[evilcthul]

I'm about to grab my MG Head DT quite soon and I was wondering would it be better to leave it on 24/7 or to turn it off when i'm out of the house (about 9-10 hours a day.)

Would the amp's life be preserved by turning it off when I'm out and only turning it on 2-3 hours before I listen or would it be more advisable to leave it on 24/7?

 

[DanG]

People, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that tubes need to warm up (literally) before becoming effective. With smaller tubes, the warm-up period is much shorter, and to reach top-quality sound, you don't need to keep it on all the time. An amp that uses 300B tubes like the Cary 300-SEI will need a longer time to warm up (although I doubt it's more than 2-3 hours). But be warned -- if you keep your MG Head DT's tubes on all the time, they may fail in a year. I'd suggest against it. Especially if you order higher-quality tubes for your amplifier!

 

[dhwilkin]

Yeah, that's the thing. Just like other electronic equipment, frequently turning it off & on will wear down the equipment. Unfortunately, in this case, so will leaving it on all the time! So pick your poison. My opinion is if you don't use it every day, or only for an hour or two, turn it off after use. Of course, if you happen to have a nice stockpile of tubes, just leave it on 24/7!

 

[chych]

I just keep my tubes burning in the day and turn it off when I go to bed... I think it seems like a good 'middle' choice between leaving them on forever or turning them on/off a lot.