ATBL and the Variplex

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:58 pm

Ummm no

smzinno · Post by **smzinno** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:11 pm

Mark, do you mean no that's not how it works, or no that's not the order of how they did the steps ?

smzinno · Post by **smzinno** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:13 pm

deleted double post

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:15 pm

the amps bias is at 50ma while there is a b+ of 325-350dcv happening is my under standing.

bmf5150 · Post by **bmf5150** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:46 pm

i thought you variac the amp down to 90 volts then bias to 50ma,not the other way around..am i wrong?

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:49 pm

what I've been saying is exactly, Stan.

sinasl1 · Post by **sinasl1** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:54 pm

rockstah wrote:so the airbrake was used? So was the amp set to 8 ohms? Or no because this is 50 watt we are hearing?

Dave, I understand the plexi spec of the variplex is what we are hearing. Why was a regular variac used? I thought the variplex has a built in variac.

Hi Mark, the regular variac was used because then you get the effect of the heater voltage dropping too... Dave can explain better. And yes I used an airbrake and amp was at 8 ohms.... and yes amp was biased at 50ma with the variac set at 90v

MARCO · Post by **MARCO** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:11 pm

I actually think his new amp is pretty good. We all heard Pete Thorn get a pretty good old tone with the 5150 III amp. Although it shines in the high gain department, it is not bad for old tones if you dial it in right w/ the right speakers. We all just feel the true EVH "Brown Sound" is synonymous with the crankend Marshall, variac etc. I think Dave Friedman said that the 5150 III sounds better on stage than what u hear on some these clips.
LIke all of you, I do miss the Marshall tone especially for the older songs (DLR era).

smzinno · Post by **smzinno** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:12 pm

I actually did read it that way also. I was just floating a theory that would have resulted in a bias that was truly 'hot', versus normal 70% diss for push-pull.

Gainfreak · Post by **Gainfreak** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:32 pm

Ok guys, Let's get back on topic here..............

Did Pete steal the amp?

lol

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:48 pm

Ok guys, Let's get back on topic here..............

Did Pete steal the amp?

lol

Yeah, really. I'd for sure pull a "Slash" and not give it back.

That clip sounds wicked! We just have to get Ralle to ship his cab over and re-record the clip. Or ship the amp to Ralle...

nitro · Post by **nitro** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:44 pm

sinasl1 that sounded very nice, good chops too,i always thought that 50 watters sounded sweeter then 100 watters,this also tells me something that ed might have used a smaller amp(50watt plexi)during the recording of van halen 1 instead of his 100 watt plexi,van halen II is more 100 watt plexi sounding,plus there are photos that show that(van halen II studio photos)everything comes into play,the guitar,pickup,effects,variac,etc,etc anyway very nice.......

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:10 pm

thanks Pete. Makes sense to me.

Strat78 · Post by **Strat78** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:42 pm

Very cool rendition of that riff. The echo is key to making it chug along nicely! By mid 78 even Ed stopped playing it right, but you brought it back!

RACKSYSTEMS · Post by **RACKSYSTEMS** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:28 pm

To answer a few things the heaters dropping with the variac is a huge tone thing. At one point I had a filament transformer hooked up to a variac to see what effect the heaters dropping had on tone. Well it was a lot, also if you want to use it right you should bias the amp while at 90 volts. The variac that comes with the amp is more for vol then anything. Dave