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Burn-in and Biasing

I just got a new VTL integrated (IT85) tube amp yesterday. Two questions:

BURNIN:
--Is it OK to leave it on, on a low level, overnight and during the day, running constantly? (Hope so! that's what I'm currently doing, but I can turn it off when I get home if I have to)

BIASING:
--The manual says that only a recommended VTL tech should bias the machine. It seems kind of complicated. The person who does the biasing needs to use some kind of digital multimeter equipped with autoranging feature. I guess I wouldn't mind trying it myself, but I have never done this.

The manual recommends that the amp is biased when it first is setup. What are people's opinion on this? Is biasing something I could do myself, with that meter?

TIA....
128x128dennis_the_menace
dennis_the_menace's avatar
dennis_the_menace OP
467 posts
 
How do I know if they are in triode or penthode mode?
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
all today's vtl product have that switch for triode or tetrode operation. I assume that 85W/ch is for tetrode(sorry not penthode) operation and you might have a switch to switch it to triode which nearly halves the output power.
in my case(Totem Forest) i always use tetrode.
dennis_the_menace's avatar
dennis_the_menace OP
467 posts
 
i must be using it in tetrode... i didn't see any switch mentioned anywhere in the manual, and haven't found one, but i wasn't really looking either. I'll check it out when i get home... thx
dennis_the_menace's avatar
dennis_the_menace OP
467 posts
 
BTW, Luke Manley emailed me a response today. At least it came from his email address LManley@VTL.com.... answered my questions about the biasing and burn-in, and really took some time to be thorough. i was pretty impressed...
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