This paper deals with a 3-phase voltage disturbance generator for a performance test of custom power devices such as dynamic voltage restorers (DVR), dynamic uninterruptable power supplies (UPS), etc. The operating principle of the proposed circuit is described in each mode of voltage sag, swell, outage, and unbalance. The main components of the proposed disturbance generator are silicone controlled rectifier (SCR) thyristors, variable autotransformers, and transformers. Therefore, the disturbance generator can be implemented with a considerably low cost compared to the conventional pulse width modified (PWM) inverter and converter type generators. Furthermore, it has good features of high reliability with simple structure, high efficiency caused by no PWM switching of the SCR thyristors, and easy control with a wide variation range. To verify the validity of the proposed scheme, simulations and experiments are carried out.