Proper care of tube equipment

[mizzle]

Just a few questions:

1- Is it better for the life of my tube units to be turned off after each use (within reason that is), or is it ok to keep these things powered for the day?

2- I sometimes send a really hot signal from a Gates STA Level into an EAR 822 eq and drive the EAR into distortion. It's a very unique effect esp. for guitars and bass but do I risk damaging the eq?

3- Do I risk damaging a piece of equipment (Manley Vari-Mu for instance) if I send a signal through it within a certain time frame after power up (the Vari-mu is supposed to require 30 mins for warming up)?

[seaneldon]

preamp tubes have a very, very, very long life. if you buy a mic pre brand new the last thing you should worry about for at least a few years is preamp tubes. and they're relatively inexpensive in the event that they finally crap out.

tube "warmup" is to achieve optimum sound according to tests and the manufacturer's general opinion.

[idylldon]

Originally Posted by mizzle

Just a few questions:
1- Is it better for the life of my tube units to be turned off after each use (within reason that is), or is it ok to keep these things powered for the day?

Tube gear isn't fragile at all. Really. There's this whole mystic surrounding it now, but when it was the "normal" gear the stuff stayed on almost constantly or constantly in most studio situations (radio stations, recording studios, etc.). I just follow a simple rule: If I turn it on to use it, I just keep it on until I turn everything off at the end of the day/session. I think it's far better to handle electronics this way rather than cycling something on and off constantly.

2- I sometimes send a really hot signal from a Gates STA Level into an EAR 822 eq and drive the EAR into distortion. It's a very unique effect esp. for guitars and bass but do I risk damaging the eq?

Most likely not. You're just overdriving the front end of the EQ unit much like a booster pedal overdrives the front end of a guitar amp. I wouldn't worry about it. I guess if you pushed an insanely high signal (which equates to high voltage) into the front of the EQ you could blow a transistor or IC (I'm not familiar with the unit--just guessing it's solid-state), but it would sound so horrid before you reached that level you'd back off the knob anyway.

3- Do I risk damaging a piece of equipment (Manley Vari-Mu for instance) if I send a signal through it within a certain time frame after power up (the Vari-mu is supposed to require 30 mins for warming up)?

No. All tube-powered gear benefits greatly by a warm-up period, but you won't hurt anything by passing signal through it right after the tubes start conducting. It takes a bit for everything to get up to temp and stabilize, and it usually sounds better after warming up, which is why Manley suggest the warm-up period.

Cheers,
==
Don

[lucey]

Don nailed it ... clipping is not painful, warm up is always good, leave it on all day when in use, not overnight (unless you're going to bed at 3 and up at 8!).

(The only thing I leave on all the time is an MM1200 that gets used maybe once a week, it's just more stable that way. But it's a highly unstable unit, totally unique.)

[mizzle]

Thanks guys!