Just saying...
Back in the '60s all the players I knew (including myself) used the standby switch during a break between sets or whenever they had to take a quick bathroom break. I believe this was the manufacturers' intended purpose. There were no super cautious start up or shut down procedures involving use of the standby switch.
Soapbox rant: Standby switches
Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal
Re: Soapbox rant: Standby switches
Can you provide more detail, eg a citation for this constraint?
https://www.justgiving.com/page/5-in-5-for-charlie This is my step son and his family. He is running 5 marathons in 5 days to support the research into STXBP1, the genetic condition my grandson Charlie has. Please consider supporting him!
Re: Soapbox rant: Standby switches
For the 5R4GYB, there is a chart indicating when delay to allow filaments to fully heat before applying plate voltage. It's in several of the complete data sheets. For guitar amps, we don't have to worry about it. But if you use them in applications with 450vac or more on the plates with high current, the manual says to allow 10 seconds of filament heating before applying plate voltage.
It doesn't appear in the 5U4GB data, which also has a smaller permissible operating area.
The pre-heat recommendation does appear in some of my paper manuals for some rectifier tubes, and not others.
On the nay-side of standby switching, all tube rectifiers have cautions about limiting peak currents during hot switching.
The AB763 Deluxe Reverb, for example, is designed well for its standby switch. Switching the standby to run has a controlled current characteristic. The input capacitors are on the rectifier side of the standby switch. The immediate load side of the switch are both big inductors, namely the output transformer and the choke. The inductors limit the peak current when going from standby to run. Good for the switch and the rectifier.
Some other amps, like 5F6A on the other hand, standby switches directly into 40uf worth of filter caps. Big peak currents there, seen by both the switch and the rectifier.
There are thus, better and worse ways of doing this.
I find the standby convenient for short interruptions, like guitar changes, or more rarely, speaker changes.
Could replace it all with ideal active diodes with zero-crossing switching. But that's a different kettle of fish.