A circuit controlled by thyristors and having series RLC elements gives rise to a step-up phenomenon. The term step-up is defined with respect to the capacitance voltage on steady state operation, i.e., the ratio of the maximum peak value when controlled by thyristers to the peak amplitude when thyristors are short-circuited exceeds unity. The domain of possible step-up voltage is determined by the angle of displacement between current and voltage and damping factor. The step-up voltages appear across each element, i.e., not only across the capacitance, inductance, and resistance but also across the thyristors. The control characteristic has a distinctive hump phenomenon. The interrupted current results in waveform distortion, phase lag, and improved power factor. The difference of characteristics between the peak and rms values of voltages, particularly of inductance and thyristors, is large. The response time, which is evaluated by numbers of half cycles, is large when the step-up ratio becomes large. The output voltage when the circuit is used as a voltage source has a drooping characteristic.