Tube amp and line regulation

[pbman1953]

I know some guitar players that like and use the Brown Box attenuator. But do any tube amp bass player use line regulators?


Is that something that should be considered?

[tubeswell]

line regulators?

Do you mean voltage regulators?


(And if so, where do you mean to use this? Schematic Please)

[pbman1953]

no, more of a wall unit for stable power

[SILVERGUN]

Skip to about 9:40 to hear how Angus uses one:

[HotBluePlates]

... a wall unit for stable power

Like everything else, the good ones are fabulously expensive.

You might be able to get by with a Kikusui that costs only $2500-3000, but the ones highlighted by AC/DC and Bonamassa are more like $5-7000.


Meanwhile, folks will praise their Furman line voltage "regulators."  These things are basically a transformer with multiple discrete taps, about 5v apart.  A sensing circuit detects the voltage being sent to the outlets and switches to a different ta if that voltage is too high/low.

That means voltage is allowed to rise/fall within a ~5v window, unchecked.  Only when it goes beyond that does the unit switch to a different tap.  In a worst-case, this means a 1v variation of wall voltage from 1/2v below a switching-point to 1/2v over will result in a -4.5v change in the outlet voltage.

See the saw-tooth shape of the "Regulation Range" on Page 2 of Furman's data sheet.  At a price of $1500, buyers don't like it when you point out it can be worse than "no regulation at all" under the wrong circumstances.