A Beginner's Guide to Standby Use

[upl8tr]

this is a really cool thread, but all i get from is it

"everyone has been doing it wrong for decades".

i'm kinda stunned, to be honest

I've been hearing that from my wife for ever, you get used to it after a while...

 

[axepilot]

It seems that the interwebz info gets everyone spun up over the standby workings - "it will lead to cathode stripping; it can cause damage to the filter caps", and on and on...................................

I look at my standby as a mute switch - standby on for initial power up, and standby on for gig breaks. When the night is done, just kill both standby and the main power.

I'm a grey beard, and in all my years of playing tube amps this way I have never damaged an amp.

There's tons more risk to an amp at load-in / load-out.

 

[Splattle101]

The greatest risk is the beer perched on top of the cab.

 

[V2]

If your amp passes this critical test, you'll be fine...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKUDTPbDhnA]FedEx Guy Throwing My Computer Monitor - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Marshall & Moonshine]

The greatest risk is the beer perched on top of the cab.

My buddy has the SFSR to prove it....

 

[yeti]

most of the internet tube gurus claim the standby switch in guitar amps is unnecessary and came from higher voltage tube applications.

i like it though.
it also made me forget my fender HRD running on standby for a few days.
sounded better after that

I know lots of players who sound better with the amp switched to standby....
permanently.

 

[River]

The greatest risk is the beer perched on top of the cab.

So that's why I have a separate speaker cab...

This is from the manual for my 2002 Fender combo:

STAND BY- In the DOWN position, this switch puts
the amp on stand by. Audio is muted and power is
supplied only to the tube filaments. Use STAND BY
in place of switching POWER OFF during short
breaks (one hour max.). This eliminates the normal
warm-up time when STAND BY is switched OFF (UP)
when returning to play the amplifier and also extends
the life span of your amplifier’s tubes.

I just do what it says. My other two tube amps (one being a Fender) don't have standby switches. So, like, whatever...

 

[Marshall & Moonshine]

Basically, it CAN help and doesn't really hurt, but it CAN hurt and doesn't really help.
Got it.

 

[arc anjil]

Shouldn't the amp's manual give instructions on how to use the Standby? My manual says to turn the amp to standby and then turn the power switch to "on" and let the tubes warm up for three minutes before switching the Standby to "on". It doesn't say anything about how to turn it off, so I just turn the power switch to "off" when I'm done.

 

[Lurko]

Standby switches were made for high-voltage (like thousands of volts) applications. They are completely unnecessary in a guitar amp. So there.

 

[Lurko]

Thank you for this. I was under the impression I could leave it on standby while I went upstairs to do something. Luckily I never left it more than a few minutes. Now I will remember not to do that.

Turn the standby to "ON" and don't ever touch it again. Use the On/Off to power up and down as needed.