Standby

[selloutrr]

lots of amps if you turn off the power switch off and turn the standby on will discharge the filter caps. always test voltages before you start working on an amp.

I was also taught to use the standby for a few seconds before turning off the power.... debate?

[Reeltarded]

We must have had the same tech. Bitchy old guy with capacitor burns up to the third knuckle? Answers to the name "Dood"?

Me too.

[selloutrr]

yep.. same doob

[daydreamer]

I powered down the bass players amp one day without the 'standby ritual of choice' he was accustom to, ..didn't I get it in the neck...

He came out with some long explanation of how bad it was for the tubes.

It's always perplexed me; if Standby is so important why leave it to a guitarist to do it?

If it's going to hurt my 'expensive' amp, shouldn't it have a key and a flip cover like the president has to launch a nuclear strike? something that locks me out from committing the cardinal sin of just turning the darn thing off!!!

Andy

[Merlinb]

He came out with some long explanation of how bad it was for the tubes.

Your bass player is clearly suffering a case of 'too much knowledge can be dangerous'

[M Fowler]

daydreamer noted:

If it's going to hurt my 'expensive' amp, shouldn't it have a key and a flip cover like the president has to launch a nuclear strike? something that locks me out from committing the cardinal sin of just turning the darn thing off!!!

now that was good, I better send off for my switches!

[Structo]

What I have began doing since about a year ago after reading all the pros and cons of standby switches is,
yes I still use it to warm the tubes a bit, maybe 30 seconds then hit standby to play position.

But when I turn the amp off, I simply throw the power switch to off.

As mentioned the Standby switch has high DC voltage on it, when you break that contact with a toggle switch the voltage can arc across that switch causing damage after a few hundred cycles more or less.

So by just turning the amp off with the AC power switch I can stop some of that from happening.

I know supposedly the switch contacts can bounce when closing and arc then as well, I guess I feel that it is the less of two evils to do it the way I am.

Seems funny they never developed economical DC switches that are rated for high DC voltages.
Maybe we should all go to big knife switches like Frankensteins machines used......

[xtian]

I just leave everything on, and then go out to the garage and flip the circuit breaker when I'm ready to quit.

[Alexo]

I install a space heater in my amps, leave that on for 3.141529 minutes, THEN turn on the filaments for a period corresponding to the cube root of the lunar phase, then power up for 1 minute x my birthday x the inverse of the golden ratio. ...and I'm a Leo, so I only use Gold Lion tubes. My friend's a Cancer, so he has to use OA2's, mercury rectifiers and other radioactive tubes. It's a lot of work, but neither of us have suffered from cathode stripping yet!

[Cliff Schecht]

I just leave everything on, and then go out to the garage and flip the circuit breaker when I'm ready to quit.

I just pull the power plug half way out of the wall and short it out with a screwdriver. Takes out the circuit breaker without the trip!

(I hope nobody is taking us seriously..

[Reeltarded]

I used to live close to the hydro electric facility where the power was made. I would release beavers in the river above the dam.

The nuke plant we get our power from is up near my cousin's house.....

[selloutrr]

do love me some beaver

[Super_Reverb]

i had the traynor open the other day, looking for info on draining caps in the safest way. Ended up doing what made sense off youtube, (wire with resistor from caps to ground.)

Can also add a permanent bleed resistor across your filter caps (I like 470K) or configure bleed resistor with double pole standby switch, so that in standby, first filter cap has a bleed resistor across it.

It takes about three time constants (R*C) to discharge a cap by 95%, so...

For a 47u and 220K, after 30 secs, cap has discharged by more than 95%


rob

[Structo]

Yeah the Dumbles have the first reservoir caps before Standby and they have balancing (bleeder) resistors across them.

So the first caps are getting charged before you flip Standby.