Voltage regulators

[rip]

Okay so as far as I can see there are only a few things out there marketed to guitar users.

The power conditioner, which really just tries to clean the power to your electronics. So you don't hear the neighbors power saw through your amp.

The power regulators, which will try to give you a constant voltage when your power fluctuates. For example you wall voltage gives you ~97 - 140V but the voltage regulator always puts out 120V. Most are only good to 5% though.

Balanced power conditioners, will give you exactly half the voltage sine wave on each the positive and negative poles. This can be good to keep things like heater hum down, as now you truly have equal and opposite voltage on each side so the twisting done on your heater wires is doing it's job better.

Then there are UPS systems (uninterruptible power supply). These are basically batteries that charge up during normal operation and when the power goes out its switches to the batteries and converts the DC to a Sine wave AC.

The last few are the more expensive solutions to power problems but each has their own advantages. I'm curious though...what do you guys use?

I was thinking voltage regulation is a must. Something like the Furman AR1215. But with Monster and Furman offering balanced power conditioners are they really worth the extra cost? And neither talk about voltage regulation. So it seems like you would need both.

One to solely regulate and the other to balance. Very pricey for a unclear benefit.

And then there are UPS's which there are tons of companies out there. I know you need to find one that generates a true sine wave or you may get some weird power noise with the steps in the voltage wave. But I've seen some that offer power regulation a lot better than the normal voltage regulators, perhaps this is only when it's pulling power from the batteries because it's controlling everything at that point.

I was even looking through a Mouser catalog and in the back SOLAHD has these constant voltage transformers (Ferroresonant) that offer very good regulation, they cost similar to the Furman stuff so I stopped looking.

I wish there was a way to get a balanced 120V and also have an adjustable outlet, say 110V (for our amps). Short of building one...

Well what do you guys do for your power?

Thanks
Rip

[AustinTx]

I use the AR1215 and it has been reliable. Ebay $330.00 New
I have it set to 118v for my amps. Adjustment is inside, Furman doesn't want consumers to adjust.
It is not noisey....but it does make the tone a slight bit "spongy" just a hair. I kinda like it.
If i need to run an amp at a lower voltage I just Variac it after the AR1215 (also a slight tone changer). My amps survive all gigs now...used to blow tubes like crazy, Texas voltage can get up to 127v, not good when you have B+ voltage at 550. Now I am safe and happy.

[rip]

I use the AR1215 and it has been reliable. Ebay $330.00 New
I have it set to 118v for my amps. Adjustment is inside, Furman doesn't want consumers to adjust.

Okay you peaked my interest. How did you do this? Adjust the voltage, so now it operates the same but instead of 120V constant it finds 118V constant?

Is there a trim pot inside? Used for calibration or something?

Thanks
Rip