This thread is intended as a place where you can share pieces of information that you are really glad you learned, and you think everybody in the world of music/tech would benefit from knowing about...

I will start it off with something horsewhip brought up in another thread, something that everybody should know, and it's awesome to not have to learn it the hard way...

NEVER TAKE YOUR TUBE (VALVE) AMP HEAD OUT OF STANDBY WITH NO SPEAKERS HOOKED UP!

With tube amps, the output transformer is looking for there to be a very specific load attached to it (an impedance, measured in Ohms, as in "4 Ohms" or "8 Ohms" or "2 Ohms minimum") and if that very specific load is not there, the amp can get seriously fucked up to the tune of $100+ worth of damage.

You do not want to fry your output transformer! Do not take your tube amp out of standby without a proper speaker load hooked up to it!

Good thread idea, Scott.

When working on tube gear, avoid reaching in with both hands. An old electrician's trick is to keep your left hand in your pocket at all times, so that you don't end up completing a circuit across your chest. Of course, if you need to be told to watch out for these things, it might be advisable not to be working on your own tube gear until you've gotten some training.

Here's a nice page of tips on the do's and dont's regarding phantom power.

scott wrote:NEVER TAKE YOUR TUBE (VALVE) AMP HEAD OUT OF STANDBY WITH NO SPEAKERS HOOKED UP!

With tube amps, the output transformer is looking for there to be a very specific load attached to it (an impedance, measured in Ohms, as in "4 Ohms" or "8 Ohms" or "2 Ohms minimum") and if that very specific load is not there, the amp can get seriously fucked up to the tune of $100+ worth of damage.

You do not want to fry your output transformer! Do not take your tube amp out of standby without a proper speaker load hooked up to it!

And for chrissakes, don't run your head at a higher impedance than your speakers can handle. You run the chance of fucking up yout OT in a similar fashion.

More basics about on speaker loads.

For wiring speakers, you calculate impedance in the following fashion:

Speakers wired in series (signal runs through first speaker to get to second, positive lead of one speaker is wired to negative lead of another):

R stands for impedance.
R1 + R2 = RTotal

Speakers wired in parallel (positive leads wired together, negative leads wired together):

1/R1 + 1/R2 = 1/RTotal

Example:
2 8-Ohm speakers wired in series = 16-Ohm load (8+8=16)
2 8-Ohm speakers wired in parallel = 4-Ohm load (1/8+1/8=2/8 or 1/4)

These formulas can be used for more than two speakers, and if you extend the math, can be used to calculate the loads presented by series-parallel and parallel-series speaker wiring configs, such as are found in many 4 and 8-speaker cabs. They also can be used to calculate the loads presented by things other than speakers.

Make sure you've slid the XLR/jack sleeve onto the cable BEFORE soldering the connector on. Then double check. Then triple check.

Nothing's quite as soul destroying as making three perfect joins, then having to unsolder them and start over.

This tip alone will save you approximately a week of your life by the time you reach the age of seventy.

Make sure your monitor speakers are the last bit of equipment you turn on and the first you turn off every session.

This tip alone will save you approximately five sets of monitor speakers by the time you reach the age of seventy.

Make sure your amps are grounded one way or another. Especially if you are using two at once.

If you're getting shocked by the ungrounded amp, or on the microphone, see if your amp has a "ground" switch or a "polarity" switch and flip it and see if it helps.

A $30 cable tester can be a very good investment.

No matter how well placed or how expensive the mic is, it can't make a poorly tuned drum/drum kit sound good.

Bass players are never happy with the mix and all guitar players play too loud.

Your idea/ideal of how an instument should sound recorded may not be what the other person's idea/ideal of how that sound should sound. (My ideal drum sound is "Action Park", said drum sound may not have been the ideal on Beatle's tunes. etc. ad nauseum)

more later

I am bumping this fine thread, though I have nothing to contribute. This is very nice!