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I haven't used my amp in months or even years because I've been away at college. Now that I am home I am using it to record. It's a Marshall AVT 50, and has one 12AX7 tube in the preamp section.

I have been turning on the amp everyday even if I don't intend on playing it. I put the gain on high to get a lot of juice flowing to the tube and leave it running for a few hours. Is this a "good" practice? or will it result in the tube life going down or even overheating and damaging it?

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anonymous Fri, 03/06/2009 - 22:41

The reverb is built off of a circuitry in marshall's AVT series. So the only thing "tube" about your amp is the single tube as the preamp, so it's pretty much a solid state amp...and like someone else mentioned its just a waste of power. The longer you leave any amp on, the more prone is it to damage when it gets to a certain temp.
so keep the dust out of the circuits by turning your knows up and down with the amp off, and unless you're playing it, there isn't any point in keeping it on for long periods of time

Guitarfreak Sat, 05/02/2009 - 15:00

When cold starting a tube amp I can't remember the method to use. It's either...

1. Turn the power on
2. Flip standby switch after a few minutes to let the tubes warm up.

OR

1. Flip the standby switch on for a few minutes to let the tubes warm up.
2. Then turn the power on.

I'm pretty sure it's the first one though.

dvdhawk Sat, 05/02/2009 - 17:19

Guitarfreak wrote: When cold starting a tube amp I can't remember the method to use. It's either...

1. Turn the power on
2. Flip standby switch after a few minutes to let the tubes warm up.

OR

1. Flip the standby switch on for a few minutes to let the tubes warm up.
2. Then turn the power on.

I'm pretty sure it's the first one though.

You are correct it is the first one.

1. Turn the power on
2. Flip standby switch after a few minutes to let the tubes warm up.

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