[Tim D]

Was wandering Fry's in the doohickey section and noticed a $50 dollar variac power supply! I opened it up and it was a big hunking heavy piece of lab machinery...and it came with a silly metal led key chain...well if that wasn't reason enough to buy it. Ummmmm...did I mention its big and heavy...oh and it comes with a nifty analog voltage meter hehe.

Ok I haven't exactly figured out my rational for buying it yet...but you never know when one of your friends will say, "damn I wish I had a variac!" and you can jump in and say "well lucky for you..."

Oh well right now I have it feeding my power amp at 117 VAC...Yay it works and doesn't f$@% up the sound so far. Once I figure out why I exactly bought it I'll get back to ya. Course in all serious I also want to see if my amp runs cooler/better just in case it was being over/under voltaged. Also maybe a Variac would be a nice addition for DIY amp work...who knows!? I don't. You have to admit it looks pretty neat...in an ugly school lab sort of way!

 

[bootman]

And a free key chain to boot!
Can't beat that deal!!!

 

[dhwilkin]

Reminds me of the centrifuge in high school chemistry lab, blech! Bad memories, man!

So you say it hasn't messed up the sound... has it helped the sound any?

 

[Tim D]

Haha, I haven't noticed too much but haven't played with it enough. Actually however it would have been more useful if I had a tube amp where over-voltage really does have much more adverse effects on both tube-life and sound. A lot of tube-heads have variacs for this reason as well as slow start. It is kinda like the phenomena with light bulbs...they usually burn out quicker from a lot of abrupt on/off switching, not necessarily constant use. My power amp is 117 VAC which is what a lot of tube amps are at...some are even 110. Anyhow my amp already has built-in power delays, but being SS is not AS prone to the same problems of over-voltage or quickstart. But this variac will definitely be nice whenever if I get a nice tubey headphone amp/preamp.

It doesn't filter or anything like that...it just regulates voltage...but was still at a nice price...and that free key chain...well who wouldn't! Its not really an audio enchancer that I know of (except in instances of over-voltaged tube equipment)...more of a multipurpose tool/toy to experiment with. For example it can also serve as an oversized light dimmer(that does not interfere with your other electronics)! It can serve as a speed control on certain power-tools. And it can serve as a step-up/down transformer.

Hehe...and I actually LIKED that it reminded me of HS chemistry.

Other uses would be for fixing high voltage gear like TV or tube. And used to power vintage tube gear slowly instead of abruptly which could wreck it. Ummm controlling tesla coils, or the Eddie Van Halen method of altering guitar sound. Anyhow it has a great variety of uses...none of which really pertain to me yet...lol.

I'm screwing around with it and a lamp right now. I wish I had the tools to dbl-check the accuracy of its analog voltage output meters.

Just one of those things that you buy not because you really NEED it at that moment...but would be useful later lol...plus that free keychain...who knows when I might be left in the dark trying to find a keyhole. I just mentioned it because it was cheap...and there are folks I'm sure that could use one.

 

[rickcr42]

variacs are great DIY tools.When first powering up a new project start at zero then gradually bring up the voltage to 120.Prevents major damage to parts if there is a problem