Was told by a gutair center rep that my dbx386 is a great pre-amp and that i should let it warm up about 2-3 hrs before a session, can anyone confirm this. The problem I have been encountering w/the 386 is when recording high frequency's (strings type sounds) at very hot levels I get a crackling sound thru the pre-amp. Can anyone confirm that warming up the 386 about 2-3 hrs before using it will cure this problem?

Try it yourself

Any tube device requires a warm up period, however 2-3 hours is a bit excessive. 20 minutes is sufficient.

I'm not familar with that pre, but I doubt a 2-3 hr warm up If you have a session starting a 10am does that mean you get to work for 7am???? Most outboard gear requires a little time to warm up so as the components work at the correct operating temperature (however digital doesn't) Mostly it's Valve based gear that needs time to settle... Basically it's the same as a valve guitar amp you turn the power on wait a few minutes on standby before using it... I would guess that by recording HI freq sounds at Hot levels you maybe inducing some distortion to the digital output... I would merely suggest turning the input gain stage down and using your ears to set the levels rather than try to get the hotest signal down, Remember that if you record at 24bit you get 144dB of Dynamic range so you levels should really average about-12dB....

try stickin your finger up ur butttuckzzzzzz

i think it would say how much of a warm up it would need in the manual if you have it.