Is it safe for me and my 5150 if I pull and swap preamp tubes (or power tubes for that matter) with my amp on standby? I'm messing around with a bunch of pre tubes to try and find my favorite combination, and it would save a lot of time not having to wait for the capacitors to drain when I turn it off or having to wait for the amp to warm up each time I turn it back on.
Tubes (or how not to fry yourself or your amp)
- Thread starter Disconnekt
- Start date
Zack Uidl
Member
::XeS::
Member
What a question..... the mind boggles. Of course you should bloody turn it off! You'll die if you don't!!
TravisW
Member
When your amp is on standby, the only thing that is really "on" is the heaters for the tubes. You could hot-swap tubes, but there are a few problems.
1. Pulling one tube decreases the draw on the heater, so the other filaments receive higher voltage than they should.
2. Tubes are generally pretty hot after the filaments have been powered up for a while. This is bad for your fingers.
3. The new tubes need to be warmed up anyway.
You shouldn't really have to wait on the caps to drain to change tubes (just like you can change a light bulb with the light turned on). Just shut off the amp. Let the tubes cool to the touch. Change the tubes. Turn the amp onto Standby. Let the new tubes warm up. See how it sounds.
The only things in the amp that need warming up are the tubes. Capacitors reach charge within seconds of having power applied, resisters always resist, and transformers always transform.
1. Pulling one tube decreases the draw on the heater, so the other filaments receive higher voltage than they should.
2. Tubes are generally pretty hot after the filaments have been powered up for a while. This is bad for your fingers.
3. The new tubes need to be warmed up anyway.
You shouldn't really have to wait on the caps to drain to change tubes (just like you can change a light bulb with the light turned on). Just shut off the amp. Let the tubes cool to the touch. Change the tubes. Turn the amp onto Standby. Let the new tubes warm up. See how it sounds.
The only things in the amp that need warming up are the tubes. Capacitors reach charge within seconds of having power applied, resisters always resist, and transformers always transform.
Hahaha, ok, I'm surprised I didn't get flamed more for that question! I was just wondering, because the manual for the Mesa Single Rectifier Solo 50 actually encourages hot-swapping tubes on standby for diagnostic purposes, both preamp and power. It even suggests running the amp (for short periods) with one power tube pulled at a time! Anyway, I was wondering if it was only safe with that amp, or universally safe (or if whoever wrote the Mesa manual wants to kill us and our amps).
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
It should be ok as long as you have sufficiently coated all surfaces with beer. It's magickal properties are often used to solve most any problem and amplifer service is no exception.
LSD-Studio
HCAF crusher
