Valve amps & stepdown transformers?

[Prickstein]

Hi All
I'm in the market for a valve guitar amp and have noticed that on ebay in the US, there is soooo much more to chose from in the second hand market (I'm in Australia). I'm thinking about the possibility of getting one sent over and using a stepdown transformer but I'm not really cluey on the whole power side of things.
Is this a stupid idea?
Is there something I'm overlooking.
I'm possibly looking at a Mesa 20/20 power amp to spice up my current setup, they seem to be everywhere on ebay in the states but very rare in Oz, or an old Fender of some sort.
Any thoughts much appreciated
Cheers,
Rick

[Matt Syson]

Hi
You can get step down transformers easily enough.
Go for it!
Matt S

[tho_dk]

Hi

I'm from Europe and happily using old american Fender-amps with step-up-transformers (US=110V - EU=220V)... No problem!

By the way - don't buy a bigger amp than you need ... they sound best when you really turn them up! Original Fender Champs from 60'es and 70'es are super-cool as are Fender Princeton (Reverb). Princeton is a little more tricky though as they made a number of changes to the circuit after CBS' purchase of Fender...
And also: Buy a good speaker - that can be a huge difference. Weber-speakers are really great and come in all sorts of flavors :-)
PM me if you want to know more about them...

Best of luck
Thomas

[tho_dk]

... by the way: Not associated with Weber in any way ... just like their stuff

[Prickstein]

Cool, that opens a lot of doors for me! Do valve amps require a heavy duty transformer? (is there such a thing?)
Now if only i could decide on whether to get an Egnater or a bunch of different flavoured amps like Fender, vox, marshall.......

[dementedchord]

hey prick... just outta curiousity how much lowwer is it in oz anyhow??? was personaly aware of anyone being that much lowere that the us... the reason i ask is if say we're at 120 and your at 110... then you prbobably dont even need it for a tube amp...since it non regulated powersupply...

[Prickstein]

Originally Posted by dementedchord

hey prick... just outta curiousity how much lowwer is it in oz anyhow??? was personaly aware of anyone being that much lowere that the us... the reason i ask is if say we're at 120 and your at 110... then you prbobably dont even need it for a tube amp...since it non regulated powersupply...

We're at 240 volts over here.
Now I'm a little confused, I may have got my terminology wrong. Is it a step up or step down transformer that I need?
So there is no side effects like lack of tone, more buzz etc?
I might have to pick up a Fender Champ then

[David Kulka]

You need step down. You want to step down from 230 volts to 115. Buy one that's rated at least 50% higher than the input power your amp required. There will be no change is the tone or sound when using the external transformer.

[Prickstein]

Thanks guys!

[The Byre]

Most vintage amps have a voltage selector on the back. More modern stuff will (usually) either have an internal switch of some sort (jumper - breaker etc.) or alternative inputs and-or outputs on the mains transformer.

The power consumption of a valve amp is about four times the rated maximum power output, so a 100 Watt amp will require about 400 Watts. To be on the safe side you would need a 1kW step-down transformer because of a possible switch-on power surge of the mains transformer inside the amp.

If you buy an all-American product that has only a 110V input winding, then you can get a new transformer - remember to get one that is rated for the right power consumption, i.e. about five or six times the output power of the amp.

[Ziggy!!]

Im pretty certian the Mesa 20/20 can be internally jumpered between 110 & 240v. I think you just have to shoot mesa and email and request the documentation.