VTA-ST120 with no speakers connected???

I have a VTA ST120 tube amp. I regularly switch speakers without turning the amplifier off, but simply turning down the optional level control to 0. I understand that tube amplifiers do not like operating without a speaker load. Does this apply with the input gain turned to zero? Thanks

Rbertalotto wrote:I have a VTA ST120 tube amp. I regularly switch speakers without turning the amplifier off, but simply turning down the optional level control to 0. I understand that tube amplifiers do not like operating without a speaker load. Does this apply with the input gain turned to zero? Thanks

Yes.
Input may come from other sources, disturbances on the mails, sudden noise inside the amp etc.

One remedy is to permanently solder a resistor ( 200ohm 5w) inside the amp between 8 ohm outlet and return . This will only marginally affect the amps performance and at the same time make sure that some load always are present.