How do you "burn-in" your builds?

[M Fowler]

How do you "burn-in" your builds?

Throw a party and let 'em rip.

[beasleybodyshop]

I wasn't happy with the overall brightness of my Dumble style 102 build, so i let it burn in overnight for 4 or 5 nights, into a dummy load with a signal generator ran into the input, and overdrive channel engaged with some burner tubes in it. After i put it all back together, i noticed immediately that the harsh brightness was gone and it had more clarity. Not sure if it was voodoo or just things settling in, but it made a big difference in that amp for sure.

[Structo]

I believe also that tubes (preamp and power) lose some of the higher end response over time.

This is a good thing.

As far as caps, resistors, inductors breaking in, well......

[johnnyreece]

How do you "burn-in" your builds?

Throw a party and let 'em rip.

Yeah, I usually find a jam and let someone who knows what they're doing give it a shot. Four hours later, if it still has all the magic smoke, chances are, it will stick around for a while.

[M Fowler]

Also, my buddy owns a guitar shop and I have about 6-7 amps there.

The customers play through my amps and eventually a smart customer walks in plays one and buys it, all the rest were dumb shits that play Chinese crap amps.

Mark

[BLT]

I've bought transformers from Edcor and Edcor transformers from RJ, and they seem to calm down after a period of playing time. But whenever you use the word "seem" it denotes perception, and as time passes mine has certainly has diminished. But the Edcors seem to lose some of there harshness as time goes by. So for me, they are there to be played and I think they would benefit only from a representation of the aural spectrum an amplifier is suppose to pass.

[Smokebreak]

What actually physically happens to components during the first couple dozen hours that "settles" the amp in(voltages aside)? There is no doubt in my mind that certain amps(some more than others) experience a significant tonal change after this period.

[cbass]

[img:500:456]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3578/356 ... fdbf01.jpg[/img]

[Reeltarded]

That is not funny.

I demand you remove that. I am the patent holder.

[RWood]

How do you "burn-in" your builds?

Throw a party and let 'em rip.

^What Mark said
I believe that rock-n-rolling guitar amps should be broken in like they're gonna be played, hard and loud with a guitar...not long and soft with a signal generator.
I assume that a customer will turn it to 10 and play for a couple of hours, so that's how I break it in, to make sure it will do it.

BTW...I don't break in a new car by idling in the driveway either.

[dorrisant]

Amp birthday party... We have them here quite a bit. I found that sometimes a new amp can make some strange noises until burned in. The combination of new TXs, caps and speaker can be overwhelming. So I play one enough to know that it is as relatively stable as it will get then turn it over to the players... If they love it, leave it alone. If it smokes here then it is in the best place possible.

I've never had one to go up in smoke, but I took one out too a show for a local player. About two minutes into the first set, a huge plume of white smoke shot up from the back of the amp. Everything puckered... even time!!! I thought "that is coming directly from the PT" as I noticed a dude standing on the side of the stage pecking at a tablet. Ten seconds, 15, 20... Amp was still rocking hard... The "dude" was the sound guy and he was punching in the smoke machine... Sigh of relief. The show went on for another 5 hours without any problem. Twenty seconds of "oh shit" turned out to be nothing.

[M Fowler]

Tony now that's funny

[Structo]

That is funny!

Lets not forget speakers in the equation either.

If they are new, along with a new amp build, will sound better with time
as long as the speakers can handle it.

[dorrisant]

Tom, I usually don't test a new amp with a new speaker... I use a cab that I am very familiar with. Also, I test a new speaker with a very trusted amp. Eliminate some things to listen to/for when burning-in.

I'm not kidding either, the sound guy couldn't have place that smoke port in a better position if he tried!

[TUBEDUDE]

That's hilarious Cbass! Where did you find that photo? Or did you sacrifice an amp. You should have shot video with "Cities on Flame a with Rock n Roll" as the soundtrack.