Powering ON/OFF

Marz

Marz

Member
Hi Ultra users,

Just wondering, what the general feeling is about powering up and shutting the unit down.

For example, do you turn it on and leave it on once you start using it until you finish up for the night, (in a studio situation when you may work using the unit in the morning and then again later in the day, with several hours idle time; or do you just turn it on and off when you want to use it. (even if its 20 mins at a time for example!)

Any thoughts!

Cheers
 
The Axe-FX can run for days or weeks without overheating, and it never draws more than ten watts from the plug. It also handles shutdown and startup well. So you can run it ither way with no ill effect, other that the fact that if you leave it on, you're paying for electricity that you're not using.
 
One thing I would keep in mind with anything electronic that has capacitors and I dont doubt there is a few in the axe. Generally i know in computer power supplies the capcitors wear from use or being powerd on and the more dirt like transients in the power quicker they wear. Another reason to have power conditioning caps will last longer in your gear. I would shut it down if were going to be a few hours or more idle. Not powering up for months on end is not good for caps either.
 
That kind of wear and tear mainly applies to electrolytic capacitors, particularly those that handle significant current or voltage. The Axe-FX is a very low-power device, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it has no electrolytics at all. You'll probably replace quite a few batteries in your Axe-FX before you get a capacitor failure from any cause.
 
Rex, you're the "new" Ask Jeeves around here. :)
Very helpful and knowledgeable, great!
 
Thank you for the kind words, Alexander. They mean a lot, coming from the guy who has done more than anyone else as a resource for helping people become fluent with the Axe-FX.

In truth, I'm no expert; not by a long shot. I just know a few things that are worth passing on, and I know how long and frustrating it can be to learn all this yourself by digging through manuals and forum posts. And I remember how much I am helped by the WIKI, your How-To's (which are the real meat of the WIKI), and the postings of countless forum members. When I can pay some of that back, it makes me smile.
 
Thanks for the replies... Rex, Zman and Yek. I am no electronics engineer, but I do know that the sudden inrush of current and the thermal shock before the electronic components reach their SOA (safe operating area) is the main culprit on failures of electronic devices.

Unlike general electronic consumer goods... I hardly think the Axe -Fx is a consumable item. Therefore I just want to preserve the life of my unit, (as I assume does every owner).

it never draws more than ten watts from the plug.
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Well that's good to know, I guess that even if I did leave it on for 10 hours a day, I would only use the same amount of energy as a 100W light globe in one hour. :)

You'll probably replace quite a few batteries in your Axe-FX before you get a capacitor failure from any cause.
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How does this affect the warranty and or servicing if you had to do a battery change before say the warranty runs out ( unlikely I know) and or open the box to replace the battery at a later time? I am only asking because I don't know the answer.
 
I treat it like the light switch in my studio room. If I'm leaving for long enough to turn off the light, I'll turn off the gear as well.
 
Rex said:
That kind of wear and tear mainly applies to electrolytic capacitors, particularly those that handle significant current or voltage. The Axe-FX is a very low-power device, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it has no electrolytics at all. You'll probably replace quite a few batteries in your Axe-FX before you get a capacitor failure from any cause.
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Trust me, there are electrolytics in the regardless of power consumption. Lytic caps are for filtering ripple voltage after the diode bridge (full wave rectifier) converts to DC. This process is in every electronic device known to man. By every, I mean anything that plugs into a wall. AC voltage is cannot power anything. It needs to be rectified, filtered, and regulated. In that order too.

I have left my Axe on all night many a times. I don't do it on purpose, but I don't worry about it. I don't like leaving my Atomic cabs on, even on standby, but that is because of the tube life.

shotgunn
 
Marz said:
How does this affect the warranty and or servicing if you had to do a battery change before say the warranty runs out ( unlikely I know) and or open the box to replace the battery at a later time? I am only asking because I don't know the answer.
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Cliff has stated that the warranty is still valid after a customer replaces the fan, as long as the new fan meets minimum specs, so opening the box to replace the battery should not be an issue.
 
LMO said:
Cliff has stated that the warranty is still valid after a customer replaces the fan, as long as the new fan meets minimum specs, so opening the box to replace the battery should not be an issue.
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Cliff let me open mine to verify if a ribbon cable had come loose. My Output 2 did not work initially. He saved me the cost of shipment for a super simple fix.
 
shotgunn said:
Trust me, there are electrolytics in the regardless of power consumption. Lytic caps are for filtering ripple voltage after the diode bridge (full wave rectifier) converts to DC. This process is in every electronic device known to man. By every, I mean anything that plugs into a wall.
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That's true in a lot of cases, but not in this case. The Axe-FX, like a lot of modern gear, uses a switching power supply. No big power transformer, no rectifier bridge, and no need for big old filter capacitors.
 
Marz said:
...the sudden inrush of current and the thermal shock before the electronic components reach their SOA (safe operating area) is the main culprit on failures of electronic devices.
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You're right. In the case of the Axe-FX, current inrush is very low, and thermal shock — a big problem with vaccuum tubes — is nearly nonexistant. Still, I'm not about to say you ought to do it one way or the other. The cost is low enough either way, so do what feels right.
 
I PROMISE there are some electrolytic caps in there... But they're for blocking phantom power from the XLR outs. The filter caps in the Axe-FX are silver.

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:D

That said, is there any danger in leaving the power switch on all the time and toggling the power with a power conditioner?
 
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quonsar said:
As long as you allow time for the virtual tubes to fully heat before playing it, you'll be fine.
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Wow... I did not know that... if you have to replace the virtual tubes, do they need to be a matched pair and do you have to do a virtual bias on the tubes to make them sweeeeeet... LOL
 
FrostByte said:
I PROMISE there are some electrolytic caps in there... But they're for blocking phantom power from the XLR outs. The filter caps in the Axe-FX are silver.
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Thanks for the internal photo... I hope you do not mind I circled the the caps in relation to the XLRs 1. and the power supply capacitor 2. I have put an orange dot on the capacitors on the PCB, correct me if I am wrong. :geek
 

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Marz said:
Thanks for the internal photo... I hope you do not mind I circled the the caps in relation to the XLRs 1. and the power supply capacitor 2. I have put an orange dot on the capacitors on the PCB, correct me if I am wrong. :geek
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Have at it lol, it's not my picture! Found it with a google search a while back. It was on The Gear Page and Cliff chimed in to comment on the use of electrolytic caps. I do believe you are correct on all counts. I actually didn't notice the big power supply cap :D It also appears there's a smaller one on the other side of the transformer, kind of hidden behind the twisted set of black wires.

That said, who cares? LOL

That's what electrolytics are for :) None of them are in the signal path except when XLR's are used and I promise they don't degrade your tone in any way ;)

Edit: I also just realized that I misunderstood what Cliff said about the pic. When he said "the silver ones" he means the rest of the little electros scattered about the board. He didn't mean silver caps :D

"The only electrolytics in the signal path are the four brown ones for the XLR outputs (to block phantom power). These are bypassed by the four yellow film caps next to them (most consumer stuff doesn't do this for cost reasons but it sounds better). If you go 1/4" out there are no electrolytics at all in the signal path, just film and NP0 ceramics. The silver ones sprinkled about are power supply filtering."
 
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Relax, relax... Cliff has already stated there is no special way to turn things on or off. Just turn it on or off, that's it. Whether you use a power conditioner or the front panel switch you are still cutting power to the unit. The only difference is that if you use a power conditioner the Axe's power supply is completely open from commercial power. That is an added level of protection.

Just plug in, turn it on, jam, then turn it off. Cliff has designed the Axe extremely well in every way.

shotgunn
 
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