Leave an amp "on" permanetly


I understand that tube amps need to warm up sufficently before they can reach their potential. Is this also true with SS amps? I own a McCormack DNA-1 deluxe, and I hear a discernable difference when listening to my system "cold" versus "warmed-up". Do you also find this to be true?

If so, would people recommend leaving a SS amp on permanently? Could I damage my amp by doing this?
drewyou

Showing 1 response by davemitchell

I'm not sure why there are so many people who believe that tubes require more warm up than solid state. It's exactly the other way around.

Tube circuits benefit from warm up, but less so than solid state in part because the tubes themselves have the best dielectric possible- a vacuum. That doesn't mean that the caps and resisitors don't get better after being on and formed, but solid state devices sound much more closed-in and "cold" at start up than a tube ever could. Frankly, even after unlimited warm up, solid state amplifiers never sound as open as a cold-out-of-the-box tube amplifier, but that's getting into another discussion.

Generally, I tend to leave most solid state gear on 24/7 and never do so with tube gear.