should it warm up first

[MR808]

Was told by a gutair center rep that my dbx386 is a great pre-amp and that i should let it warm up about 2-3 hrs before a session, can anyone confirm this. The problem I have been encountering w/the 386 is when recording high frequency's (strings type sounds) at very hot levels I get a crackling sound thru the pre-amp.

Can anyone confirm that warming up the 386 about 2-3 hrs before using it will cure this problem?

[Castaliamusic]

Try it yourself

[where02190]

Any tube device requires a warm up period, however 2-3 hours is a bit excessive. 20 minutes is sufficient.

[spudsound]

I'm not familar with that pre, but I doubt a 2-3 hr warm up If you have a session starting a 10am does that mean you get to work for 7am????
Most outboard gear requires a little time to warm up so as the components work at the correct operating temperature (however digital doesn't) Mostly it's Valve based gear that needs time to settle...
Basically it's the same as a valve guitar amp you turn the power on wait a few minutes on standby before using it...
I would guess that by recording HI freq sounds at Hot levels you maybe inducing some distortion to the digital output...
I would merely suggest turning the input gain stage down and using your ears to set the levels rather than try to get the hotest signal down, Remember that if you record at 24bit you get 144dB of Dynamic range so you levels should really average about-12dB....

[MR808]

try stickin your finger up ur butttuckzzzzzz

[dBHEAD]

where is right about tube devices -- they need about 20 minutes. I have never heard of one needing 2 to 3 hours. My LONG TIME understanding, in fact, was that tube devices deliver their best performance between 20 minutes and about 2.5 hours after being turned on. And not just mic preamps and compressors but virtually ANY tube device. I know that's the way it was with the old TV cameras that used plumbicon and saticon tubes because it said so in the manual.

This is all due to thermalconductivity principles. The cooler something is, the more efficiently it conducts electricity. Tubes, however, heat up by nature, just like incandescent light bulbs. Devices with tubes therefor must be designed to operate properly at the temp they will heat up to. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for most tubes to reach this temperature, but at 20 minutes all tubes should definitely have reached it.

The only problem is that, over time, depending on environmental circumstances and other heat-generating components in the device (such as other tubes, transformers, capacitors, etc.), tubes can sometimes heat up a bit hotter that their ideal operating temperature, resulting in a very slight degradation of performance. However, the degradation is usually so slight, it usually isn't worth turning the device OFF at the 3-hour mark. I do recall times in the past, though, that we did exactly that when certain tube devices were acting up. We'd turn them off, let them cool a for 5 to 10 minutes, then turn them back on again and they'd be fine for another hour or two.

Ah! The old days -- when ya had to kind of pamper the equipment. In a strange way, I kind of miss it!

[stewie]

i think it would say how much of a warm up it would need in the manual if you have it.