School me on Variac

[ChrisMetal86]

Wow, either you need better monitors or a hearing test.

:lol

 

[xlb3x]

When I tried the variac setting it sounded very similar to what my Metropolis 12000 series did on the variac setting. The feel became a little spongier and loose and distorted a little easier. I mostly used it in the regular position. It was a little tighter. I'm impressed with this new feature though. Thanks Cliff

 

[Martyntb]

I love the variac turned down. Gets a bit more gritty..spongy. And seems to have more sustain. Great with the 100w Plexi and the 4 x 12 UR cab Cliff suggested from the ownhammer/ fractal cab pack. Suits humbuckers!!!

 

[DukeOfPrunes]

seems if I turn it ccw things get louder, not sure what purpose that would be, other than volume change I hear no diff. in high gains. As with dynamics no diff. in high gain settings.

What do you use as monitoring set up? I can only imagine Cliff has golden ears as well as a top of the line monitoring set-up.

I know that many times, I have to work very hard to hear some of the nuances discussed here, but I am using a pair of Yamaha DXR12s and I am certain I could do better there.

One thing is for sure though, I definitely hear the difference using the Variac at less than 100% with low to medium gain amps, and me likey the end result. That parameter is one of the more powerful ones currently in the Axe, for my taste. Another huge leap is the recent IRs offered by Cliff, those are miles ahead of many that I have used in the past.

Just observations on my part, nothing contentious...

 

[Wintage]

The Friedman BE seems to have a variac "sweetspot" between 60 and 70 % (63,8 in my case), depending on how the input drive is set

 

[UnsungHeroGuitars]

The Friedman BE seems to have a variac "sweetspot" at 63,8 %, at least to my ears.

Ahh, I see... I was at 63.7 and wondered why it wasn't doing it for me...

Actually, I'm not being cocky Wintage, I just used this as an excuse to comment that I only ever set things to round 0's or 5's... yep, it's an OCD thing!