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  3. 1235575240

Variac Variable Transformer

I have a number of tube amps and tube preamps. Many are stored for a long time. Quicksilver recommends I hook up a Variac Transformer to the amps and bring up the voltage slowly and let it stay at 120 volts for ten minutes. Same process for tube preamps. I was wondering if other Audiogon members do this? I'm thinking solid state amps and preamps would be included as well...
exocet954

Showing 1 response by dekay

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dekay
5,716 posts
 
If the amp uses a GZ34/5ar4 rectifier it will not do a slow start with a variac.

Think this may be true for other indirectly heated cathode rectifiers as well.

I substituted a directly heated 5Y3GT, for a GZ34, when slowly bringing up a Pilot 240 and it worked (someone @ AA made the suggestion).

A local tech used a DIY solid state plug-in GZ34 for the same reason when using a variac on my Pilot 232.
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