Break In" Period for Amps?

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 3 Aug 2001 7:12 pm

I recently brought home a Fender Princeton 65 amp to try out. The amp sounded pretty good with a standard 6-string electric guitar, but I did't like the tone at all when I plugged in my Mullen.

Well now it seems that the more I use the amp, the better it sounds. It sounds great with my old Gretsch and the Mullen is starting to sound better and better.

On another Forum I once read an opinion that amps go through a "break in" period. Has anyone else heard such a thing and is there any validity to the notion?

Lee, from South Texas

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 3 Aug 2001 8:04 pm

..Lee, sounds to me like it's your ear that goes through the break-in period..

Terry Downs · Post by **Terry Downs** » 4 Aug 2001 10:06 am

Lee, I would suspect that a 65 Princeton may have some components that could be drifting in value. 1965 electronic components were not that good for long term reliability. There may be capacitors that are changing value, and who knows what could be going on with the tubes. How old are the tubes?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 4 Aug 2001 11:05 am

Lee, there's no "break-in period" for the amp itself, but there is for the speaker! Speakers have a definite response change after a sufficient break-in. Depending on how much you play (and how you play), this could take from several days to a few weeks. New cones are quite stiff, and will loosen up after they are used awhile.

Some die-hard afficianados will even hook them up to line voltage through a step-down transformer, and let the resultant "60-cycle hum" do the work for them!

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 4 Aug 2001 12:03 pm

Terry - This isn't an old tube Princeton, this is a brand new solid state amp that Fender makes. It's power output is 50W R.M.S. (1% T.H.D.) and 65W R.M.S. (5% T.H.D.).

Donny - What you say does make sense. As the cone "loosens" up a bit, what should happen to the frequency response? I am noticing more bottom end now that I've been playing through it for a few days.

This is a really nice little amp. I wanted something small and light to take to practice, instead of lugging my Nashville 400 or Evans. I think its going to make a nice "second" amp to use when running "dual exhausts".

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Lee, from South Texas

Derrell Stephens · Post by **Derrell Stephens** » 4 Aug 2001 6:10 pm

Hi Lee, hope you are doing well! Speaking from experience, it IS your ears more than likely

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 5 Aug 2001 2:06 am

Its not so much that the cones are "loosening" up as the voice coil may be "burning" in. I have noticed this with Peavey Horn Drivers, When you first replace the Diaphram (voice Coil) they have a much brighter sound, as they are used, they deteriorate in sound quality.
You may be experiencing this with your speaker.

My Theory is that the heat in the voice coil produced from use Changes the Voice Coil's electrical Characteristics and after a few hours use, You have a different speaker than the one you bought.

I could see the results of heat on the voice coil on a good Peavey XT-22 Diaphram.

I had to change the Diaphrams on both Speaker Horns to make both cabinets sound the same. When I replaced one, there was too large of a difference in sound from two identical Peavey SP-5 cabinets.

This may account for a new amp "mellowing" out after it has been used for a while, just some of the high frequency response going away.

Maybe Mike Brown could shed some light on this, even though this is not a Peavey amp, its a Speaker issue, that no doubt occurs in Peavey speakers, if it happened to their Horn Drivers.
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John

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by John Floyd on 05 August 2001 at 03:31 AM.]</p></FONT>

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Aug 2001 5:46 am

Lee, after the cone (including the spider and suspension-ring) is loosened up, you'll notice increased bottom end, as well as increased sensitivity, and a slight increase in highs. Overall, the speaker will sound better, and "livelier". The "stiffness" of a new speaker doesn't have to be heard, it can be felt with your hand, too. An expert can tell the difference between an "out of the box new" cone, and one that's been played a few weeks, just by feeling the cone.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 5 Aug 2001 5:37 pm

Just a thought! Would playing a CD or tape at a reasonable volume through a new amp help break in the speaker? If you get a new amp you plug in a CD player on constant play with some punchy music and leave for the day and when you get back the speaker is broken in.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Aug 2001 5:52 pm

Well Len, Montovani wouldn't cut it, but I'm sure some Rap music would! It would have to be pretty loud, though, and your neighbors might not appreciate it!

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 8 Aug 2001 7:18 pm

I don't know if it's my ears, the amp, or the speaker, but the sound continues to improve.

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Lee, from South Texas

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 8 Aug 2001 7:41 pm

Lee,

In my experience, Donny is absolutely correct. It is the new speaker breaking in. This phenomenon is also true of reconed speakers. FWIW, you can buy speakers from Kendrick or Naylor that already sound "broken-in" but I would make a friendly bet that they also sound much better after being played 30 or 40 hours.

In other words, play the thing!

Tim R.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 9 Aug 2001 9:09 am

A speaker(any speaker) will go through a break in period. But, I find it hard to believe one could "feel" a speaker and tell that it is an "broken in" speaker if they have never felt that particular speaker before.

Anyway, as long as the speaker is used within its parameters(no distortion or overexcursion), it should last for years and years and years. A speaker is a mechanical device, so it might not sound the way that you think it should sound up front, then it begins to sound better as you go along. This may be true.

But, in Lee's original post, he is using an amp designed for six string electric guitar, not the steel guitar which covers one end of the frequency range to the other. The Princeton probably sounds great using a six string electric, but the amp's eq circuit is not designed to assist in voicing a steel guitar. So, I agree that maybe Lee is getting used to the sound that he is hearing the more that he plays it, not necessarily that the speaker is breaking in. This has happened to me in a similar situation, but when I place the two amps in question side by side, it becomes very obvious that the ligitimate choice is the amp that is "voiced" specifically for steel guitar reproduction. There are reasons why particular equalization circuits are used in steel guitar amps.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 9 Aug 2001 11:28 am

I've had an emergency "backup" amp for years that has a barely used 15" Altec-Lansing speaker......unused that is until my teenage grand-daughter came by the house one night when I was at work and "borrowed" it for her "bass player" boyfriend to play a job .....it came back "thoroughly broke-in". I've yet to work up enough courage to play through it to find out how much damage was done!

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 9 Aug 2001 2:33 pm

Mike - You are right on when you say the amp is voiced for 6-string guitar. My old Gretsch sounds wonderful through this little ol' amp. I have tried running my Mullen through a 15-band EQ and out to the Fender. With the EQ I can boost a little bit on the low end and filter out a little bit of the mids and get a really nice sound. I don't want to push too much of the lows, though. I don't know how much the speaker will handle.

I guess I'm going to have to get out my Nashville 400 and compare them. Maybe my ears are just getting used to hearing the Fender.

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Lee, from South Texas