110 vs 220 volts

[inaplacefaraway]

When I was touring in Europe All my Amps sounded better. Taking note that i was having a great time and "everything is Awesome attitude", Does different electricity sound different? I've notice in clubs grounding is better and less noise but I seem to feel the more juice the better the tone. Was I hearing things? Thanks

 

[PaoloJM]

Everything is better in Europe.
I'll bet it sounded amazing in Ireland.
We have the best electricity in the world.


Seriously, Europe seems to have stricter and better followed guidelines in terms of line voltage and regulation. It does not seem to fluctuate nearly as much here as it does in the states.
Other than that, assuming all things are equal (amp settings wise), then there is no difference whatsoever.

What you were hearing was as a result of the superior beer, women, food, people, music, weather and general culture in Europe!!

 

[inaplacefaraway]

I figured I was hearing things. (Beer and Woman are a lot stronger over there).
No difference on tubes or anything? Cool.

 

[Birk]

Another thing, Europe has 50 Hz and USA has 60(?) Hz AC. Maybe that could represent some change in your amps?

 

[MartyStrat54]

I custom wired an 880 volt, three-phase power tranny in my Marshall. I had to completely change the main board. I am running NOS KT100's. The Output Tranny is a Mercury Magnetics Super-Super Stack. The head weighs 240 pounds and comes with its own forklift.

The power cord is a 2 gauge, four prong style. I can only play it in the industrial area of Kansas City where 880V, three phase is available. You really, really want to make sure you have a good ground before turning this amp on.

What a sound. You can't beat 880!:eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2:

 

[jcmjmp]

Everything is better in Europe.
I'll bet it sounded amazing in Ireland.
We have the best electricity in the world.

haha! Sorry to break the news to you but... we have the best electricity in the world here in Canada Quebec.

Joking aside, it shouldn't make a big difference in terms of voltage since the PT switches everything up/down. The only real difference is with 50Hz vs 60Hz.

 

[luekemeyer]

I custom wired an 880 volt, three-phase power tranny in my Marshall.

880 vac 3-phase, one of kind.. Only in Kansas City.

 

[Jonathan Wilder]

haha! Sorry to break the news to you but... we have the best electricity in the world here in Canada Quebec.

Joking aside, it shouldn't make a big difference in terms of voltage since the PT switches everything up/down. The only real difference is with 50Hz vs 60Hz.

Oh but wait a minute. When you run it on 240 it sounds better because you're using the full winding of the transformer.

 

[thrawn86]

It also makes the amp work less hard and gives it that chewy magic rub feeling.

 

[jcmjmp]

Oh but wait a minute. When you run it on 240 it sounds better because you're using the full winding of the transformer.

Damn! I never thought of that. I should buy a step up transformer to get 240vac and plug my amp into that.

I should get of good vintage vibe by doing that!

 

[Purgasound]

I'm glad the big boys are here to tell it like it is. Shit is getting ridiculous.

 

[Lespaulnmarshall]

That's the same thing with effects, a full 9V battery give 9.6V an adapter gives 9.0V

But in Europe the you get the double voltage! BTW, di you had to change your amp's fuse for Europe ?

 

[Jonathan Wilder]

That's the same thing with effects, a full 9V battery give 9.6V an adapter gives 9.0V

But in Europe the you get the double voltage! BTW, di you had to change your amp's fuse for Europe ?

Actually with the proper adapter your power adapter should still put out 9 volts in Europe.

For amps running on 220VAC you cut the value of the mains fuse in half. So if it specs a 4 amp fuse on 110VAC you run a 2 amp on 220VAC.

 

[Kunnz]

Seriously, Europe seems to have stricter and better followed guidelines in terms of line voltage and regulation. It does not seem to fluctuate nearly as much here as it does in the states:

Nah, not true.

Actually the mains/line voltage is very good in the USA. I worked for Con Edison in Manhatten for 10 years and during those 'dog days of summer' where every building in the city is running air conditioning units flat out 24/7 there's only a 3 or 4 volt drop. Those AC's suck up some juice when the temperature is 90.F and above you know.

BTW Europe and especially Ireland's ESB sucks with a +/- 6.521 tolerance on their specification of 230v. That means a 30v swing between peak and off-peak times at any time of the year.

As for what the 50 or 60 cycle frequency does to a Marshall amp; well not a thing apart from a change in pitch of hum from the PT. The caps and inductor choke take care of that 100 or 120hz ac component ripple whever you are so it doesn't matter, unless you've installed a clock or pace maker in it.

I custom wired an 880 volt, three-phase power tranny in my Marshall. I had to completely change the main board. I am running NOS KT100's. The Output Tranny is a Mercury Magnetics Super-Super Stack. The head weighs 240 pounds and comes with its own forklift.

The power cord is a 2 gauge, four prong style. I can only play it in the industrial area of Kansas City where 880V, three phase is available. You really, really want to make sure you have a good ground before turning this amp on.

What a sound. You can't beat 880!:eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2:

1. Do you use a Y-Delta starter control contactor to turn on that Marshall?

2. does the OT have power factor correction for maximum power transfer to the speaker assembly?

 

[MartyStrat54]

1. Do you use a Y-Delta starter control contactor to turn on that Marshall?

2. does the OT have power factor correction for maximum power transfer to the speaker assembly?

No, I use a solenoid controlled relay in series with three 48,000mfd start caps.
You actually have to use a key to "start" this amp.

Yes, power factor correction was taken into consideration and it was all worked out on a 1964 professional slide rule (you know what they are, right?).

The OT only has one tap and it is 2 ohm. You can either run 4, 16 ohm full stacks, or you can wrap a piece of coat hanger wire on the output and run it that way with a single 16 ohm load. Sort of like a power soak.

 

[PaoloJM]

Nah, not true.

Actually the mains/line voltage is very good in the USA. I worked for Con Edison in Manhatten for 10 years and during those 'dog days of summer' where every building in the city is running air conditioning units flat out 24/7 there's only a 3 or 4 volt drop. Those AC's suck up some juice when the temperature is 90.F and above you know.

BTW Europe and especially Ireland's ESB sucks with a +/- 6.521 tolerance on their specification of 230v. That means a 30v swing between peak and off-peak times at any time of the year.

I based my statement on the fact that people regularily complain on this, and many other forums, about the quality of supply in the states. Poor grounding, and voltage fluctuations seem to be the main complaints.
Poor grounding, noise etc. is presumeable down to poor installation standards and the poor regulation is presumably down to the utility suppliers.
This may not be the case in every state but it seems to be very common throughout the USA if amp forums are anything to go by.

The same level of complaint do not exist for Europe.

The European specification allows for a tolerance, you are correct there, but the voltage regulation istelf is very good and rarely fluctuates more than a volt or two.
Just because the specification tolerance allows for it doesn't mean it actually occurs.
Electrical installation standards are extremely strict and well adhered to so it's rare to hear of grounding or other intsallation related complaints either.

Irelands ESB in particular is envied the world over. It's typical for ESB experts to be called over to Eurpoe and globally to resolve supply issues.
ESBI (the ESB installations group) are used the world over, including the states, to complete critical supply design/installations.

For these reasons I think your comments are complete horse-sh*t.

 

[Jonathan Wilder]

There are in fact a lot of buildings in the US that were built/wired pre-code strictness. One thing I will say is that on pretty much all newer buildings everything is done to code and as such there doesn't seem to be any grounding issues on newer developments/business buildings.

Regulation from the power company however is a different story. I guess it depends on the area you're in and what section of the grid you're pulling from really. Some of our shit is obsolete and has needed updating for years. I won't dispute that one bit.

I actually had built a mobile distro panel for the clubs we play in to tie direct into the panel right off the rails. It had 16 20 amp circuits, 20 amp outlets, 12 gauge wire runs no longer than a foot or two from the breaker to each socket. Fed the panel with 6/4 SOOW cable. Of course tying it in was a bit of a trick in itself since I had to have a double breaker for every brand of panel that was in the clubs in our area, and it was one of those "out of sight out of mind" things that you didn't want to let the club owner see you doing. But this allowed me to completely bypass all of their building wiring and ensure that everything was grounded/phased properly. Plus at the time I had 9 power amps in my PA system and no club in the area had that many circuits (I always like every power amp to be on its own dedicated circuit).

 

[Kunnz]

No, I use a solenoid controlled relay in series with three 48,000mfd start caps.
You actually have to use a key to "start" this amp.

Yes, power factor correction was taken into consideration and it was all worked out on a 1964 professional slide rule (you know what they are, right?).

The OT only has one tap and it is 2 ohm. You can either run 4, 16 ohm full stacks, or you can wrap a piece of coat hanger wire on the output and run it that way with a single 16 ohm load. Sort of like a power soak.

Start up caps! cool man I must try those.

I like the slide rule method too especially using a wooden one that sticks now and again. Nevertheless, gimme an abacus and a stick to write with on a long empty beach any day.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Start up caps! cool man I must try those.

I like the slide rule method too especially using a wooden one that sticks now and again. Nevertheless, gimme an abacus and a stick to write with on a long empty beach any day.

An abacus...now that's a good one.