New Tube Amp - How to take care of it ?

[pf400]

Just purchased a Fender Custom Reverb amp and wow does my Martin ever sound big through it. Can't wait to plug the electric guitars in too.

It has an on switch and a standby switch.

When turning it off, even with the volume at 0, I hear a pop when I flip the switch to off. Is this normal ?

If I move the amp and set it down, when it's turned on, the reverb tank sure lets me know it's engaged ! Should I turn the reverb to zero when I move the amp ?

Any tips at all on how to treat a tube amp well would be appreciated. How do I, or should I , try to keep the tubes dust free ? Also I just read that a transformer converts regular voltage to much higher voltage. Does this mean there's a chance of getting a serious electrical shock if I touch something inside the amp after it's turned off ?

Thanks in advance.

[jomaynor]

Tube amps will store lethal voltages for days, so beware.

Some amps pop when you power down, no big deal. Turning the volume down on the amp is a good idea, though.

Just take extra care when moving an amp with a reverb tank, but the spring crash sounds shouldn't hurt the amp

[rokdog49]

The popping noise is normal. Don't ever touch the innards of an amp while it's on and allow for the amp to completely discharge after it's off before doing so. Usually a day is good as previously mentioned.I wouldn't stick my hand in there other than to replace a tube and as long as that's all you touch, you're fine. If you touch the wrong thing...real bad things can happen to you, high voltages are present. You shouldn't be reaching in there anyway.
The tubes themselves will remain hot for a while, hot enough to get a bad burn...usually about 20-30 minutes. Amp techs know how to safely discharge an amp so it can be worked on right away.Moving the amp while it's on is ok if you're careful not to jar it hard. Hot tubes are more brittle. The reverb shimmer your hearing won't hurt a thing. There is no need to wipe the tubes off. A little dust ain't gonna' hurt 'em.
You could put a cover over the amp if it's exposed to a lot of dust in storage. The controls can get noisy (scratchy sounding when you turn them) if they get grungy. They will over the course of time anyway and contact cleaner will fix that.
The truth is there are vintage tube amps that have been through **ll and back and play perfectly fine.
My experiences and advice come from ownership of a couple of Fender tube amps and I did the research.
Hope this helps.

[pipedwho]

Also, you're more likely to get burned than electrocuted if you stick your hand into the back of a warmed up tube amp. Those power tubes run at 300 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and take quite a while to cool back down to 'handling' temperatures.