Не расходуется эмиссионная способность катода.
Вот интересное замечание "You may have heard of 'cathode stripping', which is a specious argument wheeled out by standby-switch obsessives. In its purest form, cathode stripping occurs when particles of the oxide coating are physically torn from the surface of the cathode when it is exposed to a powerful electrostatic field from the anode. This would happen if the valve is operated at saturation, without a usual space-charge of electrons to protect it. Fortunately, this effect does not exist in receiving valves, even when operated at saturation, because it requires an electric field strength of at least
4MV/m (yes, 4 million volts per metre!). No guitar amp ever comes close to this.
Another type of cathode stripping occurs when stray gas molecules in the valve become ionised by the electron stream. The positive ions will then be accelerated towards the more negative grid and cathode. If these manage to miss the grid then they may crash into the cathode, physically damaging its surface. The proper name for this process is cathode sputtering. Sputtering is a known problem in gas tubes and transmitting valves operating at kilovolt levels, near saturation. It doesn't occur to any significant degree in ordinary audio circuits. Note that even the RCA Transmitting Tubes Technical Manual No. 4, p65, states: “Voltage should not be applied to the plates or anodes of vacuum, mercury-vapor, or inert-gas rectifier tubes
(except receiving types) until the filaments or cathodes have reached normal operating temperature” [My emphasis].
Receiving valves are the small kind used in radio receivers, i.e audio valves like those in guitar amps, in case you were wondering. "
Такой вот КЛФ
... и добавил:Вся статья
http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html