******'s Mod

[Strat78]

This one looks awesome, especially if you are using it between the head and the cab.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ohmite-variable ... 2c9438e1ab

[jnew]

Beacause of no ground plug?

[Strat78]

Beacause of no ground plug?

You could always add the three prong plug (I got a pile of them if you need one), but unless there needs to be some sorta of internal ground in the variac, it would be simple to just solder the 1/4" plug to a regular old two prong extension cord.
Edit: I remember just grabbing a three prong extension chord and cutting it in half and only hooking up the hot and neutral blades. looks like I just left the ground snipped. I would think that a simple old two prong variac would be easier, because that is pretty much what I've been doing with my variacs since the ground was snipped on the chord.

[jnew]

Yep, that's what I thought you were referring to.

[Strat78]

Edit: I remember just grabbing a three prong extension chord and cutting it in half and only hooking up the hot and neutral blades. looks like I just left the ground snipped. I would think that a simple old two prong variac would be easier, because that is pretty much what I've been doing with my variacs since the ground was snipped on the chord. Always kept one hand on the tranny's to make sure nothing was going south, never had a problem. Oh, but I'm with vh junkie, I had a attenuator to make sure the amp and cab were happy. Should have mentioned that up front!

[jnew]

So was it all that? Are they some of your best, or favorite tones?

[plexified]

OK , so nobody has blown up anything yet ? Twisty? SHees , how about some tone reports . Or must I post clips ..

[jnew]

I'll do it but I need a 2nd variac. Jeremy and I are trying to get together here again and we'll have a 2nd variac.

Those 78 Japan tour photo's show two variac's on top of the stack of heads.

[mightymike]

With the speaker cable going into it too.

[jnew]

Didn't notice that. And now I can't remember where to find the darn pic.

[jnew]

So thinking back just a little, once again, we're talking about the variac's use for tone purposes. We're calling it "Variac Attenuation" (as in volume control) but as previously mentioned, Ed was not running 9 or 10 heads (or even 4 or 5 if a secondary backup rig was the plan) and using a variac to control volume. That's just silly. One could summarize that in the LA Club days, he discovered the affect on the tone when he was using a variac to try and control the volume in small clubs. So when volume was no longer and issue (recording albums, world tours, etc) he chose to keep using them for tone. For a while at least.

[mightymike]

Didn't notice that. And now I can't remember where to find the darn pic.

Here ya go courtesy of Phil

[jnew]

So the speaker cables are what's plugged in to the variac's in this pic. How can you tell for sure?

[mightymike]

I could be wrong, , but that one on the right looks like a speaker jack on the top.

[vh junkie]

I thought the interesting thing was they way the cord going in to the top of the right variac is taped to the side and taped at the where it goes to the output... why would you do that? Unless it was a dedicated attentuator? Phil should chime in...