Amp with step down transformer

[blue]

Morning people,

i have an old American amp, and a step-down transformer to run it with.  The thought occurred to me, what if this was plugged into a UK 240v amplifier?  i was reading about the variac thing, and the latest "information" from van halen is that his Marshall was actually a UK one which he plugged into normal US mains, thus running it at 110v, and it was quieter.  is this safe to try?  can i do any harm to my amp?  is there any point? :)

[itamar101]

Morning people,

i have an old American amp, and a step-down transformer to run it with.  The thought occurred to me, what if this was plugged into a UK 240v amplifier?  i was reading about the variac thing, and the latest "information" from van halen is that his Marshall was actually a UK one which he plugged into normal US mains, thus running it at 110v, and it was quieter.  is this safe to try?  can i do any harm to my amp?  is there any point? :)

Well... I don't know the answer to this question but I wouldn't trust anything that EVH says...
He also said that he plugged his US amps into UK mains to get them to "super-load" and work the tubes and speaker harder. When loads of his uneducated fans tried it there amps blew half the time.... If you want to turn your amp into a bugera this is a quick and cheap way to do say... even cheaper than buying a bugera :D

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oh, i know that would be very unclever!  i know all about the amp blowing people trying to copy him.  i had heard of other people running US amps at 90v though, that's what got me thinking to start with.  then i read the EVH thing.  i'm fully aware that he is a mine of dis-information!  just wondering is there any way i could do any harm by trying this

[Frank]

Eddie van Halen has admitted to talking absolute horsesh1t about his amps in the past. The variac thing was a lie.

If you supply an (ideal) 240 Volt transformer primary with 120 Volts then all the secondary voltages get halved. So yes, the HT drops. So does the bias voltage and the heater voltage. Running valves on reduced heater voltage and reduced bias voltage is probably just about the best way to wreck them, apart from maybe running them on double the voltage. So in answer to your question ...

is there any way i could do any harm by trying this

... the answer would be an emphatic yes.

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well that seems to answer that question :)

i'll not be trying it out any time soon then