Variac parameter question???

deckard1070

deckard1070

Member
Hello,

Just curious if anyone knows why the Variac parameter on the FM3 is given in percentage value and not Volts?

Thanks.
 
deckard1070 said:
Makes sense. Thanks.

This may be a dumb question...but, to lower the voltage using the FM3 Variac knob one would raise the percentage value or lower it?
Click to expand...
Dummy Feeling Dumb GIF
Hahaha. Sorry. Yes, a lower percentage of a given virtual voltage would be lower.
 
Common sense, right? Then why does the Dweezil Zappa VH free preset for the FM3 have the Variac with an increased percentage value (124%)? Care to explain? :)
 
deckard1070 said:
Common sense, right? Then why does the Dweezil Zappa VH free preset for the FM3 have the Variac with an increased percentage value (124%)? Care to explain? :)
Click to expand...
There was a lot of intentional misinformation about Eddie's rig out there. Maybe Dweezil knows something that we don't??? Or he just followed his ears, not his eyes.

Some stories say that Eddie ran it lower as a pseudo master volume control. And the resulting lower voltage cause the tubes to starve a bit, like a 'brown out' when the city power drops in peak demand. That may be where the term 'Brown Sound' came from?

Other stories say that he cranked it up to get that 'almost ready to blow up' sound.

@RoshRoslin might have some insight? I believe that he worked with Dweezil on those presets.
 
Last edited:
I was sharing Studio America in Pasadena with VH while they were demoing their second LP way back when, and the Variac was definitely down, not up (how far down varied he said, but typically around 92V'ish for recording, live more or less depending on the room). When I first heard EVH warming up out in the studio, I ran out from the control room to meet him as he was warming up with Eruption, and I'd never heard anyone play anything like that at that time.

EVH was a real nice guy then, showed me his rig etc, and after my jaw got off the floor from watching him play, we hung out a little before the rest of VH showed up and they went to work. We spent a few days sharing that studio, us in the afternoon, VH at night, and all the guys were very cool except for DLR who was of course an egomaniac (their first album was out and had quite a buzz already, but they weren't full blown stars quite yet as in those days you needed a successful follow up ASAP).

Note that the magic plexi was dimed and louder the all freakin' heck, even browned out! When EVH fired the magic plexi up through a single cab 4X12 out in the studio, it came right through the doubled-sound proofed studio walls and into the control room in spite of all the sound proofing and double-double glass LOL! Note also that he had a small piece of plywood with a Roland 10-Band EQ (which I believe he used as a clean boost with his Strats, and as a clean boost with EQ for his Explorer?), Flanger, Phaser, plus an Echoplex on the floor near the amp at that time, and he sounded just like the recordings in that room with not much done to his tone at the console except for some minimal EQ/Filtering, the panned reverb, and of course mic(s) and placement(s).

Crazy loud they were in that small studio...

Note also that the vintage Marshall Output Transformers of the day were quite on the edge of flaming out under normal full-power use, so upping the B+ would be a sure fire way to create fireworks (flamed some myself back in the day without a Variac, with glorious eruptions of PCB's LOL)!
 
Last edited:
Moke said:
Some stories say that Eddie ran it lower as a pseudo master volume control. And the resulting lower voltage cause the tubes to starve a bit, like a 'brown out' when the city power drops in peak demand. That may be where the term 'Brown Sound' came from?
Click to expand...
EVH said he originally coined the term "brown sound" to describe Alex's snare, which he thought sounded like beating on a log. He also stated it was a "warm" sound to him and later used it to describe other sounds with similar characteristics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom