Cooling Down Your Amp

Kenneth Kotsay · From: Davie/Ft Lauderdale, Florida

When I was employed at a Federal building in Miami, I had the opportunity to visit the IT computer room.
This room held the entire computer operations, about 100 high tech computers ( not like our home PCs). This IT room was about 45-55 degrees, you needed a jacket once inside, it was freezing. I inquired why so cold, I was told to keep the computers from over heating.

So I had the idea, why not cool down my amps ( I have several including power amps) after all they do heat up. My Peaveys, Roland Cube 80X and Fender Twin when in use are cooled down by an 18 inch pedestal fan. They are not warm to the touch but room temperature, I can't feel any heat.

Without the fan my power amps which I have two are in hard black plastic rack cabinets, and they do produce heat. Both are over 20 years old and going strong.

I'm no electronic wiz, and over the past 20 years I have had no amp failures.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I think the design of any electronics includes the cooling.

My Telonics power amp has built-in fans.
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Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

The heat released via the heatsinks will draw in colder air … the warmer those heatsinks get the more air will flow past them. Just do not restict air-flow through whatever vent openings your amps are designed with, and they should do fine.

Bill A. Moore · From: Silver City, New Mexico, USA

My old dinosaur PA has EV power amps, (low, mid, horns, and monitors). They of course have cooling fans, but because they may be used in a studio enviroment, the fans are variable. I only head them on high once, at an outdoor gig in July. (I've had them since to early 80's)!

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Just keep in mind Computer Processors need to run at specific max temps or they can fail. When they overheat, processor functions can fail or become " intermittent ". This is why PCs have 2 or 3 fans as well as a heat sink with a fan on the processor.

Amps not quite so much, tubes LOVE heat , if we blow cold air on a quad set of 6L6's they may not like it and THAT may cause a performance issue. While WE may not like it, heat is an artifact of a tube amp. As stated above, just don't block access to any openings and keep screened area's clean. Solid State or Tube amps, keep any openings clear.
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Steve Hinson · From: Hendersonville Tn USA

Red Rhodes built me a couple of 100 watt Deluxe Reverbs with 6550s in them...they run terrible hot...I went to JAVANCO IN Nashville and bought a couple of"PeeWee"fans,made some brackets,and threw em in there and aimed em at the tubes...

...a loud hum ensued...caused by proximity to the reverb tanks...couuldn't get it to quit,so I just took em back out...you couldn't touch the faceplates on the amps after they were on a while,but they worked fine...

SH

Godfrey Arthur · From: 3rd Rock

You don't hear any "bleating" of the sound out of your speakers because of the beating of the air by the fan blades?

1. Atmospheric Turbulence: If the atmosphere in which the sound wave is travelling is turbulent, sound waves would scatter due to velocity fluctuations of the medium.
2. Wind Gradient: Sound propagating along the wind would bend downwards while sound propagating against the wind would bend upwards.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

From personal experience I can avow that having a drunken 250-pound female dancer lose her balance and hip check your amp into the adjacent swimming pool will cool it off in a big hurry. Among other things...

Bill Sinclair · From: Waynesboro, PA, USA

Godfrey Arthur · From: 3rd Rock

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

i have had amps with fans in them from the factory with no issues. if you add a small fan to an amp, dont just bolt it in....turn the amp on and plug the fan in, and move it around as much as you can in the general area you are going to affix it. sometimes the transformers will pick up the 60cycle hum of the fan, and just moving it a few inches will change that.

if you have an amp that is REALLY hot then do what other amp companies do....vent the top of the amp with some openings.

i have a blackface fender bassman head that someone had modified to run FOUR 6L6 tubes. they opened an area UNDER the amp and used some nice metal grate. this allows air to come from beneath the amp and dissipate the heat out the open back area. as long as you can see the tubes like a fender amp, i dont think you will have any issues.

the hot rod amp with the 6550s. i read about some of those that red did. he also did a princeton reverb with 6550s!! i think that would for sure benefit from a small fan in the bottom of the amp. just keep it away from the chassis.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I don't think you can compare the cooling required in a mainframe type computer room and a guitar amp.

I'm a retired Regional LAN/WAN Network and hardware help desk manager for SSA. My computer room (I was in Kansas City, MO) had 4 IBM 3725/3745 comm processors, plus an IBM 360/75 and about 30 racks of various comm equipment and patch panels.
The computer room was on a raised floor and the air at the bottom of the raised floor was 59 degrees. This was needed to properly cool equipment at the top of the racks and computers. Air at the top of some racks was in the mid 70's even with the 59 degree source air.

A guitar amp is designed to work in ambient air temperatures and even relatively hot temperatures. I looked at the Peavey specs for the Nashville 400/1000/112 and there are no temperatures listed for any of these.

Godfrey Arthur · From: 3rd Rock

Kenneth Kotsay · From: Davie/Ft Lauderdale, Florida

Thanks for the feed back, like I said I'm not a wiz at electronics especially when it comes to computers and guitar amps.

The IT room I mentioned is similar to what Jackson Stoner had mention in his post, the room was filled with mainframe computer modules all in racks of about 10 high and rows upon rows of these rack units.

On any summer afternoon here in Miami the outside temp goes to 93 and the humidity around 95%. If the building A.C. goes out the IT computer room after about 3 or 4 hours would be a bread oven inside.

I had always thought that cooling down your guitar amp would help it to last, extends it's life, after all, electronics do get hot, we all must have had an experience of smelling something burning coming from a home use electrical device, drills, hair blowers, toasters and including amps. My Peavey 500 ended up smoking way back when and I don't means a cigar.

Again thanks for the electronics class.

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