I have a question to throw out to the forum. When a preamp is in "standby mode" is the rate of tube decay the same as full use of the unit? I am trying to determine when best to retube my BAT VK 31 SE. Any other BAT owners with some input?
As best I recollect VK5i does not have a stand-by switch. In any case, I always powered off when not in use for more than several hours. Victor at BAT will likely respond to a direct query.
Different pre tubes have different life. 12ax7's are perhaps the shortest lived of the popular bunch, 2000-5000 hours. 6dj8's can run up to 10,000 hours. The rest should fall in between. I'm sure that the better the tube, the longer the life.
Elevick, It's difficult to generalize, as the life of a vacuum tube is determined by plate voltage and bias applied in situ. In my system the same model of 6SN7 tube can last 2k hours in one component, and up to 15k hours in another.
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