anyone else use an attenuator?
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I have utilized a Rockman Power Soak for many years. It's the only way to go and stay out jail. There are not a lot on the market really. Other than the Marshall.
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Agreed, that Marshall is like $300 I think... very expensive
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Ted Weber in the US makes many models of attenuators:
http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm
http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm
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I've been using a Weber MASS for three years now, which is exactly how old my eldest child is 
The MASS was a necessity with a baby in the house, mainly because my amps are non-master volume amps and cranking up was absolutely impossible...
I am quite satisfied with the MASS - the tone-shaping capacities, variable impedance settings and line out make it IMHO a good value - for those of us with no electronics or technical knowledge, at least.
The MASS was a necessity with a baby in the house, mainly because my amps are non-master volume amps and cranking up was absolutely impossible...
I am quite satisfied with the MASS - the tone-shaping capacities, variable impedance settings and line out make it IMHO a good value - for those of us with no electronics or technical knowledge, at least.
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1,497 Posts
I just picked up the Weber MiniMass. For an apartment dweller it's a lease saver. And at only $75.00 it's alot cheaper that the next best one out there the THD Hotplate or the the Dr. Z. Airbrake which run @ USD$300.00 and up. I can krank my Superbaby and get blissful tube saturation at livable volume levels.
I have a 100w Laney head, so an attenuater is basically essential - unless you like being stone deaf.
I pickup a THD Hot Plate. Works great with my amp. I have heard they're not so great with some modern high gain multi-channel heads. Not sure why that is, but my guess would be that a lot of those heads are designed to sound good at lower volumes. Just a wild guess.
I pickup a THD Hot Plate. Works great with my amp. I have heard they're not so great with some modern high gain multi-channel heads. Not sure why that is, but my guess would be that a lot of those heads are designed to sound good at lower volumes. Just a wild guess.
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I don't know enough to say if your right or wrong, But the Webers work on a different principal from the THD's which uses some kind of funky cirrcuits. The Weber actually has a pot which isn't a pot but really a voice coil, which isn't really a voice coil but a ....never mind. I get confused too easy these days...must be the nitro fumes..yes I do guitars too.
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To be honest, I don't know enough to say either. I've heard a few people say it but I have no first hand experience. A friend of mine usea a Hot Plate with a Bogner and it sounds fine. I've never heard him complain. I also know a guy using one with a DSL100 & he's happy with it.Tarbender said:
I've heard good things about the Mass also, and I was gonna order one but a local dealer started carrying THD gear so I picked this up on an impulse, plus I had used a friend's with my amp & it worked great.
I think the Mass actually uses a speaker engine to bleed off power by converting it to mechanical energy. The THD uses a funky circuit to transfer it to heat, so it's sort of a fancy heat sink. And there's where my electrical engineering expertise ends...
Hey man. Have you found that the bulbs on/off switch makes any audible difference? It's supposed to be some sort of noise reduction thing, but I can't hear much of any effect.bryanjetboy said:
But the light looks kinda cool - but would be annoying after a while I suppose.
I bought a 16 ohm Hotplate 3 years ago and now all my amp heads get directed through the Hotplate as if it was a Master Volume. It add a bit of compression but sometimes that exactly what I want. The highlight is that a 30 watt amp head can be on the same page as a 100 watt head.
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I use a 16 ohm Hot Plate at home and it works very well, no probs whatsoever. Few notes though:
- the bulbs act as a noise reduction circuit and as such do affect the sound, not too much and not in a negative way but enough that I like them OFF
- Bright and Deep switches are quite effective but I keep them OFF as well because I find them to be a bit too much
- huge part of the sound when playing loud is speaker cone distortion and when attenuating your amp down it will NEVER sound exactly like when it's cranked because you're not pushing the speakers hard enough, however, it does sound better then most master volumes.
- the bulbs act as a noise reduction circuit and as such do affect the sound, not too much and not in a negative way but enough that I like them OFF
- Bright and Deep switches are quite effective but I keep them OFF as well because I find them to be a bit too much
- huge part of the sound when playing loud is speaker cone distortion and when attenuating your amp down it will NEVER sound exactly like when it's cranked because you're not pushing the speakers hard enough, however, it does sound better then most master volumes.
I`ve been using a Weber Mass 100 with all my amps, and won't ever play without one again. I don't know how I got on all these years without one!!! The key, is bringing the right amp for the room, and then attenuating down just enogh to maintain tone. Too much attenuation, and you lose articulation and top end, as well as fattness. If you have to attenuate more than say 25%, then you`ve brought too much amp. I even use it with my Guitarmate!!! Works awesome with my Super Reverb as well. It allows me to run it at 6 on the vol, which, if you've ever had a SR, then you know how loud that is!!!!evilGuitar:
CT.
evilGuitar: CT.
The Weber Mass serie uses what they call a speaker motor, basically a speaker without the cone and all. It applies a reactive load on the amp and should have less effect with the tone.Tarbender said:
I have a MiniMass and it does affect the tone even in the lowest setting. The amp sounds dull, kind of lifeless. It is still useable at higher settings.
I like it anyway since, hey, it does attenuate and it was not as expensive as other models on the market.
I've been using a Koch Load Box for 4 years now.. I love the results I get with it. I mainly use it with my Soldano. The speaker moddeler is very cool the headphones out really sucks.
Craig
Craig
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