tube life?

jbzoso2002 · Post by **jbzoso2002** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:07 pm

hello dudes i was wondering what the expected life in hours for
currently manufactured tubes is

i have a friend that has amps for years and never replaced tube and the some say replace them every
year. i just want an idea of what to expect.

thanks duds

Dai H. · Post by **Dai H.** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:22 pm

they are sort of like lightbulbs. The more you use them, the harder you run them, the more times you turn them on and off the faster they wear out. So if someone hardly plays an amp, hardly cranks it up, then they will last longer than someone who plays all the time and runs the amp on 10 all the time. It depends on the quality of the tube too though. Some tubes were meant for communication lines underwater (hard to replace easily) and were built to last years and years.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:36 pm

I am not a dud

jbzoso2002 · Post by **jbzoso2002** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:49 pm

i am a dud

i know there are variables to tube life butt what
i am looking for is an hour range. most floresant bulbs have an
hour life on the package like 20000 hrs i have heard nos 12ax7
have up tp 10000 or 20000 hours life .....what is the expexted number
for curent manufactue tubes

by the way as you can see i can build a guitar amp but i still
cant spell worth a s%$t.

thanks duds

Dai H. · Post by **Dai H.** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:44 pm

in the olden days, the manufacturer would tell you on the datasheet like XXXX hours when run at max, XXXX when run less than that, but today's manf.s don't seem to be too up front with technical specs. I think in some ways they sell what they can get away with (a manf. might not want you to know you're actually getting a "pretend" KT88 or whatever, lol). Maybe you can search for a datasheet. I think I've only seen very abbreviated ones that give just the most basic info.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:18 pm

lol. Not surprising.

daniel · Post by **daniel** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:09 pm

I've seen one crazy example with new production tubes. My buddy has a 76 2203 that has been running the same output tubes for 4 years he's doing around 250 shows a year. I think their some form of russian make.

jbzoso2002 · Post by **jbzoso2002** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:46 pm

thanks dan thats what im talking about. i am looking for examples
like that of tube life. i have the jtm45 metro parts with gtkt66hp's
amp is just over one year and i have abount 220 hard hours on them
so far and still good

also have a 1987 model 50w with winged c's
from may 05 and still going strong also

lets here more tube life info and thanks for the reply's

jimmy...........i still cant spell