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Variac question
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:29 pm
by Capt Vemo
I have whats probably gonna sound like a dumb question to most of you. So get your jabs in LOL but I was curious if I have one of the Lar/Mar MVs installed in my plexi replica. Im running the volume on the front of the amp on 10 and the MV around 3 for a nice comfotable bedroom volume. If I was to use a variac turned down to 90 volts like EVH did would it still give me more gain at that volume setting? Or would I need to really crank it to get abit more sustain and gain out of it?
Re: Variac question
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:28 pm
by YMI5150?
gain is similar, less harsh, but volume drops a bit.
be careful if you're using George's PT. from my experience, the heater voltage drops below 2.7VAC once I get below 100 VAC input on the variac. I've been instructed to stay above 2.7 so have not explored variac settings below 100 VAC.
Re: Variac question
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:13 am
by Capt Vemo
Ive been steared away from dropping the volage on one down to say 90volts like EVH did. But I have another question about using them. I honestly think my voltage in some of the outlets in my house vary abit. And is actually going up and down while Im playing. Would this be something I could use to keep the voltage at a steady 110 voltage for my amp ?
Re: Variac question
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:03 pm
by Tone Slinger
Yes
Re: Variac question
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:20 pm
by AustinTx
No....you need a voltage regulator to keep you AC steady.
Variac will just give you a percentage of the wall voltage,
if the wall voltage varies...the output of the variac will vary also
Dropping voltage with a variac will drop the volume a bit but..
2.95v is as low as you wanna go on a heater, according to the gurus...
Re: Variac question
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:55 am
by 908ssp
According to experts I respect heater voltage issues are way over stated. Nobody has ever posted loss of a tube due to too low heater voltage. And the spec everybody quotes is developed for extreme high power broadcast tubes not tubes is guitar amps. I personally don't go lower than 100 volts as I think the quality of the tone changes in a way I don't care for. I am not worried about wearing out a tube in any case.
Re: Variac question
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:07 pm
by AustinTx
908ssp wrote:According to experts I respect heater voltage issues are way over stated. Nobody has ever posted loss of a tube due to too low heater voltage. And the spec everybody quotes is developed for extreme high power broadcast tubes not tubes is guitar amps. I personally don't go lower than 100 volts as I think the quality of the tone changes in a way I don't care for. I am not worried about wearing out a tube in any case.
True True...in my post I said "according to the gurus"
I have been running with low heater voltage since 85..without any problems