procedure for exchanging modules

[dacula789]

I have a LB50 combo amp that I purchased about a month ago. I have about 8 modules and wanted to know what the instructions are for exchanging them in and out. I have been putting the amp in standby when exchanging modules, is this correct or am I suppose to turn the amp off, or simply leave the amp on all together?

 

[crankyrayhanky]

you can even do it while it is on and hot, but standby is a good move... I don't recommend turning the amp off and on, that will kill the life of your tubes

 

[dacula789]

thats what I thought but could not find anything related in the owners manual, thanks for the info!

 

[nomad100]

standby turns the high voltage off, i'd probably at least do that

 

[Mister Joshua]

Standby kills the voltage to the power tubes. Your preamp section is still hot even in standby mode. I say turn the whole thing off just to be safe. Killing all the electrical current to a piece of gear and shoving a new piece in is never the best idea. Remember that most electrical gear does go through a short start up and shut down cycle while the clocks die down. Yanking gear while hot forces everything off and you could get stray voltage. I've read on this forum many a person blowing tubes and they participated in this practice. I tend to believe some level of connection. So do as you wish but do be prepared to damage gear if you insist on pulling hot modules.

Peace, Joshua

 

[ejendres]

I shut mine off just to be safe.

 

[Nightdare]

There's quite a bit of power going thru a module, yanking it loose may result in arcing
burnt contacts, blown parts, fire, shockhazard (that is a conductive piece of metal you're grabbing)

...so who's feeling lucky?

 

[eyeball987]

I have killed a preamp tube or two by hot swapping. I turn the whole thing off now.

 

[fearnloathing]

Standby kills the voltage to the power tubes. Your preamp section is still hot even in standby mode. Peace, Joshua

That is not accurate. Standby kills the high voltage from the input transformer after the recitifer and the B+ filter section to all of the amp including the preamp section. The tubes continue to glow because the heater circuit is split off the input transformer and goes through its own rectifier.

 

[Mister Joshua]

I'm not sure how accurate it is for the Randall stuff since i use RM4's that do not have a standby switch. I know some amps i have had in the past had the ability to send the preamp signal out even in standby. If Randall has done it differently then good for them because i always complained of that issue with my old amps. But either way you would do well to turn it off before switching modules.

Peace, Joshua

 

[alboz28]

I noticed in the RM4 if you are using MIDI to change patches channels etc on a multi effects device and you hot swap a module then the MIDI does not respond anymore and it locks on whatever is in the first position on the RM4

 

[JK40_7]

Reading the info on the RM22, it seems as though it allows for hot swapping. I'm not sure any other MTS amp allows for that. I've always just put my RM100 in standby; I've never had a problem.

 

[Mattfig]

So when Randall mentions hot swapping what do they mean? Not standby or anything? Just switch modules without doing anything? If it's dangerous why would they say it's ok to do that?

Thanks!

 

[Mister Joshua]

I'm not sure why they do that. I know in my RM4 manuals it does not say anything about hot swapping being acceptable. It also does not say specifically that the unit should be powered down to swap modules leaving a huge area for interpretation. But that is why we forums members are here. To share our hard learned lessons. And i still think that powering down is the safest way to do it.

Peace, Joshua