VARIAC to club level (70 Volts)

[Jeremy1283]

Oh well heaters ... If it sounds good screw it man

[awangotango]

I don't think it sounds good so low. there is something else wrong with the amp if you are having to go so low to get the tone the way you like it. imo

[Strat78]

Yep, that looks like the 1987 50w with the stand up tranny 50/50 cans all around daisy chained to the 12301. Pretty sure we are looking at the setup for the first record in that pic. Who knows maybe it was three amps creating that tone: 12301, wooden amp, and the 50w. The Vox was back up apparently.

[johnnybgoood]

This is the "hair" I'm referring to...https://soundcloud.com/user790084345/hair

That extra "hair" (a.k.a. fuzz, distortion) is what everyone has been hunting for since the first record. How could Eddie get all that gain from a 1959 circuit? Everyone has their theories (i.e. magic pedal, magic gain pot on back of amp, etc., etc.).

To me it's as simple as a very voltage-starved plexi where the tube cathodes have to work hard to transmit electrons because it doesn't have enough power.

[jnew]

I don't think it sounds good so low. there is something else wrong with the amp if you are having to go so low to get the tone the way you like it. imo

Not so much that it's sounds better at 70V's. In other words, doesn't only sound good because it operating at a low 70V's. 90V's or regular wall voltage sound great too, but deal breaker in terms of volume. More so about being able to plug the head into the cab and playing. But yeah, it sounds killer too.

[rgorke]

Has anyone tried a lower amperage variac? Mine is a 5 amp. There are 1.75 and 3 amp Ohmites. I wonder how and what the impact of those are?

[johnnybgoood]

Clip of plexi at 69 volts. https://soundcloud.com/user790084345/jc-1

Looks like Ed Van Frankenstein is still using variacs in some capacity in his workshop and it looks like the red 10 amp version
made by Philmore. Inventing Frankie and playing with electricity... MUA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAA ...

[Jeremy1283]

Lol. I have the exaxt variac.

[jnew]

That's the same big ass Variac Jeremy has. Heavy little bastard.

Man I don't know what it is but I hate those guitar shapes. Never could get past them.

[Jeremy1283]

Maybe ed will post a clip

[Jeremy1283]

I like that body style

[Tone Slinger]

Jeremy, the amp still sounds pretty damn good at 70v, but, I do agree that it needs a slight kick in the ass (filled out or something). Have you ran the 6 band up front yet ? Also, at the 70v, is your vol. on 10 or still at 6 ?

As far as the Wolfgang guitar shape goes, IF Ed had a copy of his B&W Azusa in his hands in that pic instead of the Wolf, he would look 20 yrs younger

[Jeremy1283]

Volume still at 6 tone slinger. Not sure why i cant slam this bastard. Trying to learn presently why i cant.

[rgalpin]

hearing those Jamie's Crying ISOs from the album a question came to mind that would be worth consideration when making comparisons - do you think ed rolled his volume on his guitar back a little to get that tone during the verse on JC?

are you guys doing that when making comparison clips? if not we could be comparing apples to oranges when assessing the amount of hair, saturation, compression...

these variac clips are just great to hear... it's funny how we dabbled... but never went all the way before now - i hauled the friggin' thing around from gig to gig but used an attenuator too because I just never went all the way with it and just used it as an attenuator. every night i would faithfully dial the variac down to about 100V to brown it out a little and to know that the amp was seeing the same voltage as it did in the last venue - a consistency thing - it was right there in front of me, i wish i wouild have just yanked that knob a little farther down and gotten rid of the attenuator!!

good job on the clips! keep it up!!

[jnew]

I do think he rolls the volume to like 8 or so on the Jamie's Cryin verses. And also in the "she wants to send him a letter" part with the phaser. That same part, the 2nd time (after the solo) his guitar volume is even lower. You can hear the way it affect the phaser.