Jman9112 Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Not car audio, but I have a tube guitar amplifier. Like most, it sounds best warmed up, but when I play it's usually about 10-30mins at a time. Is it worse for the amplifier if it's only being used during cold stage and never really warms up often? Just a question on longevity of the vacuum tubes in warm vs cold climate. Ballin' on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gckless Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Not car audio, but I have a tube guitar amplifier. Like most, it sounds best warmed up, but when I play it's usually about 10-30mins at a time. Is it worse for the amplifier if it's only being used during cold stage and never really warms up often? Just a question on longevity of the vacuum tubes in warm vs cold climate. Do you honestly notice a difference between 5 minutes and 30 minutes? Because I don't. Just because the outside of the tube isn't hot doesn't mean the parts inside aren't. What tubes are you talking about? Preamp, power amp, recitifiers? Also, they're called vacuum tubes because the inside of the tube is a vacuum, so heat doesn't transfer super quick between the filament and the glass. Operating temperature of the heater/filament is going to impact life much more than outside ambient temperature, which means how they are biased (and therefore how much voltage is going through the tube) is the biggest factor, for power tubes anyway. But I'd be much more worried about the vibration in a car than the temp change. "Clipping" is the biggest forum boner now. It's like witchcraft... it automatically explains just about everything people don't understand. My build log: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/200295-gckless-2011-chevrolet-impala/ High resolution photos: Gilbert Kless Photography Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman9112 Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 No its in my house. No vibration but from the speakers. But the tone changes from cold to warm and from what I can tell that process takes about 15 mins from 50degf. I was just wondering if I only play it in short bursts, will it shorten the life of the tubes? Ballin' on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gckless Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 No its in my house. No vibration but from the speakers. But the tone changes from cold to warm and from what I can tell that process takes about 15 mins from 50degf. I was just wondering if I only play it in short bursts, will it shorten the life of the tubes? Oh you're just talking about your guitar amp? For some reason I thought you were comparing the two. Just put it on standby for a few minutes before you start and a few after. I wouldn't worry about it too much besides that. Like I said, bias is going to make a bigger difference. What amp do you have? "Clipping" is the biggest forum boner now. It's like witchcraft... it automatically explains just about everything people don't understand. My build log: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/200295-gckless-2011-chevrolet-impala/ High resolution photos: Gilbert Kless Photography Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke_Audio_Addict Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 We must have pics please. Let it warm up a few minutes like gckless suggested and you'll be fine. That being said a lot of people's definition of "music" is a clipped 30 hz sine wave with some 80 IQ knuckle head grunting about committing crimes and his genitals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman9112 Posted November 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 I don't know how to attach a picture, but its a blackstar ht60 metal. 60watts 2x12 combo. Ballin' on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gckless Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 I've got a tube amp as well, Peavey Valveking 1x12. I prefer 6L6s to EL84/EL34s. Do you have an external bias pot on the amp chassis? I'm not familiar with that amp, I've become jaded since the Mesa Boogie Mark V came out and I couldn't afford it, and stopped looking at new stuff lol. Then again, not really sure why we're going down this road lol. To answer the original question, ambient temp doesn't matter a whole lot unless you're starting at like under 6 degrees Celcius. And even in that case, just let 'em warm up longer in standby. "Clipping" is the biggest forum boner now. It's like witchcraft... it automatically explains just about everything people don't understand. My build log: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/200295-gckless-2011-chevrolet-impala/ High resolution photos: Gilbert Kless Photography Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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