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Putting a fan behind a tube amp good or bad?

ken374's picture

Keeping it cool is a good thing, but the tubes sound better hotter?

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ChicoBluez's picture

When your gigging in a hot

When your gigging in a hot club or outdoors in direct sun, it would not hurt to keep a fan on. Tubes can stand the heat. Your circuit boards, wires, and solder points may not.

Good luck,

Chico

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guitarmike's picture

Many tube amps use fans,

Many tube amps use fans, worked own a mesa bass amp the has 12 6L6 power tubes yesterday. This thing gets real hot! fan needed. The tubes have a heater (filament built in to them and while it can be argued that power tubes sound better when "hot", they get hot enough in just a few minutes even with a fan. All tube amps need adequate ventilation.

timtone's picture

Combo's are the worst...good

Combo's are the worst...good examples are Mesa combo's with tons 'o tubes...if the tubes are pointing downward, underneath the amp chassis, chances are you will have trouble after a while...my tech has shown me places where the connections have come completely apart because of the rising heat..grab a small 7 or 8 inch fan from the drug store that swivels and has a clip on it..that way you can attach it to most any spot on the back of your amp....regular heads with the tubes on top are usually okay without any artificial breeze....

ken374's picture

Yeah the circuit board gets

Yeah the circuit board gets very very warm but with a fan it stays cool. Tube will last longer I believe

firebrand's picture

And in my experience it

And in my experience it doesn't make any difference in the sound, though Eric Johnson may contend otherwise cheesey grin

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