Amp breakin period

[yalesmith]

Any tips on breaking in an amp. I just completed a TW liverpool with sozo caps and it sounds fairly harsh with no bottom end. I have heard that the caps need 100 hrs to break-in, but just wondering if there were any creative ways of doing this.

Thanks

[Structo]

You will get a lot of answers to this question varying from, amps don't need break in to, playing music through it.

My thoughts are since it is made to play a guitar through then that is what should be done to break in the amp.

If the speakers are new that is what primarily needs to break in as new cones and spiders are stiff and will relax a bit more as they break in.

If you live where you can turn the amp up all the better.
Play for a while at bedroom levels then slowly turn up as you practice.
Play loudly for five minutes or so then back down to medium volume.

Depending on what speakers you use, after 20 hours or so it should start to settle down to what it will sound like in the long run.

[sabredude]

I have heard that some amp builders will run their ipod through the amp overnight playing their favorite album on repeat. Not sure that's a good idea or not. First of all, you have to be somewhere that the cops don't show up, second, if there IS something wrong with the amp, you probably won't be there to catch it in time.
My favorite thing to do is spend some serious time noodling on my guitar. This let's me get familiar with the amp while also giving it some time to set up. I like to come back after a day and play it again for a while and see how it sounds again. Different days amps sound different to me. I can walk away thinking something sounds great and the next morning I don't like it. The more you mess with the amp initially, the more you will understand it. Just my crabby opinion. Nothing scientific here!

[Cliff Schecht]

Most of what you are hearing with an amp breaking in is the tubes themselves changing. Every component that we put in an amplifier (aside from the tubes themselves maybe) are designed to stay within certain specifications for X hours of use. In other words, if you stay within the manufacturers specifications then you should not have a significant amount of change over time. Parts do drift and change characteristics over time but you probably won't see too much over even a few months.


Tubes are by far the lowest tolerance device that we put in our amps and really the only "parts" that I spend a significant amount of time sorting through.

I think the idea behind leaving an amp on with music or whatever feeding into it overnight is to stress test it. Some manufacturers will recommend you turn your amp off every so many hours to give it a rest but other amps are just fine staying on all day. I've left amps on overnight by mistake without hurting them FWIW but I doubt most of the builders breaking in their amps hear an audible change.

None of the amps I've built have changed significantly in character over time. Granted you're talking at most a few years but I've used old iron in most of these builds and in that time they sound about as consistent as I could hope for them to.

[LeftyStrat]

Sometimes I think it is an "ear breaking in" process. When I was young I saved up my money for an Ampeg VT-22. When I got it, it sounded like shit, but I spent all my dough on it, so I had to live with it. Over time, the amp and I came together.