Tube life

[toneguy86]

Just curious how often you all replace power and preamp tubes. I have a LS Classic and run it most of the time in tweed mode at 50 watts. Rarely does the master volume go above half also. I gig 20-25 times a year, although this year it was more. This summer I had one or two gigs a week.

Should I replace power tubes more frequently? Preamp tubes?

 

[plan-x]

A couple of years for those power tubes (my experience with 6l6). Pre-amp tubes can last for several years. I think mine are like 6 years old. If you want to avoid power tube failure(especially at a gig) which has taken out my grid resistors before, change out power tubes every 2 years(IMO) and pre-amp tubes....every 4 years, if at all.

 

[toneguy86]

A couple of years for those power tubes (my experience with 6l6). Pre-amp tubes can last for several years. I think mine are like 6 years old. If you want to avoid power tube failure(especially at a gig) which has taken out my grid resistors before, change out power tubes every 2 years(IMO) and pre-amp tubes....every 4 years, if at all.

I'd never heard that. I had been changing everything once a year until this year. It gets freakin expensive. I do play always in the 50 watt mode. It's been about a year and a half. I'm going to switch the inside and outside tubes around this week.

 

[plan-x]

If you still got those old power tubes, they probably still have a couple of years left in them, and the pre-amp tubes even more. I personally let my last quartet (JJ's) go about 4-5 years before one acted up. I replaced just the bad one and got another 6-12 months before another went. Then just replaced that one. I play the amp a couple times a week for band practice in 50w mode. I had a extra matched quartet laying around and used them for replacements. Matching never seemed to be an issue because I ordered the same values from Euro tubes who keep a record of your previous purchases. What would really take the guess work out of it would to have a tube tester. There is a new one out by Orange that is a simple to use unit that you don't need to be an electrical engineer to operate. It's about $500 clams though, which is to me is priced as high as anyone would possibly consider economically viable. In other words, if it were say $350, I'd buy it for sure.

 

[toneguy86]

Actually just got off the phone with the good people at Eurotubes. They maintain (and I don't think this is just for them to make money) that preamp tubes start noticeably loosing life and top end after 18 months of playing under normal (once or twice a week) gigging or practicing conditions at moderate playing levels. I was actually thinking of going with higher end preamp tubes or even trying the higher gain ones and he talked me out of it. He basically said that for the Lonestar, and the kind of work I typically do, their normal retube set is great. Take that for what it's worth...

 

[MichaelC4]

I want an Orange VT1000. Yeah, $500 is kinda steep. If I was working steady, I'd have one.

 

[thunda1216]

tubes last a long freaking time. I've got a set of Winged C 6L6 tubes that are now 9 years old with A LOT of time on them. Still going strong. I've got preamp tubes still going after 20 years. When the tone starts sounding dull, *maybe* you need to change a tube, but really - don't obsess about it. Play the derned amp! And remember - the tube sellers are in the business of selling you tubes. Just like dope dealers.

 

[Don]

Actually just got off the phone with the good people at Eurotubes. They maintain (and I don't think this is just for them to make money) that preamp tubes start noticeably loosing life and top end after 18 months of playing under normal (once or twice a week) gigging or practicing conditions at moderate playing levels.

I find that JJ preamp tubes sound lifeless and lack top end right out of the box! I prefer the sound of Tungsols.

 

[MrMarkIII]

I bought my Mark III blue stripe new in 1990. After a year of steady every-weekend-five-hour loud gigs, I bought a spare set of power tubes.

I switched them around at a gig. Could not tell the difference.

your power tubes should last a long time, if you use the standby switch, and remember that that amp full of tubes is just a heavy fragile wooden box full of light bulbs, and tote it around as such.
When most tubes die suddenly, it's from mechanical failure, i.e., being tossed and bounced in the back of the van.

There are Mesa amp manuals that say pre-amp tubes need not ever be changed unless they start making noises.

The big issue is they just don't make 'em like they used to.
The materials and manufacturing processes of the olden days simply turned out a better quality product.

And yes, those folks that make and sell tubes will say pretty much anything to get you to buy more tubes. Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs, including this.

 

[saintzband]

I bought my Mark III blue stripe new in 1990. After a year of steady every-weekend-five-hour loud gigs, I bought a spare set of power tubes.

I switched them around at a gig. Could not tell the difference.

your power tubes should last a long time, if you use the standby switch, and remember that that amp full of tubes is just a heavy fragile wooden box full of light bulbs, and tote it around as such.
When most tubes die suddenly, it's from mechanical failure, i.e., being tossed and bounced in the back of the van.

There are Mesa amp manuals that say pre-amp tubes need not ever be changed unless they start making noises.

The big issue is they just don't make 'em like they used to.
The materials and manufacturing processes of the olden days simply turned out a better quality product.

And yes, those folks that make and sell tubes will say pretty much anything to get you to buy more tubes. Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs, including this.

Another "biggie" to extend tube life: don't just unplug and go. Let the amp cool down before moving it.

 

[mixsit]

This seems like a good spot to field this question.
Here at Peavey is a tech note 'white paper #6 (pdf, can't link directly). It basically states the standby sw should not be used past about 15 minutes or so.
http://www.peavey.com/support/technotes/
1st pages are more or less tube basics and history, page 5 gets down to it.
I've been wondering about this since I read it (sort of been taking it on faith and applying actually--
Presuming it applies as he has said, I guess it comes down to at what point do you just go to standby or power on down completely?