5150 out in the cold

[tgs]

I just got a pretty....weird phonecall from a friend who has recently bought a 5150. He told me that his top has been placed in a car now for about a week. In sweden as well (I don't think it's been below freezing in the last week but I'm not sure because I've been in germany).

He asked me if this might be a problem, to which I answered YES of course! He said he's had it in a flight case for the whole time but I told him that it probably doesn't make much of a difference.

I told him to take the top to his appartment immediately, put it near a radiator over night and DON'T turn it on until tomorrow afternoon or so.

I will go to his place tomorrow and help him check if it works alright. Would just like to know if any of you have any ideas about what kinds of problems we might be facing.

 

[stringy!]

You should be fine if it wasn't below freezing.

I wouldn't put it near a radiator, just sit on a cab and let it warm up to room temp slowly. Going from really cold to really hot on a radiator is what you should avoid.

 

[Frank'nfurter]

Just put in the normal tempered appartment and wait around 24 h. No radiators or heaters!!!

 

[Bob Savage]

I agree with the other guys, don't go to the other extreme and intentionally heat it up, just let it settle in at room temp.

 

[tgs]

Yep ok, thanks a million, guys!! I called him up about an hour ago and told him to just put it right in the middle of the room or something instead. So we're just crossing our fingers now that everything will work fine tomorrow.

 

[James Murphy]

absolutely do not have him put it near a radiator... as the others have said, this would be very bad. the rapid change in temperature from really cold to really warm can cause all sorts of problems, not the least of which is cracks in the tubes (valves).

Edit: .. sorry tgs, your reply was not posted yet when i began writing my post.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

cold amps are fine, what do you guys think the standby mode is for?

Adam Jones stores his amp in a goddamn fridge.

 

[stringy!]

cold amps are fine, what do you guys think the standby mode is for?

Adam Jones stores his amp in a goddamn fridge.

He only does that with his Marshall Superbass to supposedly keep the circuit intact because the amp is old. I don't know why, vintage Superbasses can be had on eBay for a pretty fair price. He's sort of an odd guy.

But I wouldn't recommend pumping high voltage through the amp if it just came from a week of sitting in cold weather. You're going to put extra strain on the amp that can be easily avoided. Ever notice how a flashlight doesn't work very well in really cold weather? Same sort of idea here.

Standby mode is meant to warm up the tubes from room temp, not from freezing temp.

 

[egan.]

cold amps are fine, what do you guys think the standby mode is for?

Exactly. I imagine extremely rapid temp changes could be a problem...but if cold amps where a probelm no one could tour in winter.
hot amp on stage ---> subfreezing trailer for 16 hours--->hot on stage ...repeat

 

[tgs]

Just a little update:
We fired up the amp the day after he took it inside and it worked perfectly, no problems at all. We also used it yesterday on a gig (Unpure/Barathrum/Mortuary Drape) and had no problems whatsoever.

Thanks for your advice, guys!

 

[Andy Sneap]

you've got to remember most tubes are russian anyway, they don't have hot weather there

 

[Andy Sneap]

or heating

 

[Kenny Lee]

or heating

oohh ....that was cold! American humor

 

[Frank'nfurter]

American??? was'nt that a typical english sense of humour?

Edit: better now?*ggg*

 

[Andy Sneap]

and we'll have humour spelt the English way on this board thank you

 

[black sugar]

Yes, let's not dishonour our beloved moderatour now!

 

[Bob Savage]

cold amps are fine, what do you guys think the standby mode is for?

I don't understand the correlation between a possibly frozen amp and standby.

 

[Lord Lurion]

I don't understand the correlation between a possibly frozen amp and standby.

Oh, come on! Everyone knows the standby switch instantly releases a charge of liquid nitrogen at -178ºC that instantly freezes the circuitry! :hotjump:

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

It's pretty simple, when you switch an amp on to standby, it WARMS UP THE TUBES.

 

[Bob Savage]

It's pretty simple, when you switch an amp on to standby, it WARMS UP THE TUBES.

I would again state that I don't see there being a correlation between the two, but nah, I won't belabor the point. :Smug: