crank it up!!!!!
Okay, in the "Geez, I thought everyone knew that" column.
What is the reason for the tube amp sounding better after it is warmed up? I notice the difference when I play either the Epi Vjr or the BH. So as the tubes warm up (assuming that's it) what causes the amp (amph) to sound better? Or is this one of those "It must just be me" things?
A little side not on the BH Hothead
I just noticed the panel for channel two (zoom in)
http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/qua...0bcdd61730.jpg
Mark
* Loud is good, good is better!
crank it up!!!!!
Guitars: A Few
Amps: A Couple
Pedals/Effects: Sure
We've done four already, but now we're steady, and then they went one-two-three-four....
Yep when they warm up the juices start to flow! Sumi
Guitars,Warmoth Tele,90's Fender Strat Plus/Fender CV 50's Tele/Parker p-36/Fretlight/Custom Strat(Fender body/warmoth Clapton neck,tonerider pups)Larrivee L03 mahogany acoustic
Amphs/66 Super Reverb/60's Bandmaster head and 2/12 cab/Blues jr//epi valve jr/supro super/ ZT lunchbox/Mahaffay Little Laneilei 3350/Pignose g40v
Pedals/Voods Rodent/MXR carbon copy/Duncan Pickup booster/Ts9/Rat/ts10/Line 6 tone port uk2
Line 6 M13
The power voltages settle down and the tube components get to operating temperatures. No black magic or zen secrets involved, sorry
Electric: Fat strat > Korg PB > TS7 > DS1 > DD-20 > Cube 60 (Fender model)
Acoustic: Guitar > microphone > audience
What Mark said.
It is certainly true that tube amps sound better after warming up.
I pick a moon dog.
I find this very disappointing.Originally Posted by markb
Mark
* Loud is good, good is better!
Loud...and F'N Loud....funny.
Mark....not sure I can explain it any better than the others have...but it goes back to the Tube TV days....the picture was always better once they warmed up. I always turn my amp on and let it warm up while I am getting everything else ready to play....
Guitars: 2002 Les Paul Studio Limited Color's Edition | 2004 Greg Bennett Avion Les Paul Copy | S101 Telecaster project | 2004 Washburn D46 Acoustic
Amplification: Epiphone Valve Jr. Head and Cabinet | VOX AD30VT
Effects: Rocktron Delay | BBE Free Fuzz | Big Muff Pi | Boss Flanger | Bad Monkey | Jekyll and Hyde | Cry Baby Wah | Boss EQ | Behrenger TU300 Tuner |
Originally Posted by markb
Everything stabilizes and settles into the groove......................
Guitars: 2008 Gibson SG Classic, 2006 Gibson Les Paul Standard LE, 2002 Gibson SG Supreme, 2001 Gibson Les Paul Studio Plus, 1996 Les Paul Studio Gem, American Deluxe Double Fat Strat, Bluesville "Super" Strat Copy, MIK Fender "Limited Edition" Tele, JD Bluesville "Night Pilot", Yamaha AES 820, Steinberger Spirit GT Pro, Taylor 355CE, Ovation 1897 Adamas, Ovation CC057 Celebrity
Amps: Axe FX centered rack rig, Mesa 4x12 cab. Germino Club 40, Johnson JM150 Millennium, Johnson JM250 Millennium, Gibson Titan Medalist Frankenstein.
Effects: Tonebone Trimode, EH Holy Grail, Boss CH-1, Dunlop Crybaby Classic, Framptone Amp Switcher, THD Hot Plate, Yamaha AG Stomp Acoustic Processor, Boss BCB-60 Pedal Board.
Also to add, is to turn tube amps on let the tubes get warm(few minutes) and then hit the stanby switch(if you have one ) if your not ready to play.Alot of cats these days turn their amps on then immediately hit the standby switch My humble opinion is this is the wrong way or technique.I would like to hear other opinions on how they get their amps warmed up.......hopefully not sidetracking this thread but adding to the discussion at hand!
Last edited by mrmudcat; May 4th, 2009 at 06:58 AM.
"I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can. I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to whoever will take it... seek knowledge from those wiser and teach those who wish to learn from me."
"Develop your talent, man, and leave the world something. Records are really gifts from people. To think that an artist would love you enough to share his music with anyone is a beautiful thing."
Duane Skydog Allman
You come to a point in your life when you really don't care what people think about you, you just care what you think about yourself." - Evel Knievel
I always flip 'em on and leave 'em on for 10-15 minutes. I only used the standby switch during breaks back in the day when we played as weekend warriors. When the tubes were hot they just sounded better. The old Fender Super got hotter and better as the night went on................ I also cranked it to 8 or 9 on the volume and used the guitar volume to adjust the level to where I wanted it. It seemed to be more touch sensitive that way.
Guitars
Wilburn Versatare, '52 FrankenTele(Fender licensed parts), Fender USA Roadhouse Strat, Fender USA Standard B-bender Telecaster, Agile AL 3000 w/ WCR pickups, Ibanez MIJ V300 Acoustic, Squier Precision Bass,
Amps
Ceriatone Overtone Special, Musicman 212 Sixty-Five, Fender Blues Jr., Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Reverb, Traynor YCV-40 WR Anniversary w/ matching 1x12 ext. cab, Epiphone SoCal 50w head w/ matching 4x12 cab (Lady Luck speakers), Avatar 2x12 semi-open back cab w/ Celestion speakers
Pedals
Digitech Bad Monkey, Digitech Jamman, DVM's ZYS, Goodrich volume pedal
Just the way I used to use my Fender/Rivera Concert. I could never get on with its distortion channel. All those gain controls and pull switches, far too confusingOriginally Posted by oldguy
Electric: Fat strat > Korg PB > TS7 > DS1 > DD-20 > Cube 60 (Fender model)
Acoustic: Guitar > microphone > audience
Not at all, this is the sort of stuff I'm looking for.Originally Posted by mrmudcat
Mark
* Loud is good, good is better!
A quote from my Fender ProTube Twin-Amp User Manual...
POWER - Switches power ON and OFF to the
amplifier. (Reduce the “shock” to amplifier tubes at
power-up, extending their life span, by turning the
POWER switch ON with the STAND BY switch
DOWN for the first minute, then UP for normal use.
STAND BY - In the DOWN position, this switch puts
the amp on stand by. Audio is muted and power is
supplied only to the tube filaments. Use STAND BY
in place of switching POWER OFF during short
breaks (one hour max.). This eliminates the normal
warm-up time when STAND BY is switched OFF (UP)
when returning to play the amplifier and also extends
the life span of your amplifier’s tubes.
See my photos at: micknewton.smugmug.com
Precisely. :Originally Posted by Plank_Spanker
DVM's Ever-Expanding Gear List:
Guitars - W-A-A-A-Y-Y too many to list. Check 'em all out HERE
Amps & Cabs - "Kap'n Kerrang-aroo" BYOC 18W TMB kit amp head; Mojave Coyote head; Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Lacquered Tweed Ltd. Ed.; Allen Sweet Spot kit amp; BYOC Tweed Royal kit amp; Epiphone Valve Jr. combo + mods; Drive 2x12 cab / Celestion G12M Greenback + G12H30; AB Custom Audio 1x12 cab / Celestion Alnico Blue
Pedals/Effects - ZILLIONS, including DVM's Home-built Pedals - See some HERE and HERE, TOO!
DVM's Gear Photos
Visit MY WEBSITE!
Originally Posted by Mick
Mick I know it is black and white in the manual you grabbed this from but again in my humble opinion it is wrong/misleading or at best another way other than what ive learned.You turn the amp on without the standby switch on. The tubes warm up nice and you go about playing after warmup.(10-15 minutes) If your not ready then engage the standby switch.My fender manuals like yours say the opposite but after many years and many opinions from techs ,and other musicians etc. etc.
this way makes the most sense to me.Having the standby switch engaged on intial power up does not allow the tubes to fully get warm and ive seen a few times where powering up that way ,then hitting the standby off after a minute or two cause fuses and or tubes to blow!:
Just my humble opinion ......nothing more
"I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can. I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to whoever will take it... seek knowledge from those wiser and teach those who wish to learn from me."
"Develop your talent, man, and leave the world something. Records are really gifts from people. To think that an artist would love you enough to share his music with anyone is a beautiful thing."
Duane Skydog Allman
You come to a point in your life when you really don't care what people think about you, you just care what you think about yourself." - Evel Knievel
Ditto......... plus my old Fenders always sounded better when the tubes got hot and stayed hot, IMHO.
Guitars
Wilburn Versatare, '52 FrankenTele(Fender licensed parts), Fender USA Roadhouse Strat, Fender USA Standard B-bender Telecaster, Agile AL 3000 w/ WCR pickups, Ibanez MIJ V300 Acoustic, Squier Precision Bass,
Amps
Ceriatone Overtone Special, Musicman 212 Sixty-Five, Fender Blues Jr., Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Reverb, Traynor YCV-40 WR Anniversary w/ matching 1x12 ext. cab, Epiphone SoCal 50w head w/ matching 4x12 cab (Lady Luck speakers), Avatar 2x12 semi-open back cab w/ Celestion speakers
Pedals
Digitech Bad Monkey, Digitech Jamman, DVM's ZYS, Goodrich volume pedal
I'm a new member; I'm not much for big introductions, and this thread isn't the place anyway... Hello all.
Anyway, if you take a look at the old data sheets for tubes you'll see most of them state the proper warm up time. A 12AX7 for instance needs 12 seconds or so, bigger tubes will take longer. I think a 6L6 is something like 30 sec, but I'm not sure. Large rectifier tubes take about the same, but some are quicker than others depending on the model. The standby switch comes after the rectifier in the power supply line so, depending on what type of rectifier your amp uses that will delay the B+ by itself, even if you switch off standby immediately after you power up the amp.
Smaller amps with lower B+ voltages don't even have or need standby switches.
Basically, I say that 1-2 minutes is a long enough warm up time depending on the amp. Of course, you should always follow what the manual says.
Currently a bad bass player pretending to be a worse guitarist.
Welcome and indeed 2 minutes is enough to warm up the tubes...I give them 10 -15 minutes as stated ........Ill just keep doing what has worked for me but thought id offer my opinion.
Just looked at my manual for the vintage/modern marshall and it states to turn on without standby on and after two minutes warmup you are good to go then you can hit standby if not playing.: Exactly opposite of my fender hrd manual:
Also I have seen personally the HT fuse,main fuse and tubes go bad when somone has turned on their tube amp with the stanby switch on and within a minute or two flip the switch to play just to hear a pop..of course there is a delay for a few seconds while the HT or Main fuse does the slow burn
Anyways to each his own
"I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can. I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to whoever will take it... seek knowledge from those wiser and teach those who wish to learn from me."
"Develop your talent, man, and leave the world something. Records are really gifts from people. To think that an artist would love you enough to share his music with anyone is a beautiful thing."
Duane Skydog Allman
You come to a point in your life when you really don't care what people think about you, you just care what you think about yourself." - Evel Knievel
...is turning the volume full bore helpful in getting things all warm and fuzzy, or does it not, and, does it hurt the amp any to do this (or not) with the guitar cord not plugged in the amp?
Stupid minds want to know!
Q #2 - doesn't the standby mode do quicker damage to the amp, maybe the tranny? I heard long ago that stand-by mode was injurious to the amps internals.