[Boatanchors] More question on US AC voltage

[J. Forster]

W4AWM at aol.com wrote:

> [snip]
> Some of the older tube gear is rated as high as 125 volts, but that puts a
> strain on everything in my humble opinion. I normally use a variac with my
> vintage gear and keep it around 117 volts.

I prefer to use a filament transformer in 'buck' mode. A 12 V CT, 2 A transformer
will allow the voltage on a 125 V line to be reduced to 119 V or 113 V and is
sufficient for an approximately 250 W load. Such a scheme is much smaller and
cheaper than a Variac, and you cannot accidentally over voltage the set.

-John