From vsyevolod@yahoo.com Thu Mar 05 23:33:31 2009
Subject:Re:When to Turn a Tube Amp Off


High end studios will leave their tube mics and other tube equipment turned on 24/7. Any time you turn a tube off, you engage a cooling down process which shortens the life of a tube. Same thing goes for light bulbs. I once saw a news story of a fire station that had the same light bulb on for 80 years. Because they never turned it off, its filament never had to go through the expansion/contraction process, which is what ultimately breaks it.

On the one had, you're using up more electricity doing so. On the other hand, you're vastly extending the life of the equipment.

Stephen