Tube wear from multiple on/off cycles per day?

It obviously contributes to wear to some degree.
What tubes are you using? If it’s just new production tubes like JJ’s then it doesn’t matter. Just buy new ones when these go bad.
If you have expensive vintage tubes then I can see your concern. But, most vintage tubes are far more durable, turning them on and off four times a day in nothing to be concerned with.
Many vintage tubes advertised 10,000 hours of service, especially ones made for the military.
Personally, I don’t think turning it on and off four times a day would even stress a new production tube.
But that’s just me, Good luck.

 

I'd worry more about the switch wearing out from too many cycles than the tubes.

Preamp tubes are relatively inexpensive and good power tubes can last a very long time.

If I'm going to be playing off and on all day I just turn the Master Volume down and leave the amp on.

 

I never worry about it. I’m in the habit of turning everything off whenever I walk away from it. I do leave my guitar on a stand when I know I’m coming back to it the same day. Otherwise it goes back in it’s case.

 

ive read where its better to leave your amp on and either use the standby or turn the volume down.

 

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams

-Arthur O'Shaughnassey via Willy Wonka​

Who is the boss here? You or the amp?

Bob

 

Wait, didn't Boss kill tube amps? <Grin&Duck>

The only thing that might be of concern is a lot of heat/cool cycles causing a failure from physical stress. I suppose if it's a worry, you could put your rig on a timer that shuts off at, say, midnight and doesn't turn back on until you turn it on manually.

 

(Whoops. Duplicate post.)

 

so this was a lot of fun... nobody knows anything about it, really - but everybody is quite happy to express an opinion!

 

I've left my Quinn SDQ on for over a year. I don't leave the house much, but when I do, I might turn it off. Haven't had to replace any tubes yet.

I actually did wear the switch out, and had it replaced.

 

A YEAR?!!! That’s impressive!

Hey Larry, are your the president of Lectrosonics?

 

Does anybody have an idea of exactly how much current is involved here.
I'll give you a hint: It's expressed in milliamps (1/1000 a).

 

Leaving it on is also going to contribute to tube wear to some degree.

 

Too true, lol. Hey this is TDPRI, after all.

But I actually claim a few factoids.

1. On-off cycles can slightly stress filaments. Source: Most of a lifetime with incandescent light bulbs, which could tend to 'burn out' at the moment when turned on.

2. 'Standby' as a cure, though, is likely worse than the disease. Source: Merlin http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html

3. And leaving a hot tube “on”, with or without standby (especially with) for extended periods of time *also* causes wear. Merlin says:

“The two main causes of valve ageing are natural barium evaporation from the cathode, and interface resistance growth. Barium evaporation continues as long as the cathode is heated, so an ordinary standby switch has no effect on this. But a standby switch does encourage interface resistance growth. In other words, the standby switch is more likely to shorten the life of the valves!”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

If you have a solid state recto, then you're cathode stripping every time the amp is turned on, unless you use a standby to let the heaters warm up before sending B+ to the plates. So what, not a big deal, but doing 4x daily is more wear than not doing it at all. Moral: if SS (Twin Reverb, for instance), use the standby for starts.

Leaving it on for long periods isn't a problem as long as the heat can dissipate. Leaving it on, but in standby, for long periods, isn't so good. I think Merlin has something to say about this on his site.

 

Bull ****. Just like light bulbs, power cycling is what causes tubes to wear out. If you want your light bulbs or vacuum tubes to last, do not ever turn them off.

 

I like to leave the amp on to limit on/off cycles, up to a point, but once the PT gets hot, and I'm going to take a break, I shut the amp off.



I worry more about the longitivity of the transformers than the tubes.

 

you could flip through this
http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/MostVacuumTubes.pdf

It's all about the types and causes of tube failure. Oddly he doesn't really say not to turn things on and off.