Am I nuts or do amps "open up" after sitting for years?

[57GoldTopAztec]

My Silver Jubilee 2554, which I posted about a few times now, sorry, seems to be sounding a little sweeter as I play through it for the better part of a week.

This is a few days after a tube change too, not a sudden change after the tube change. More bottom mostly, allowing me to use a lil more presence and treb, but the highs seem more detailed.

The seller told me the original owner had this thing sitting around for years before he took it and checked it out to make sure it ran well. It runs like a dream so far.

But I could swear it's also sounding better each day I play it. Maybe it's the placebo effect, but is it possible a vintage amp that sits needs some break in time?

 

[J.D.]

Yeah that has to do with the filter caps sitting for an extended period of time.

 

[bluesforstevie]

My Silver Jubilee 2554, which I posted about a few times now, sorry, seems to be sounding a little sweeter as I play through it for the better part of a week.

This is a few days after a tube change too, not a sudden change after the tube change. More bottom mostly, allowing me to use a lil more presence and treb, but the highs seem more detailed.

The seller told me the original owner had this thing sitting around for years before he took it and checked it out to make sure it ran well. It runs like a dream so far.

But I could swear it's also sounding better each day I play it. Maybe it's the placebo effect, but is it possible a vintage amp that sits needs some break in time?

You should reword your title...Because I'm thinking..."what?...he puts his amp in closet for 10 years and takes it out and it sounds more open"?

You mean you get an amp that's been sitting and fire it up and initially its a little stiff sounding...but each day you play it opens up more....Yeah. That's for sure. That's why some guys "reform" their Power caps with a variac....and that does what you're doing...only a lot quicker.

I've found that speakers get more pliable, sound more open and better the more they get played after having sat for awhile as well.

 

[Diablo1]

I can't imagine there are any real changes happening. If you think your filter caps can improve by reforming, let's think this through. If you start with filter caps that have low capacitance, then they won't filter the AC properly and you should have more hum. Was the amp hummy when you first fired it up? Has the hum gone away after a week of use? How old are these filter caps anyway?

 

[J.D.]

A jubilee...~25 years old :jim

 

[57GoldTopAztec]

Correct. 1987 Silver Jubilee Combo.

Sounds a lil bigger today than yesterday, yet again. Playing it with Strats today, and it likes em much.

Only hum I hear once in a while is a little when I initially switch it on. Seems go reduce gradually as I play for a bit. But that might be in my head. Amp runs pretty quiet, honestly. Has since I got it.

 

[bluesforstevie]

Correct. 1987 Silver Jubilee Combo.

Sounds a lil bigger today than yesterday, yet again. Playing it with Strats today, and it likes em much.

Only hum I hear once in a while is a little when I initially switch it on. Seems go reduce gradually as I play for a bit. But that might be in my head. Amp runs pretty quiet, honestly. Has since I got it.

The post about hum is technically correct and while I may have misspoke about "reforming" the Power caps...the other electrolytics get funky when sitting for awhile too in my experience..now...you scientific cats may be able to debunk what I am saying but I'm telling you from experience that an amp which has been sitting without being used for several months or years will sound better as it gets played and current goes thru the parts for a few days or weeks....I trust my ears and that is what I hear too. So...there you go.

 

[Wilko]

caps can surely change value over time and with temperature changes. Thermal cycling also change values of other components over time. Caps used as pass filters can change the tone circuits pretty drastically, as with resistor values that have changed.

good or bad is all up to what the player wants to hear.

 

[les strat]

IMO, more than likely, it's your speakers being fully broken in.

 

[bigtomrodney]

I can't imagine there are any real changes happening. If you think your filter caps can improve by reforming, let's think this through. If you start with filter caps that have low capacitance, then they won't filter the AC properly and you should have more hum. Was the amp hummy when you first fired it up? Has the hum gone away after a week of use? How old are these filter caps anyway?

I disagree...and I'm a big cynic round
hese parts. It's not a case of right versus too low to function. Different levels of filtering can serve equally to filter hum but will in fact affect an amps responsiveness differently. Sag, I suppose.

Consider the high filtering of a Super Bass and the low filtering of a JTM45. Same preamp configuration. More going on than just a change in wattage.

 

[bern1]

Having had the same thing happen many times with various amps and guitars, I think it's all in our minds, which doesn't make it any less real when you plug it in and play it.

 

[stock_hippie]

i dunno my amps break after about a year..

 

[Humbuck]

Yes, you're nuts.

 

[yeti]

Having had the same thing happen many times with various amps and guitars, I think it's all in our minds, which doesn't make it any less real when you plug it in and play it.

Agreed for the most part. There are other factors that have way more impact on tone than a few days' worth of "current going through it's parts" or speaker break in (something that I simply do not believe in but that's another story), namely humidity and air temp, AC Line voltage and noise, playing volume etc.
One thing that I do believe is that a properly warmed up amp will sound better.

 

[Banker]

It's a bit like when you go for a hard run after doing no exercise for a month..........you'll be a bit stiff when you're out...........but you'll be less stiff the next time.

 

[yeti]

It's a bit like when you go for a hard run after doing no exercise for a month..........you'll be a bit stiff when you're out...........but you'll be less stiff the next time.

Just make sure you properly stretch your amp after the workout.:spabout

 

[yeti]

The post about hum is technically correct and while I may have misspoke about "reforming" the Power caps...the other electrolytics get funky when sitting for awhile too in my experience..now...you scientific cats may be able to debunk what I am saying but I'm telling you from experience that an amp which has been sitting without being used for several months or years will sound better as it gets played and current goes thru the parts for a few days or weeks....I trust my ears and that is what I hear too. So...there you go.

If a sound scientific argument contradicts what my senses tell me, I at least re-evaluate what my senses told me. I think it's a good rule to follow. I've heard this "I trust my ears" argument here many times but it's flawed because our senses can easliy be deceived by many factors. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Garincha]

If a sound scientific argument contradicts what my senses tell me, I at least re-evaluate what my senses told me. I think it's a good rule to follow. I've heard this "I trust my ears" argument here many times but it's flawed because our senses can easliy be deceived by many factors. Just my 2 cents.

Didn't you once say you work as an engineer? So do I occasionally.
Sound-engineers do re-evaluation all the time, because they know they can't trust their ears alone. Everybody knows the typical situation: You go back and forth over an EQ setting, everybody in the room says how good it sounds with that 10k boost until you find the EQ isn't even patched in the desk

Every professional engineer knows that effect and tries to perform his/her own little blindtests (closing the eyes and switching back and forth on a EQ or compressor). Our hearing is not just our ears, it's what our brain adds to it.

The best example is when a musician listens to a piece of music. You can focus on the bass for example and it will appear louder although nothing physically changed. That's the power of our brain, not of our ears. Interpreting sound was vital for homo sapiens and that's where this ability comes from.

But apart of all that:
Scientific studies say a human can remember an exact sound for only a few seconds. Even if the amp would sound better after a week or so one would have to measure that rather than just "hearing" it anyway.

For decades people have been talking about all that break in stuff, mojo components and whatever. But nobody ever did a blindtest or at least a recording of that phenomenon. I always wondered why that is

 

[yeti]

Didn't you once say you work as an engineer? So do I occasionally.
Sound-engineers do re-evaluation all the time, because they know they can't trust their ears alone. Everybody knows the typical situation: You go back and forth over an EQ setting, everybody in the room says how good it sounds with that 10k boost until you find the EQ isn't even patched in the desk

Every professional engineer knows that effect and tries to perform his/her own little blindtests (closing the eyes and switching back and forth on a EQ or compressor). Our hearing is not just our ears, it's what our brain adds to it.

The best example is when a musician listens to a piece of music. You can focus on the bass for example and it will appear louder although nothing physically changed. That's the power of our brain, not of our ears. Interpreting sound was vital for homo sapiens and that's where this ability comes from.

But apart of all that:
Scientific studies say a human can remember an exact sound for only a few seconds. Even if the amp would sound better after a week or so one would have to measure that rather than just "hearing" it anyway.

For decades people have been talking about all that break in stuff, mojo components and whatever. But nobody ever did a blindtest or at least a recording of that phenomenon. I always wondered why that is

Good points, Garincha, ears are the best and worst tools to evaluate sound, IMO. In your example of the dummy EQ the person with the "I trust my ears" attitude will insist that it's patched because he "hears" it and technically he's right. I've been in that or similar situations too many times, sometimes you use that to your advantage when someone wants a bit more of this or that you just fiddle a knob that does nothing and everyone is happy. I remember live situations where we used a 16 channel snake and a 24 channel board and always put the singers guitarmic on Channel 17 with a big note on a big piece of masking tape. Seeing that his guitar was "turned up" in the mix always saved the day.:rofl
I too would love to have properly done recordings of these phenomena but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Banker]

Just make sure you properly stretch your amp after the workout.:spabout

You ain't wrong........the = in amp world being to let it warm up properly, start on lower volume and gradually work up to "Hayzoos man, turn that shit down" level............:biggrin: