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Post by jtokaji on Apr 27, 2008 13:45:25 GMT -7
Can anyone confirm if it is ok to switch cabinets by putting a Z amp in standby mode and quickly unplugging one cabinet and plugging in another? I'm testing different cabinets with my RX Jr and it's a pain to turn it off, wait a few minutes and turn back on
Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2008 14:22:18 GMT -7
Not a good idea.
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Post by heynewguy (Ol’ Bill) on Apr 27, 2008 15:29:49 GMT -7
Shouldn't be a problem.
At Z fest 2007 we switched cabinets and heads all day by putting them on standby if I remember correctly.
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Post by kruzty on Apr 27, 2008 16:33:06 GMT -7
It's my understanding that it is perfectly fine to have an amp in standby and not have a load. When an amp is in standby only the tube heaters are on, so there isn't even power going to the output.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Apr 27, 2008 17:00:51 GMT -7
That's right, if the amp is on standby the plate voltage is off and there is no danger. But if you're like me, you end up switching it the wrong way one time or another and do it wrong anyway.
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Post by real oldster on Apr 28, 2008 0:56:14 GMT -7
Don't do it with a Ghia!
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Post by Lefty on Apr 28, 2008 5:46:55 GMT -7
Don't do it with a Ghia! EXACTLY! A good practice to get into is to not do it at all. One of those time you will forget to plug it in, and BLAMO!
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Apr 28, 2008 5:54:38 GMT -7
Heh... I just made that mistake with my Flexi-50. Two switches on the front besides the power: Standby and 20/50W switch. So I want to change the speaker, and I reach out and flip the 20/50W switch, yank the cord, plug it in to a different cab, and THEN realized I had not put the amp on standby. Fortunately no problem, but if I had powered off I wouldn't have made that mistake.
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Apr 29, 2008 4:53:11 GMT -7
Don't do it with a Ghia! EXACTLY! A good practice to get into is to not do it at all. One of those time you will forget to plug it in, and BLAMO! Not necessarily with a Z amp.... here's a good story. A few months ago Don was coming over to my house to do some tube tweaking on his RX Jr. I have all my Z’s and cabinets in my living room now since I have three kids and only three bedrooms- my music room is long gone. I have all my amps plugged into two power strips, which I try to turn off because I have a three-year-old that likes to pull up the covers and play with the amps. When I took the covers off of the amps, to my horror I saw that my Carmen Ghia’s light was on- and I knew what that meant. I knew my three year old had reached under the cover and turned the Ghia on. I knew right away that I had left the MAZ Jr right above it plugged into a speaker cabinet, but the Carmen Ghia was not plugged into anything. I also knew that because of family responsibilities and work, I had not been able to play guitar since the previous Thursday- and that means the Ghia could have been “on” like that for three or four days. I looked at Don as my heart sank and said, “There goes my Ghia- I’m sure the transformer is blown.” We took the MAZ Jr. off the “stack” and the Ghia was so hot I couldn’t touch it- the wood cabinet was too hot to touch, but the transformers and tubes were even hotter- practically glowing. I’ve never felt an amp get that hot before. I really knew the Ghia was dead now. Don was sure that I’d be okay- he kept saying “I’ll bet it fires right up!”. I wasn’t so sure, even though I know now good Dr. Z trannies are. Don said, “What are you worried about- it’s a Z!!” We let the Ghia cool down while we played his Rx Jr and a few minutes later we plugged it in. It fired right up. I changed the output tubes but I don’t think anything else is wrong. Don just said "What can I say- it's a Z!!" I don't recommend trying this yourself, but I'm 100% sure that with a lot of other brands of amps (especially the "mass produced" ones) that the output tranny would have been toast within a couple of seconds.
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