Eddie Van Halen’s Brown Sound | Does a Variac Actually Change an Amp's Tone?
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- Listen on headphones or good speakers to hear it best.
In this video, I talk about doing some light modifications to my 50 watt Plexi and compare the effects of a Variac and different biases on the amp. The backing tracks used are the actual tracks from Van Halen minus the guitar part.
The amp is a Build Your Own Clone (BYOC) Brit 50 kit amp going into a Marshall 1960A Cabinet loaded with Celestion Greenbacks. For further details on the signal chain, watch the video.
The song playing in the background is my song Hell On Earth.
Check out my website: joejuliano.rocks
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#evh #eddievanhalen #brownsound
0:00 Intro/Atomic Punk
1:15 Atomic Punk Isolated Guitar
1:52 The Amp
2:36 The Guitar
2:59 The Pedals
3:27 The Cab/Mics/Post Processing
3:53 Comparisons Intro/Biasing
4:47 Voltmeter/My Wall Voltage is Actually 110V
5:22 Feel Your Love Tonight Solo
5:57 Feel Your Love Tonight Solo Isolated Guitar
6:29 The Amp's Stock Tone
7:57 Different Voltages With the Same Bias
8:26 Different Bias Settings With the Same Voltage
9:08 Turning the Variac in Real Time
10:07 Closing
I use the same varic on all my plexis vintage and RI. But I dont use it to brown out, I use it to keep the Voltage between 108 and 110 where they were designed to be. the 120+ that comes out of the wall these days makes them sound brittle and too bright. They relax and sound great right at 108-110. I do think lowering the voltage too much will decrease the life of your components for most but the fact you have bias points for each is genius and likely takes away all the danger of short tube life. . great video.
Great googly moogly! You really nailed not just Eddie’s early guitar sound, but the spirit and aliveness of his lead and rhythm phrasing.
Just astounding. Sounds FANTASTIC. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot! 🤘
90V with slow Bias creates more effect, but it seems too much, maybe with more voltage with a regulated Bias for that in your case-amp. The best Variac test I've seen. Thx.
When I was in high school in the early 80’s I had a Marshall plexi. One day I turned it off while I was still playing and just before it died out there was this incredible distortion sound! I thought, “that’s how Van Halen’s getting that sound!!” I didn’t know about the variac back then! After I found out I borrowed one from a friends dad and tried it out. To me it was more compressed and quieter. I changed some resistor values here and there for some more gain. I wished I knew about the bias! I never changed that! It still didn’t sound like the amp did when you cut it off! If somebody figures out how to get that sound… they’ll be a billionaire! Great video and playing man!
You are killing it on that Feel Your Love solo. That "falling down the stairs" kind of phrasing is perfectly performed here.
I think this needs to be done with a cranked 220v Marshall 👍
Same almost half voltage choke was done even on the 220v models he ran. He just had us and European models
To my ear, it adds the evh rubber-band-stretch element. I like it best on leads. Awesome video 👍
Dude - this is such a great vid! Love how you explain the process and shared how you got the sounds...and you totally NAILED the tone. Built your own amp...the works! Ed would be proud...you are indeed a tonechaser! Rock on...
Variac, the great external master volume.
Honestly I was kinda surprised how little effect it had on volume in my rig. I’m curious if other amps really drop in volume much more with a Variac
I read an article where supposedly this writer for music magazine, or something like that. Saw the Variac on the stage all plugged in. And he asked Eddy. What it was.
So Eddy said ya, I bought these two vintage Marshall’s built back in the mid sixties. Eddy said originally the variac was installed to preform slow warm ups as to not blow anything out from the sudden blast of electricity.
But that being said, Eddy also noted that it changed his amplifier in a good way.
So he kinda stumbled on to this idea.
But I sit back and ponder time to time, not knowing what to really think about it. Because at the end of the day ,a legendary player is no longer with us, and for Eddy VanHalen fans.
This is a great story to tell.
If it sounds good to you, then play on. It’s been my experience that once you get into the 75% range of mastering your craft. It’s that last dam 25% is really tough to crack. And those steps in the right direction come in baby steps. If you’re not paying close attention. You might miss it. God Bless us All
How am I just finding out about this channel?!?!? Killer playing, killer sound, AMAZING looking playing space...love it.
Yes it does. I did it with my Marshall 1987X 50Watt and it sounded exactly like the 1st VH Album!
Side note - along with everything else that's great in this video...
You really showcased the ik multimedia sunset reverb the best I've 'heard' it done so far, out of anyone else that has attempted to showcase it in conjunction with VH...
So...
Thank you- 👏🏻💎
Thanks a lot! That reverb quickly became one of my favorites. The plates and chambers are really cool but the room reverbs are spectacular
How am I just finding out about this channel?!?!? Killer playing, killer sound, AMAZING looking playing space...love it. The Pariah Pasadena set are absolutely spot-on for VH, I have the 1986 in my 5150 kit guitar and it does VH1 pretty nicely as well. EP Booster definitely gives you that "thing" as well, really well done.
Already watched, I just decided to come back and write a comment, very good tone!
I like Both.. The 110 has more highs that stand out. Cool Video
Yeah that’s what I thought in the end too. They’re definitely both useful sounds but each kinda has their own thing going for it
Whatever you did, it’s sounds effin fantastic
Think it's time to change my mid pot and treble cap in my '73 super lead head and invest in a variac .It's all reversible after all and you really do a great Eddie ..lol absolutely nailed it!
Can't believe I've not seen this sooner ...thanks for effort from bonnie Scotland.
Thanks a lot! Of those mods, I honestly think the mid pot makes the biggest difference
@@JoeJulianoMusic yeh Joe,I'll try out that mid pot first ..I'm actually quite exited to hear the difference.
I just found out the old Marshall bottom cab I've been gigging for years with a 5150 combo and a Satriani head or a Fender champ 12 ...its a '67 lol
Wow nice! One thing I’ll suggest too is to check what value mid pot is already in the amp. Somebody was asking me about doing this to their Marshall and the diagram showed it already had a 50k mid pot in it. It was effective on my amp because the stock mid pot was 25k
@@JoeJulianoMusic cool I'll check that out Joe...and listen,thanks very much for the advice and again, great playing and great sounds. You deserve way more subs bud.
killer setup, great playing and digging the lights
Thanks - much appreciated!
Fantastic video, playing and tone.
Thanks a lot! 🤘
Pariah pickups make the best pups around. I have a set and I'm super happy about them
So far I’ve only tried the Pasadena Black bridge pickup but honestly it may be my favorite bridge pickup ever
@@JoeJulianoMusic I have a rageous set and honestly, I didn't know I liked midrangy pickups before installing those.
Great job!!
Thanks!
Great video.
A variac is a must to get that super great distortion that Eddy got! Normal plexi amps can not and will not get any where even close to that super distorted but also super articulate mind blowing tone sound! Plexi's are pure gold tone wise....but come on, they need to be setup with a variac to get THAT SOUND!!!
Joe fantastic video! Your guitar skills are mad as well! Thanks for sharing this. I have been amp shopping for a while and had a stealth 5150 and sent it back. Was disappointed and was not what I was wanting. At that point I knew I wanted a plexi but 3GS for a super lead :(. Lol. You building your amp has made me rethink this. I am headed over to look at some kits. Would love to know more about your mid pot upgrade. If I go this route I will want that done as well. Thanks again for your time making this!!
Thanks a lot! Yeah the good production models plexi amps are all pretty pricey whether it’s Marshall or other ones. The only thing that’s tough with these amps is they’re insanely loud so for quiet options it’s either use an attenuator or reactive load with IRs or a separate power amp. Some of Friedman’s lower wattage amps are Plexi-ish like the Pink Taco, my BE-50 gets pretty close to this Plexi sound at any volume. I don’t recommend Marshall’s 20-watt Plexi I played it and it sounded horrible.
Anyway about the kits haha, this kit I have specifically is the Build Your Own Clone Brit 50 Kit. Definitely a very tough project (took me about a year and a half before I got it working right, but that was due to my inexperience, their instructions are very good) but if you’re up for it, it can be really great. Mojotone also makes good kits. The mid pot change is very simple actually. The stock mid pot is 25K and all you do is replace that with a 50K pot (I think it was linear taper).
Its worth the time and effort, it can only help your sound in the long run, brown sound is "Tastey" To the Ears
Didn't expect that. The regular voltage setting sounded better to me. What you did here was VERY smart. You let us hear the comparison DRY with no effects. One of the challenges with matching vintage Marshalls is the slight differences you could have from one month of manufacture in the SAME YEAR to another month; i.e. it wasn't uncommon for Marshall to change parts suppliers for whatever particular part due to price increases. This is why the same exact plexi or JMP of a certain year can sound a bit different because they were built in a different month - or even week! It's usually not that big of a difference. It just depends on what parts were changed.
Great Video Joe Thank you c]8-)
Hi there!
🙂
👋
It does for me!
And I don’t use it for the so called “brown sound”!
I have a JMP-50, and it is evident it does not like higher voltages!
My problems started when I moved to my new house!
I have here ~124V in the sockets!
The place I moved from was 112V-115V
With the higher voltage my amp have become more bright and brittle!
Distortion have become not so appealing !
And that thing solved my problems!
Even more!
I found I could move around the voltage between 108V ~ 115V and find the sweet spot for my different guitars!
Thanks for Sharing Your experience!
👋
If anyone knows what my bias should be at 90 volts please share. Thank you
You've Got an Amazing Guitar!
Hey man, I haven't even finished or even gotten to the meat of the video yet. But I see the work you put into it and your dilligence so, gotta hit that subscribe button! Looking forward to your stuff.
Oh and that guitar is great! I love how it's just "your" guitar, not particularly trying to be "eddie" other than the obvious layout similarities. Slick paint job.
Thanks a lot!
OK I just finished it. I actually really liked your "I dunno! What do you think! I liked this, I dunno" analysis. That's kind of where I am with it too. Honestly, you sounded incredible with all 4 modes. I wonder if your amp just naturally sounds better than Eddie's did originally, at 110. That's a possibility. I know one thing, either way I think it was probably damn loud in that room as soon as you started turning that volume up on the amp past like 9 o clock!
I’m glad you dug my video. Honestly I really don’t know how much of a difference it makes. Either way I look at it as another option as a sound. I’ll say volume wise this amp is only loud and louder. At 1 it’s probably too loud for most purposes lol
Fantastic copies!!!! Although, I would LOVE to hear YOUR style of playing and song writing. YOU are EXTREMELY talented!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks a lot! I actually have a few albums out on streaming services under my name “Joe Juliano”. I have a link to my website and bandcamp in the description of this video. Otherwise search me up on any streaming service, you’ll find me haha
Very fine guitar playing and video production... and subject matter! I liked both and don’t think it sounds different enough to merit playing with high voltage! Would pay to go to one of your shows - couldn’t help but singing along!
Thanks a lot! Yeah listening to it side by side it’s not exactly a night and day difference. I was most surprised by the fact it didn’t drop the volume that much. I’m still trying to figure out if it’s all in my head or not lol but as far as I can tell it’s a “feel” thing, and so far 90V feels awesome to play. But when I listen back to the regular voltage clip it sounds badass too so who knows. It could even be my specific amp as well, so other amps could react differently and maybe you’d hear more of a difference. As soon as I got the Variac I was really curious what I’d find once I did an A/B test.
@@JoeJulianoMusic the higher voltages probably knock more electrons off the anode with their greater impact at higher biases ... change the temperature of the anode, and all kinds of second order effects. I am insensitive to mild “EQ” tweaks, and I’m certain it’s not it your head, but ...
@@JoeJulianoMusic what’s not in question is your genius and mastery of Van Halen’s speed, pitch, whammy and other dynamics. WOW 🤩
Thank you so much! That’s very kind of you to say. Every aspect of EVH’s playing and sound has been an obsession for me since I was a kid. His playing is a whole other thing beyond simply playing the right notes haha but even playing them the right way. His expression in his playing is the most challenging part of getting it right. I do my best to achieve that.
@@JoeJulianoMusic I play the notes, can’t get the feel - so we can recognize you hard work and detail
Back in the day (early 90's) when I was playing clubs I used to try to accomplish the same thing as far as getting the full gain out of my JCM 800 Marshall at lower volumes.
I found this unit from Tom Scholz called the Power Soak that went in between the amp and the speaker cabinet that would allow you to enjoy all the gains from the amp when it's maxed out but at lower volumes.
I found that it worked sort of, but at the same time it changed the sound and not for the better.
The sound was very compressed and weird sounding.
Still have it somewhere in the basement.
Hi Joe, Did you also do the fat cap mod? If so what value cap did you install? Also, did you bias your amp at 50ma at idle when using the variac at 90v? Great playing and chops, btw!
Thanks a lot! I didn’t do the fat cap mod but maybe I should look into it haha. For my bias at 90V, it’s actually maxed out on the trimpot. Maybe not the smartest thing but it sounds great haha. When I built the amp, I learned to bias the amp using millivolts so I don’t have an exact milliamps value to say.
Great to hear. I think Eddie had a 4x12 with two JBL’s and two Greenbacks when recording VHI. Also according to his tech Rudy he used no EQ before the amp. But his VHI sound has a cut at 800hz and a rather heavy boost around 5K. The used a Pultek to EQ his sound post amp. Great playing nice amp! It’s very likely that Eddie sometimes had the Variac set lower than 90V like in their club days to not be so loud.
Thanks for doing this with the bias adjustments included with the voltage changes.
I belive Eddie used a cab with two Greenbacks (could have been 20W) and two JBL’s. Then mic’ed one of each. According to his tech Rudy Lieren he only used the MXR Graphic for certain guitars or rental gear that sounded bad.
I think you’re there dude. I thought you were playing along to the recording. Sound and playing on point. Doesn’t seem like the variac is really key to it. You had the brown sound without it to my ears
Thanks a lot I really appreciate that! I’ve been studying the subtle nuances of EVH’s playing for most of my life and have really tried to capture them when I play Van Halen songs so I’m glad to hear that it sounds like it haha. I’d say the Variac is just the icing on the cake. It’s definitely not a drastic change in my case with my setup but I will say after all this time, I do still prefer to play the amp at the lower voltage.
You are getting there...as far as I know he ALSO used an attenuator (He was using low powered JTM45's at first is the story...and he wanted to get THEM to overdrive...so he took an early attenuator and hooked it up between amps (running amp pre and power section into the attenuator and then into another identical amps input)...then drive that amp and have it hooked to the Variac (he used the Variac for VOLUME control...to bring that loud ass amp down to venue and room levels...and he set that by venue...drop the voltage until the amp stops working then bring it back and once it works again tune to volume level!!!) The actual joy YOU are looking for is the Attenuator between the amps...(and also...given the day and age in which he actually started...there were no effects loops in amps...the attenuation run between amps gave him the first effects loop...he put his effects between the amps!!!)
This i really cool to hear i have a stock 69 50 smallbox marshall ive had for 40 years i would never use a variac on it ha ha the transformers and all else execpt the filter caps are untouched but building a amp for this like you have is cool thanks cheers
Really cool vid on the Variac! Maybe it’s me but besides output volume I couldn’t tell much difference. Maybe in a recording setting but in a live setting(gig)…not so sure. I dunno…what do I know…I play bass.🤘🏼
Nah it’s definitely not a massive difference and I’d even say it’s more of one you feel when playing it rather than hear it as a pronounced effect
Damn..dude can play
Wow ! you have 110 wall voltage !!
I' lucky if it goes down to 123 and as high as 127 most evenings.
I just ordered a Tone preserver from Vintage sound workbench in hopes of keeping my tweeds happy.
Great vido sir! I love hearing a great Plexi sound
May I chime in with all due respect?
The lowering of plate voltage via variac has its place, but it is not huge. Changing to 6CA7 tubes will yeild a dirrernce.
Re biasing? You can knock yourself out, but cathode stripping is a theory, though lower heater voltage causes this issue.
I, for example, crank down to 89 vac, or even 100vac to get a little more grit.
To me overall, a variac is best used to regulate the center tap voltage of 129vac or 220vac depending on your region.
My amps sound BEST right at 120vac [ Germino Lead 55 LV] Yes I crank it all the way up, if I want VH flavor.
Honestly I get more tone differences when using differnt output/power tubes.
Just know lowering voltage effects all leads of a power transformer, so as a result tubes are imbalanced and burn up quicker.
If you use a PLEXI type NMV that is the choice for this technique. You are wasting time if you do it to a preamp gain reliant master volume amp.
A pushed [cranked] Plexi is the Holy Grail of Hi gain in my subjecivity..
Preamp gain is close but fizzy in comparison. Freidman, Soldano, Bogner, Boogie all sound great for their purpose.
But if you want the best, use a Plexi with hot or low output pickups, boost with an overdrive of some sort, usually you dont have to, then you will be in heaven.
My Plexi cranked us a Duncan JB,at 120 vac Bogren I.R.s, amp too loud where I live LOLOL
Seymour Duncan JB TB-4 bridge pickup [demo] PRIPYAT written and performed by eric tripton - UA-cam
If you bias the tubes with the variac in line it makes a huge difference. I don't think Beato did that in his vid. Interesting about the tone pot.
Would you be able to show a simple diagram how you wired the switch for the 110 and 90V bias switch? Thanks
Subscribed in seconds when I heard the accuracy of playing and the tone. Not many people get this close IMO, trying to get there myself with an origin and a helix... it’s going okay I guess 😂
Thanks a lot! It’s only taken my whole life up to this point to sound that way haha. It’s all about the journey there
That’s facts bro, I remember buying a $20 strat at a flea market and routing it out to drop a $30 Floyd in it and played through a spider 30 watt. Now it’s a helix into a Marshall into some greenbacks. It’s amazing how we progress both in skill and acquired gear. Also props to you for responding BEFORE I EVEN FINISHED THE VIDEO. my word you are quick on responses 😂👏🏼
Thank you Joe.
Joe there are dip switches inside the EP Booster. Could you tell me what they are set at? Which varied did you buy there so many on Amazon. This is a great video. Thank you
I have the Xotic EP Booster. If I recall correctly I had both the bright switch and +3dB Boost engaged
Thanks for the video. I thought I read, and or heard the sweet spot is 88 volts? It is a interview on Riffs, Beards, and gear with Mike Soldano where he talks about this. Did you make that amp? What schematic did you go off of, any mods to it?
Yeah there’s a lot of talk about 89 volts amongst the amp makers. It probably depends on the amp itself and how it sounds. I tried it and the sound difference between that and 90 is negligible in my amp.
Sorry I missed the other part of your question. Yes I did build the amp. It’s a Brit 50 Amp Kit from buildyourownclone.com. The only things I changed from the stock amp are a 50k mid pot instead of the original 25k mid pot and I added a switch with a second trimpot so I don’t have to rebias the amp when I run the amp at 120V or 90V.
89
I read where Eddie said that the sweet spot would differ in each room. He said it was around 89, but that didn’t always work. He’d turn the variac knob until he found the sweet spot for that room/venue.
Great vid! I don't hear much change in the tone, just a bit of a volume drop when the variac is in use. The real story here is your playing. Dude! You play just like Eddie. Have you tried any attenuators?
Thanks a lot! Volume is not really an issue for me so I’ve never needed an attenuator. I do however use the Suhr Reactive Load with IRs all the time and it sounds absolutely fantastic.
I would expect there to be more of a change in feel when you're playing the amp.
When I'm playing, I change settings and think there is more of a change than there actually is.
Also, using a looper for the guitar, the guitar then isn't really interacting directly with the amp... But I understand that's the easiest way to take playing variations a out of the comparison...
But then, at the same time, the difference in feel will cause one to actually play differently though so there's that. 😂
I like to feel gooey compression under my fingers... I'd go by that, unless the tone change was negative.
Yeah it’s definitely tough to create a perfect experiment to test it. To my ears there’s not a drastic difference, but either way I play it on 90V with the hotter bias all the time now lol. Even the volume difference is barely noticeable. I’d love to try it on a real 100 watt Marshall Plexi at some point and see what happens. Maybe my amp just reacts differently than those, which is most likely the case.
It’s definitely not in your head….90 volts sounds different..the amp reacts differently..Starving the tubes of voltage,makes it a little more saturated,and spongier feeling…..I run mine just like yours,with a switch to change biases between the 2 voltages…..Your rig sounds great…you definitely have that sound pretty much nailed…The playing ain’t half bad either……..I love the Brown Sound,but I also love the 90’s EVH detuned sound,so I have a rig for that sound too…..great video..I really enjoyed it…Cool to hear everything side by side..
I never understood the description of spongy until I buried the VARIAC. You can not only hear the difference but I can feel it. It really does make my strings feel spongy.
How did you figure out how to make the bias adjustable?
Yes it does
I had a question maybe you can answer. Did Eddie use a distortion box or a fuzz box as some people call it ?I say no. I say it was all through the amps overdrive and gain with it cranked all the way up and volume controlled through the guitar but I could be wrong. So, which is it?
It's such a slight change, and it's kinda funny how I know exactly how to add everything to a single switch...
Sounds just like Eddie's tone.
Fucking lit!
variac only works on vintage original amps. Anything made after about 1990 all have built in voltage regulators. The amp simply wont turn on unless you have at least 105 vac.
So it will work on Plexi’s with PCB’s too? More information.
I really wouldn’t know for sure. Personally I think the sound is kinda a negligible difference that if you’re not sure, it’s probably not gonna be mind blowing. I was aware of the risks of trying it with my amp and so far nothing bad has happened.
@@JoeJulianoMusic Hand wired turret boards are fairly simple and robust. I’ve got JVM 205H and a 1987x reissue, both using PCB’s. My concern would be using a Variac on the more sophisticated PCB amps like your JVM 410. Thanks for the reply, and great video.
Yeah I definitely wouldn’t do it with my JVM because of all the DSP and switching going on within it, other than there’s no real need to do it to an amp with that many sounds
How’d you get backing tracks minus guitar
There are backing track websites online but in my case I downloaded the multitracks that came from Guitar Hero Van Halen. If you search Van Halen Multitracks, you’ll find them.
Shouldn’t you turn the bias current down when you drop the voltage on the variac to 90 V, so the tubes run cooler versus you running them hot which would imply that the bias is actually turned up from our current?
My understanding is that lowering the voltage on a Variac results in the plate voltage of the tubes lowering. Apparently that gives some freedom to make the bias hotter than normal before the tubes red plate. The story is EVH used the Variac and cranked the bias up so that’s what was attempted here.
@@JoeJulianoMusic you may want to look up what Dave Friedman did as I believe it was different. He set a bias on Eddie’s amp at 110 volts and set the bias at 80ma, then ran the voltage down to 90 volts - he ran the tubes colder this way.
“Dave said he sets Eds bias at -80 while running 110 volts and he then turns the variac down to 90 ish .”
Interesting I’ll have to see again because the information I referenced before doing this video was several tone talk videos with Dave and John Suhr discussing this topic as well the Pete Thorn deep dive into EVH tone
@@JoeJulianoMusic For sure! Dave, Pete and John rock some stuff in recreating the brown sound and since Dave worked on Eddie’s amp, and I also know Soldano worked on them as well, there is some good info out there. Cheers! Love your experimentations and videos. PS: I was an electrical engineer and I can tell you Eddie would have totally ignored that last chap who said he was an amp builder/EE and that one should never Variac an amp unless you are an expert like him..Eddie would have laughed in his face.
Lol yeah we’re not exactly talking within the realm of “correct” and “proper” practices with this whole Variac thing. It’s all a risk and we accept the stakes haha
How did you keep the highs from getting too much?
Tough to say for sure because so many factors contribute to the sound. In general if I’m only plugged into the bright channel like I was in this video, it sounds pretty thin at low volumes (which this amp is barely capable of) but at higher volumes the sound fills out. Other than that all I can say is either that’s just how this amp sounds or even just me as a player, my guitar, pickups, and pedals all sound. For the VH song examples I was actually even boosting high mids on my EQ pedal.
a lot of work for a copy sound, nice job.
👍
I did this to my Marshall & it just got mushy!
Um is this a recording of this actual song?
No it’s the original drums, bass, and vocal tracks with my guitar recorded over it
From my experience a recent Marshall or any of today’s amps it is a waste of time / as a personal experiment / I tried a Variac on an EVH 5150 III EL34s 100 watt amp and it was meh but an amp from Ed’s early days I’m sure it was sonic gold
I would say that the EVH 5150 III isn't the best to test that principle on as Ed specifically engineered those to get the sound he liked without the use of a variac.
@@kirkwahmmett1666 true
To tell the truth honestly I don’t even really hear any distortion per se that would come from a distortion box.
I think an amp's tone sounds better without a variac.
90v sounds behind the pocket
Do I need to worry about my tube bias I use VARIAC every day.
I wouldn’t say worry about it unless you’re using the Variac to raise the voltage. In my experience lowering the voltage lowered the bias in my amp, hence why I added a switch with a second trimpot for normal voltage and 90V so I can set it at the ideal bias for both settings
@@JoeJulianoMusic thank you. I'm going to watch again...I have a YJM Marshalls so I should be able to adjust the bias myself. I apologize if this is in the video..but what should the bias be if my voltage is at 90 or 87 or 78 I have read about 3 different EVH voltage settings. What should my bias be at 90? I'll not worry about the others...have you ever went to 78?
There’s a formula most people follow to calculate the optimal bias. Right now I don’t totally remember it but I know you need to know your plate voltage. I’ve never tried the Variac below 89V
@@JoeJulianoMusic thanks again. I'm going to find that formula and make my bias a little hotter.. my bias is the same as it was I have not changed my bias even though I'm using a VARIAC be at 90. I have read many times VH II was at 78 anyway I get the sound and feel I like at 90 volts even though I don't have my bias correct once I do it should be even better. Thanks sgain
Great guitar playing!!!
Honestly it's not that big of a difference it mostly sounds like a bit of clean up
45 years later everyone is a variac expert
eddie accidentally plugged into a stage lighting variac at a theatre, it was dimmed down and thats where he got the idea, i guarantee he never reset his bias, he didn't know how, that claim is friedman who is 1/2 fos
The variac was just a volume!....nothing to do with tone.......many Marshalls you have to crank it All the way up to get proper Tone Saturation, which is insanely Overkill in 95% of situations outside a football stadium with a 100w Tube Amp, Lol.....so the variac was just a way to Keep tone, and control the volume.
I’d be curious to see how other amps react to a Variac because honestly with my amp, the volume difference between using it and not using it was barely anything at all
Take it from a 55 year old amp builder; NEVER use a Variac on an amplifier except for repair/service purposes ONLY!!! The change in sound is minimal and is really more of a psychological affect than anything... power and output transformers were never designed to operate at voltages other than the voltage they were designed to operate with. Using a Variac to attempt to sound like Eddie Van Halen is asking for burnt transformers and other components. I've found that when these damaged amps are repaired with new (and usually expensive) components, they never quite sound the same or as good as they once did. Ignore my advice at your peril...
To each their own. I think other amp builders like Dave Friedman and John Suhr would disagree. I can understand wanting to play it safe though, the Variac really has no place being used with modern style amps
@@JoeJulianoMusic Joe, you just showed you're way out of your wheelhouse here... an amp being a "modern design" has nothing to do with anything. In fact, using a Variac on a vintage amp would be much more risky. And I guarantee Dave and John would both tell you not to screw around with a Variac... unless you're a qualified amp tech and are using it for that purpose. I also guarantee in a blind A/B comparison 99.999% of guitarists commenting on your video couldn't tell the difference between 90 volts or 135 volts (on the 110/115v tap for example).
I guess all I’m going off of is Dave himself said the BE sound is based off of his 50 watt Marshall with a Variac at 90V. Not to mention the Suhr SL68 amp literally has a power switch that runs the amp at 90V. I’m not disagreeing that the change in sound is minimal and maybe not even not necessary. I’m just not buying the statement that you should never use one because clearly a lot of people do without issue.
@@JoeJulianoMusic You have to remember that those amps are designed to run on those oddball voltages. Yes, some people can use a Variac sometimes for years without issue, but I wouldn't be willing to damage my '79 JMP 50w using one. BTW: I run my Marshalls on 220v by using a step-up transformer... a Marshall set to run on 220/240v has more kick and slightly faster transient response than the same amp set to run on 110/120v. That's because you are using the entire primary winding of the power transformer as opposed to using a secondary tap as you would when running the amp on 110/120v. I know this may sound like it's flying in the face of the lecture I just gave you about voltage, but again, the power transformer is designed to operate at 110/220/240v... I'm just taking advantage of the fact the amp will sound better at 220/240v. I hope this wasn't too confusing. Best of luck in your endeavors 🎸
I appreciate the info as I enjoy learning about amp design. My grandfather was an electrical engineer so I’ve learned a lot from him over time. It’s interesting how the whole Variac thing is so hotly debated in the amp design world. Some guys say it’s totally cool to use them and some guys say not to touch them and it seems both sides have good reasons to believe so. Personally through making this video I really was surprised how little it changed the sound once I was able to really A/B them. I’m an audio engineer by nature so I couldn’t say one was better or worse necessarily, more just like two flavors of a similar sound. It’s funny what we all try to do to get that “sound in our head”
Take some advice - forget chasing EVH. Do something original. Be original. Be unique. Down inside you have the talent to do YOU. As cool as it may seem to you to duplicate perfectly EVH…it’s already been done. If you don’t change your direction to your own - in 20 years you will only have regrets. Make original music.
Yeah I do both because I enjoy both
Your lights are silly
i saw a pete thorn and tracy guns interview , tracy said that the bass on eds plexis were turn down all the way and the rest was dimed
i tried this on my suhr sl67 and did like the results
I could definitely see that. If I change anything typically I lower the bass
@@JoeJulianoMusic like Tracy said in the interview " you dont need it anymore" , or something similar to that
Yes it does