Anybody used a Variac?

[shredhed]

Opinions anybody?

[horns666]

Well..they work...but obsolete these days IMO!!

My guitar player mimcked Ed old set up including the Variac..he turned the voltage down about 90 volts and cranked his old Marshall..the tubes barely glowed..like a brown-out..ala the "brown" sound..

This was back in '82..since then..there has been alot of changes in guitars amps..I can't see much purpose in using something this archaic these days..

That seems like driving a horse and buggy to work..well that would be better on Gas I suppose..

[horns666]

Oh, Not very healthy for an amp or tubes..

I've heard that many times..

[shredhed]

I really like my amp's sound at low volumes, but it loses that warmth when it's cranked.

bob

[toejam]

I've got a THD Univalve amp... I basically can use any power tube with any two preamp tubes, and it's got a Hi V and Lo V switch as well as a Hot Plate attenuator built in. The lower voltage setting definitely gives a sweeter, warmer, smoother sound with a slower attack. Though, it probably doesn't lower the voltage as much as a Variac, which is a good thing, because, as Bill said, it really isn't healthy for the amp or tubes to have the voltage too low. And the attenuator lets me get that great power tube saturation at lower volumes.

I'd go with a stand-alone Hot Plate if you're just wanting to get the power tube distortion at lower volumes.

[horns666]

I really like my amp's sound at low volumes, but it loses that warmth when it's cranked.

bob

That tells me you like the preamp section of your amp..and you don't like the coloration and compression of the poweramp when it's cranked..

OK..that was me too..I dialed in a great sound with my Ubershall..but that "tone" cjanged when at band level..so you have to make adjustment at that level..

Tweak your amp at "band" volume..and basically leave it there when you turn it down..I just boost the presence while I'm practicing at night..so I don't disturb the family..

I know excatly what you mean..

what kind of amp are you using anywho..if it's a high gain amp such as a recto/5150 and etc..forget the hot plates and attenuators..that's more for non master volume amps..like old Marshall that relay on that power amp compression for their tone..

I had a Amped Lee Jackson VL100 head..it had a built in attenuator on it..which to me was completely useless..the preamp section had well enough saturation to not rely on distortion from the poweramp..

This was my discovery anyways..

[Twisteramps]

The worst thing about using a variac to lower voltage is that you can strip the cathodes of the tubes - they don't do well if you change the 6.3v for the heaters by more than 10% in either direction. Also, it throws the bias off on the amp too. Kevin O'Connor at www.londonpower.com has a kit you can have a tech install in your amp that allows you to vary the voltage to your amp for less volume/more brownage. He calls it power scaling. MUCH safer for your amp than a variac.

Pete

[horns666]

listen to Pete..he da man!