Tips for breaking in new tubes (or amps)

[Mikelamury]

I was just curious as to what you guys usually do to Break in new tubes in an amp? I'm curious because the gain in my super sonic is right below were I I want it and I think it might get that little push once the tubes get broken in. So I was wondering what everyone else does to their new tubes upon installation? I don't play through my amps everyday so I'm really not trying to just wait for it to happen. I'm curious if I just turned on the amp and had the volume down and left it on for a day or two would that get the job done sufficiently and would that be dangerous to the amp? Any feedback here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[devastone]

I don't have tube amps ATM, but plug them in, play them. That's about all you can do, if they don't have enough gain for you new, it's not going to change.

 

[Mikelamury]

After playing a couple more hours today it's actually sounding really good, it was just a hair off yesterday but it's starting to sound a little better which is a perfect fit for my sound with both gains cranked. Also I was afraid this amp might be to loud- not the case in a good way. It has volume if I want to turn it up but I can turn it up to about 3 and still get great usable sounds where as my MT15 Is louder on 7 watts than this 22 watt amp. I can turn this up to 3 whereas the MT15 can barely reach 1 on low power mode. But back to the point & I'm very satisfied with this amp the more I play it!

 

[Securb]

Yep, just play it, and it will get there and settle in. Congrats on the new amp that is a beauty

 

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

Play it loudly.

repeat.

 

[beaubrummels]

I've never heard of tubes breaking in or having additional gain after a certain period of time. If anything, toward the end of their life, you'll lose some gain maybe. But by and large, either they work, or they don't. If it sounds weak right off the bat, the amp likely needs servicing or tweaking to operate more optimally. Turning an amp on and leaving it on with no signal does nothing but reduce the lifespan of the components slightly. Tubes are not speakers.

 

[FuseG4]

If you ever crank the amp up to five or higher you'll get some power tube crunch It makes a world of difference.

As I turned up the master volume, gain settings that were good in the bedroom became too much

it is a loud amp by the time it gets truly cooking in my opinion

 

[Mincer]

I perform with them. Long sets in the Florida heat usually do the job. If you are not gigging, just play the thing. Usually with a new amp, it isn't so much that the tubes need to be broken in as much as you have to get used to the sound that this new amp makes.

 

[Mikelamury]

I perform with them. Long sets in the Florida heat usually do the job. If you are not gigging, just play the thing. Usually with a new amp, it isn't so much that the tubes need to be broken in as much as you have to get used to the sound that this new amp makes.

I didn't really play it that long the first day it's sounding better now but I was going to ask you what kind of music you play with them and how much gain do you use? At what volume does the clean channel sound best in your opinion?

 

[Mincer]

My tube amp is a Mesa Blue Angel, which has both 6v6s and EL84s. I play a sort of jazzy rock thing, and I get the gain from pedals rather than the amp. On the 6v6 setting, it is a very loud 18 watts, and I don't like a crazy loud stage volume, so its on no higher than 4 onstage. About 50% of the show is dead clean, the other half is tube screamer-levels of overdrive.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Raise the bias voltage beyond manufacturer's recommendation.

 

[Demanic]

Raise the bias voltage beyond manufacturer's recommendation.

Troll much?

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[Mikelamury]

My tube amp is a Mesa Blue Angel, which has both 6v6s and EL84s. I play a sort of jazzy rock thing, and I get the gain from pedals rather than the amp. On the 6v6 setting, it is a very loud 18 watts, and I don't like a crazy loud stage volume, so its on no higher than 4 onstage. About 50% of the show is dead clean, the other half is tube screamer-levels of overdrive.

Ok I misunderstood you I thought you were saying that you perform with the super sonic. That's pretty cool being able to switch from el84 to 6v6 inside the amp.

 

[Mikelamury]

I've never heard of tubes breaking in or having additional gain after a certain period of time. If anything, toward the end of their life, you'll lose some gain maybe. But by and large, either they work, or they don't. If it sounds weak right off the bat, the amp likely needs servicing or tweaking to operate more optimally. Turning an amp on and leaving it on with no signal does nothing but reduce the lifespan of the components slightly. Tubes are not speakers.

Thank you for informing me of that. I may have misunderstood I heard that after (preamp) tubes get broken in at first the character of the gain changes slightly is this not so? That's more what I meant rather than getting 'more' gain.

 

[NegativeEase]

I used to break in speakers by playing a doom/sludge metal playlist from my stereo through them on loop -usually Sleep Dopesomker.

the same could be done with your tubes I guess if you want to mature the tube faster than you can just playing them.

but dont you want an excuse to just play them more?

 

[Mikelamury]

I used to break in speakers by playing a doom/sludge metal playlist from my stereo through them on loop -usually Sleep Dopesomker.

the same could be done with your tubes I guess if you want to mature the tube faster than you can just playing them.

but dont you want an excuse to just play them more?

Certainly I just don't the time, I don't get to plug in everyday, I have to play when I have the house to myself and not working. I usually get 3-4 jam sessions a week. I wish I had more time to play,bi have 16 guitars and 4 basses and most of them don't get the attention they deserve. I'm now trying to diversify the collection, I realized I have enough LP style guitars so I'm trying to add more offsets and single coils and split out from the mass of Gibson and fender thats most of my collection. But to do that takes time to make money so I end up with more guitars and less time to play them. It's kind of a vicious cycle. Oh well I guess I could have bigger problems... Lol

 

[beaubrummels]

Thank you for informing me of that. I may have misunderstood I heard that after (preamp) tubes get broken in at first the character of the gain changes slightly is this not so? That's more what I meant rather than getting 'more' gain.

Based on my knowledge of how tubes are constructed and how they operate, I can't picture what would change in the initial hours of usage. The only change I'm aware of that is possible to happen is at the end of their life, the cathode coating has been stripped off from all the thousands of hours of usage, leaving little to produce electron flow. Before that, they work or they don't. If the amp is not biased properly, if it's biased cold then there's a chance it will sound bad until it's adjusted, but it's not going to automatically start sounding better through usage. If it's biased hot, it will sound awesome until the tubes die in a matter of weeks/months or so.

If you're getting a change of sound in the initial hours of using an amp, it wouldn't be the tubes. The first change is likely the speaker - those break in because the cones are paper with glue attaching it to the surround and center transducer, which starts out stiff and loosens up a bit as the speaker is required to travel to reproduce sound. The result there is in the initial hours the speaker will be dark and mid-heavy as it cannot accurately reproduce deep bass and high treble detail while it's stiff.

 

[devastone]

... Usually with a new amp, it isn't so much that the tubes need to be broken in as much as you have to get used to the sound that this new amp makes.

There is much wisdom in this sentence, it is usually more in our heads than components changing.