and facts. Guitar amp tubes do not, do not, do not need a standby switch. Only for high voltage (1000v+) transmitting tubes. Again like everything else, apples to apples no appoles to blueberries.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html

Look man, I've been shouting from the mountain top that SB switches are necessary for over 20 years. I can't go back now!

I know. Otherwise, that part of my amp's cover plate would be empty.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Cathode Striping has been debunked by the Valve Wizard.

That said, I still think a Standby is cool for when the amp is actually cold when you live in colder climates.

http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html