Turning stuff on in order?

skunkwerx

Just been reading a bunch of boss manuals for various pedals and the Katana.. and it mentions turning power on to your amp last when starting up, and turning the amp off first, then all the pedals when turning off.. 

Or else malfunctions may happen and the world dies.. 

Is it necessary? 

My 3 pedals and amp are all plugged into the same mains extension... so all I do is plug that one extension in, switch on at the wall and all of it gets power at the same time.. the boss pedal instantly turns on when power is switched on, the others don't. I presume they have latching switches or something.

But am I getting confused? 
Do they mean power on, as in, the amp/pedals own switch is switched OFF  but the mains its plugged into is on? 

I mean, I've just been here switching shit on at the wall all at once and then, well turning the amps switch on to power it up. Then when I'm done ill sometimes unplug the guitar first, or sometimes switch off the amp first, and finally switch the mains plug off.. 

I thought the only real no no was turning a head on without a cab being connected? 

Legionreturns

I think it's just to prevent loud pop noises from killing the amp. I turn the amp on last, but I always engage my tuner or turn the power soak to 0 before connecting or disconnecting a guitar. 

Sassafras

skunkwerx said:

My 3 pedals and amp are all plugged into the same mains extension... so all I do is plug that one extension in, switch on at the wall and all of it gets power at the same time.. the boss pedal instantly turns on when power is switched on, the others don't. I presume they have latching switches or something.

You shouldn't run your pedals at 240 volts.

ecc83

A valve output stage is not going to be bothered if it bangs on with the rest of the kit since obviously it takes time to warm up!

Bang a V amp off (i.e. NOT via a standby switch) often causes a crack and sometimes a dying 'Wheeeee!' noise but that should bother guitar speakers not one jot.

Transistor OP stages used to make a hell of a bang when switched on or off but things SHOULD be better these days. Really powerful amps have delayed relay switching.

The other problem is transients generated by ancillary gear, pedals and such. No decent guitar amp should be bothered by these  and speakers should be adequately rated but the noise might offend.  You would not be popular shall we say if you sent such a din through a 2kW FOH PA!

I am a firm believer that these days 'we have the technology'  and decent gear at sensible prices should be near enough bomb proof.

Dave.

skunkwerx

Aye It just made me wonder. The amps always switched on last anyway, and switched off first. Not that it needs time to warm up anyway, its a katana solid state.

I mean hell, i've been doing the same thing with a 10 year old line 6 spider 3 (the horror!) since I got it.. still works without a hitch haha.. 

fandango

Always turn my (valve) amp down to zero before switching off. Like leaving a car in neutral when parked.

Sassafras

My Tech 21 combo always 'thunks' loudly when I switch it on regardless of where the volume is and what's plugged in or not. It's mildly annoying, nothing more. It hasn't blown up, yet.

skunkwerx

Sassafras said:

My Tech 21 combo always 'thunks' loudly when I switch it on regardless of where the volume is and what's plugged in or not. It's mildly annoying, nothing more. It hasn't blown up, yet.

Katana does that when switching off, just a small pop/thud, same, regardless of what power scale setting its on, even on standby, with 0 volume! Guess its normal. 

skunkwerx

fandango said:

Always turn my (valve) amp down to zero before switching off. Like leaving a car in neutral when parked.

Haha true that. I always keep mine in gear when parked though, just incase the handbrake thats never failed ever, fails... lol! 

normula1

Me too. When I was a kid we were woken up by a loud crash where a car up the road had rolled down the hill into the back of my parent's car.

ecc83

fandango said:

Always turn my (valve) amp down to zero before switching off. Like leaving a car in neutral when parked.

Unless like me you live top of a hill! Oh! Beat me to it (only one cup o Joe so far, up till 2 recording for son)

Dave.

ICBM

fandango said:

Always turn my (valve) amp down to zero before switching off. Like leaving a car in neutral when parked.

Both of which are a bad idea .

Turning the pot down to zero increases track wear for no good reason, and not leaving a car in gear when parked is potentially dangerous.

Quite a few people have been killed by a car running away when the handbrake failed… none of them would have been if it had also been left in gear. (Or with an automatic, make sure the handbrake is on as well as the gear lever set to Park.)

Danny1969

ICBM said:

fandango said:

Always turn my (valve) amp down to zero before switching off. Like leaving a car in neutral when parked.

Both of which are a bad idea .

Turning the pot down to zero increases track wear for no good reason, and not leaving a car in gear when parked is potentially dangerous.

Quite a few people have been killed by a car running away when the handbrake failed… none of them would have been if it had also been left in gear. (Or with an automatic, make sure the handbrake is on as well as the gear lever set to Park.)

A friend of mine left her car in neutral with the handbrake on .... it was parked on a very gentle slope round the corner from where I live. While she was having a coffee the handbrake failed in as much as the cable pulled through the handle housing and the car began gently rolling down the slope. Unfortunately on that road the slope incline increase and eventually  the car travelled so fast it hit the house so hard at the bottom it smashed through the house wall and a structural engineer had to be called in to make sure the house was still sound. Thank God no one was hit by it. 
She's never left a car in neutral again and I wish my wife wouldn't but she does. 

skunkwerx

I'm a bit of a freak anyway, but although I leave it in gear, when parking on hills I always park facing down the hill, and turn the wheels ever so slightly in toward the kerb... even if the handbrake and gears/clutch failed, the kerb wouldnt allow it to roll anywhere... 

I blame staying in Brixham for that one...some hills my old motor struggled to get up they were so steep! 

ecc83

In certain weather conditions brake systems can freeze up and then you leave the car in gear, brake off but with front wheels turned into the kerb.

Ladies CAN be less than sympatico with motors! My daughter knocked the clutch out of her Amera  in 30,000 miles. I just had my P reg Proton done at 92,000 and it is a stronger engine.

Dave.

fandango

ICBM said:

fandango said:

Always turn my (valve) amp down to zero before switching off. Like leaving a car in neutral when parked.

Both of which are a bad idea .

Turning the pot down to zero increases track wear for no good reason, and not leaving a car in gear when parked is potentially dangerous.

Quite a few people have been killed by a car running away when the handbrake failed… none of them would have been if it had also been left in gear. (Or with an automatic, make sure the handbrake is on as well as the gear lever set to Park.)

@ICBM thanks for setting me straight with the amp.

As for the car, whenever i do make a point of leaving it in gear when parked, i always forget to return to neutral before starting. But now ive got a car where one needs to depress the clutch and pressing a button, i guess it doesn't matter if i forget to start in neutral.   

ICBM

fandango said:

As for the car, whenever i do make a point of leaving it in gear when parked, i always forget to return to neutral before starting.

My driving instructor would have failed you for that... he was a bit of an old-school guy, but he was right - you shouldn't start a car without checking it's safe to.

I also have a car where you have to put the clutch down and press a button to start it now, but I still always make sure it's in neutral first - force of habit. I sometimes think it's daft since I have the clutch down, but I still do it.

Luckily amps don't really matter as much! Although making sure the knobs aren't all turned *up* full before you turn on is possibly a good idea . I've seen that happen a few times, usually when kids have been fiddling with amps in a shop and someone plugs a guitar in and flips the switch...

ecc83

"Turning the pot down to zero increases track wear for no good reason," If true then modern pots must be total crap!

Virtually every radio and TV had an 'on-off volume' control so the volume pot was ALWAYS turned down. Yes I changed a few VCs but only after a decade or so and in houses with coal fires when EVERYBODY smoked!

Ha! Now I recall it, it was the TONE pot that went crackly because it rarely got shifted! Quick squirt of Electrolube, Servisol or later WD-40... Sorted.

Dave.

ICBM

Wasn't it usually the *tone* control that was the on-off? Which seems counterintuitive, but they did it so you could leave the volume preset and not be tempted to keep turning it up before the valves had warmed up and then had it suddenly blast out at full belt!

Those old pots were massive high-quality military-spec components anyway though, even in your average domestic radio. A completely different thing from the crap in most modern amps...

ecc83

ICBM said:

Wasn't it usually the *tone* control that was the on-off? Which seems counterintuitive, but they did it so you could leave the volume preset and not be tempted to keep turning it up before the valves had warmed up and then had it suddenly blast out at full belt!

Those old pots were massive high-quality military-spec components anyway though, even in your average domestic radio. A completely different thing from the crap in most modern amps...

Yes IC, I seem to recall SOME radios had a 'tone-on/off' but that still leaves valved tellies which rarely had a tone pot. Many had concentric front controls tho'. Volume/tone/power and Brightness/contrast. The switch was always on the VC though IIRC.

And yes, the pots were 2" diameter 'Morganites' or other good brands these old grey cells have long forgotten.

Do you remember Radio Spare 'pot kits'? Qualiteeeee!

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

Do you remember Radio Spare 'pot kits'? Qualiteeeee!

Yes! And the rotary switch kits which looked like something out of the engine room of an Edwardian battleship . I think they lasted a bit longer than the pot kits, I remember buying one in about the late 80s, although it came in the old-style yellow box so it may have been made a lot earlier.

The modern plastic-cased ones aren't too bad, but they're not remotely in the same engineering league.