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Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

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  • #1

    Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

    I'm just curious about this. I've had two preamp tubes crap out on me in the last month, fortunately in very casual circumstances. I have a "real" gig Friday night and since I won't have much time in that situation to fool with my amp, is it possible to swap preamp tubes while the amp is on standby? I know this may sound like a dumb question, but I've heard of folks swapping powertubes like this.
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  • #2
    Re: Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

    If you can switch it to standy wouldn't it be just as easy to switch it off? It would save you the worry of damaging your amp.

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    • #3
      Re: Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

      Wellllll, I gues you probably shouldn't do it with preamp tubes but I don't recall hearing yes or no anywhere...

      But, I do it all the time and haven't killed any amps yet. I do it continuously with my CAE3+se when I'm puttering around with tubes... So far, so good.


      I really wouldn't hot swap with power tubes. Just seems unsafe for the amp. Maybe a tech will comment.

      Generally, the main thing is to make sure you don't touch something inside and get shocked and kill yourself! Tube amps can have 350-700 volts running around in them, even AFTER the amp is off.

      An old tactic: Whenever you have a hand in a tube amp, stick the other hand like in your pocket so you won't forget and just grab something in there. A shock across your chest is deadly.

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      • #4
        Re: Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

        You shouldn't change the pretubes while the amp is on.
        I did that once and the new tube exploded! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
        Man, that was the scariest thing I ever did with my gear.

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        • #5
          Re: Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

          Wow... I have hot swapped preamp tubes hundreds of times (my CAE has had the lid off since I bought it! haha) and no issues.

          Must have been a whacked tube maybe? Not cool at all...

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          • #6
            Re: Changing preamp tubes with amp on?

            I did it the other day, about a dozen times, trying out all my tubes in all the positions.

            Didn't seem to hurt my amp, but hmm. . .dunno.

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