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Amps and Preamps has standby, but should I turn them completely off?

Hi guys, I know there has been discussions of this and the overall consensus seems to be leaving the Solid State amps / preamps on (or standby). I have a Parasound A51 that runs pretty hot. The heat sinks are hot to touch after running them for 2 hours. Ever since I move them to the 2nd floor (gets hot in the summer), I worry that they'd run too hot so I turn them completely off (by switching off the surge protector) after each use. Note that standby mode doesn't solve the heat issue -- it still generates a significant amount of excess heat. 

My question is:
1. Does turning them off after each use shorten their life?
2. Does turning them off increase the probability of failure?
3. Does the excessive heat damage them in the long run by leaving them on?

I am not too worried about warm up time because I use them 2-3 times a week tops. I just don't want the excess heat on the 2nd floor since it's already much warmer than the 1st floor. 

Thanks!!
angelgz2
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
Brown tolex and knobs, and weirdly somewhat underpowered not quite matching the supposed output rating…I've seen this exact thing in other Deluxes of that model, consequently it made a great recording or harmonica amp (miked of course), but even with an efficient speaker (like a JBL or Altec) you couldn't use it with a drummer unless it was pointed right at your head.  A real grease fest with great tremolo.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
The Deluxe was suppose to produce 28 watts, but at what percent distortion? The cream and brown tolex Deluxe had somewhat different circuitry than the later black tolex (but still blackface control panel) version, with more overdrive/tube distortion at the same volume. It’s loud enough with the "right" drummer---like me ;-). I worked with a couple of guys who wouldn’t play out of anything but a Deluxe, Evan Johns being one (playing a Tele). The Deluxe Reverb had a tube tank, but the stand-alone Fender Reverb unit was better. They’re worth a lotta money now. I played with a guy whose set-up was a reverb tank into a brown Tolex Pro, halfway between the Deluxe and Twin, an amp I really dislike. Too loud, very piercing. And I have the tinnitus to prove it!
ramtubes's avatar
ramtubes
451 posts
 
Guitar amp power is usually measured at 5% THD. At low powers they can be quite clean. The older brown face Fenders were really clean. This was before Hendrix and the craze for overdrive, which is just another name for clipping/limiting, turning everything into square waves. If you know how a limiter works in an FM tuner, thats what they did. 
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