Attenuator Recommendations?

[speyfly]

Besides the absence of tone suck, the IM II allows me to run 4 ohm loads on amps that don't like to see 4 ohms. It's been a gawd send for me and lets me play with so many of my cabs and speakers. I don't know if the other attenuators has this feature. Maybe the Power Station?

Just sayin...

 

[DirtySteve]

Marshall Power Brake

Will that do cranked tv volume?

I'm watching this thread, I need one, too (ok, want), but not one that's going to cost more than a decent guitar.

 

[speyfly]

Will that do cranked tv volume?

I'm watching this thread, I need one, too (ok, want), but not one that's going to cost more than a decent guitar.

I picked up my second IM II used $400 but it was a smokin deal.

 

[DirtySteve]

A JohnH will get you to any low volume that you need , where a Weber will start to dull the treble after a few dB. For a commercial one, I'd go Ironman II. (but for half the price, you can buy the parts, and all the tools, and practice a bit and build a JohnH... just saying!...)

Hey, John. I read somewhere that there are kits available, is this true? I can solder and have no problem building it, I just don't want to have to through the headache of sourcing all the parts myself.

 

[FleshOnGear]

I absolutely love my Fryette Power Station. It’s a premium choice, though, with features that might be beyond some people’s needs. Previously I have used the Ironman II, Hot Plate, Weber Mass 150.

 

[little_grease]

Another vote for Powerstation.

 

[steveb63]

Hey, John. I read somewhere that there are kits available, is this true? I can solder and have no problem building it, I just don't want to have to through the headache of sourcing all the parts myself.

Try Antique Electronics
Step ladder attenuator kit should get you to the correct page.

 

[LargeBoxSmallBox]

My Fryette Power Station (PS-2) is absolutely awesome. I can play whisper volume with all of the great tone of my vintage NVM amps. My 100-watt Marshall sounds amazing through it. And I do sometimes enjoy the ability to turn a practice amp into a 50-watt beast. The SC20 sounds INCREDIBLE with 50 watts behind it! My friends and I have done extensive listening testing, and we all felt that the Power Station was more transparent than the Rivera Rock Crusher, and everything else we tried.

That being said, if it was a thing when I bought my PS-2, I just might have chosen the BOSS Waza Tube Amp Expander. That is a mighty fine unit. Price is a bit prohibitive, though...

My 2 cents.

 

[tallcoolone]

I‘m sure the Fryette sounds great. When I was looking at the two the Waza had stereo, onboard or 3rd party IRs, onboard reverb, EQ/boost, compression and delay and full MIDI control of everything. Too much flexibility for me to pass up.

The reverb and delay are as you’d expert from Boss and they sit perfectly with whatever amp you are running—I never even think about reverb and delay anymore, it’s just there. That’s really the game changer for me.

 

[colchar]

A JohnH will get you to any low volume that you need , where a Weber will start to dull the treble after a few dB. For a commercial one, I'd go Ironman II. (but for half the price, you can buy the parts, and all the tools, and practice a bit and build a JohnH... just saying!...)

Hey John...we've had this discussion in the past. I cannot build one, no matter how easy they are to build. I have never held a soldering iron, I cannot read a schematic, and when I read the thread dedicated to your attenutators I do not understand a single technical thing that is said - like literally nothing at all. I want one, but cannot build one.

 

[colchar]

Marshall Power Brake

I was just looking at those. A friend has one. He uses it with one of his vintage Plexi heads and loves it.

On Reverb right now they are $400+, which I am assuming is rather a high price.

 

[79 2203]

If you only want to knock off some db’s to make the amp usable at home, then any decent attenuator will do. I use a Hotplate to tame the huge volume of my stock 70 Superbass(vol on 6/Hotplate -12db) and 71 1987(vol 5/Hotplate -8db)
Both through the same 68 Pulsonic 25 watt Greenback quad and both about the same band volumes. Loud, but not uncomfortably so, and sounds great. Absolutely thrilled with the tone/feel/responsiveness.
I watched a video recently of George from Metro amps comparing his Metroplex to an original 68 Superlead and he used a Hotplate at -12db on the cranked Plexi. Said the Hotplate does rob a little hi and low end at that level of attenuation, but that it can be a good thing for these amps cranked.

 

[iron broadsword]

I use a weber mass 200 and it’s killer. Crank a 100w marshall at whisper volume and dial in as much treble as you like with the mass. Even has a di out and a footswitchable bypass so you can use it to give your amp a solo boost

 

[paul-e-mann]

Will that do cranked tv volume?

I'm watching this thread, I need one, too (ok, want), but not one that's going to cost more than a decent guitar.

Yes it will do cranked TV volume, and lower.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I was just looking at those. A friend has one. He uses it with one of his vintage Plexi heads and loves it.

On Reverb right now they are $400+, which I am assuming is rather a high price.

Try your friend's out and see if you like it. I paid $400 for mine a year ago, it may seem pricey but it's still less than most.

 

[V-man]

This is a slightly vague question considering you already have an attenuator and are looking to spend more perfectly good money on another one.

That begs the question, why? Do you like the concept as you have it, looking for a better quality unit (at a more premium price), are you looking for one that does more than mere attenuation or both? If not the first one, what additional features are importsnt?

Having owned a so-so attenuator (plus - Captor X), the last thing I was going to do was get anything marginally better. It had to be a league apart or there was no justifying it and after careful consideration, I quickly nixed the Boss TAE I had in mind and got the Freyette PS-100.

If I simply wanted a better attenuator (no more/no less) that justified the cost, I would be researching the Tone King. I have heard reviews from OX and Rivera suggesting they are good (but not best), and why replace what I own that works with “good”.

If you want bells and whistles, there is the Captor X, the Power Station(s) and the TAE. I have the first 2 and personally would not get the 3rd.

The Captor is a great Swiss Army Knife that attenuates, acts as a DI box (no cab needed) and is a good IR unit for the DAW, FOH, or just headphone jams at night. It is a so-so attenuator, so you would be expanding features at a mid-level price while getting comparable attenuation with what you have.

The PS is more of a live rig. It has top tier attenuation. It also can convert a smaller amp into a larger wattage amp with its 50w or 100w power amp (PS-2/PS-100). It has an external FX loop for vintage amps. It also has a footswitch operated multi channel (PS-100) so you can set different levels on the channel for a legit solo boost for NMV amps already pushed, OR set them to different EQs (or both).

 

[tallcoolone]

It had to be a league apart or there was no justifying it and after careful consideration, I quickly nixed the Boss TAE I had in mind and got the Freyette PS-100

I have to ask—why?

The PS is more of a live rig. It has top tier attenuation. It also can convert a smaller amp into a larger wattage amp with its 50w or 100w power amp (PS-2/PS-100). It has an external FX loop for vintage amps. It also has a footswitch operated multi channel (PS-100) so you can set different levels on the channel for a legit solo boost for NMV amps already pushed, OR set them to different EQs (or both

The TAE does all that but also can do it in stereo and give you IRs, delay, reverb, comp and boost. And everything is footswitchable, even diff combinations.

Pete Thorn toured last year with the TAE, and I believe he endorses Fryette:

 

[V-man]

I have to ask—why?

1. At the time Friedman said he wouldn’t warranty his transformers used with a TAE and suggested others he spoke to would not either shrouding their operation with the fuckery (take that as you would 2 years later or so).

2. The PS-100 is a tube reamper whereas the TAE is SS and Boss converts the signal AD/DA and after all that $$$ for a “tone-preserving” item, I find the purchase pointless on that basis (sound quality notwithstanding).

3. TAE looked like a community college course was needed to fully understand the learning curve and program it for all its features. I literally opened the PS-100, glanced at the manual and backplate and was (knowledgeably) employing it within 15 minutes of opening the box. (Captor X took about an hour with the downloads).

4. The TAE (like a Katana 1.0, etc) has a shelf life before the 2.0 or whatever comes out (perhaps) making the purchaser feel like an ass for buying it (then). Its production run having been out 5+ years at the time, it could be another 7 or 9 or maybe 2, but it will eventually end up like their state of the art drum machines or any of their other big-ticket items of the ‘80s: invariably collecting dust in a basement or neglected on craigslist. OTOH, in 25 years the PS-100 (like the Marshall 9100) will remain a feature-laden all-tube power amp. I felt like the massive amount spent on either would go a much longer way with the PS-100.

5. The Captor X I already owned has many of the features the TAE has (in simpler form). Of course, the TAE would be considered the better mousetrap in (virtually) every way compared to the Captor X, but I had no need to replace mine. The PS-100 excels perfectly at all the things the Captor X lacked or did not do as well whereas there remained 2-3 features the PS-100 didn’t have/focus on, making the Captor X continually useful regardless. They complemented each other rather than competed against one-another.

To that end, I would rather have a bomb-proof top end tube reamper that is a 30-yr piece of equipment and supplement all the perishable technology separately (replacing a Captor or a Boss IR-2 every 4-5 years as desired at a modest fee) as opposed to the dilemma of hemorrhaging 4-figures on a new all-in-one every 5 or so years or having to endure last year’s/decade’s model for too long because replacement is cost-prohibitive.

 

[tallcoolone]

I’ve owned the TAE for over 5yrs, I avg between 1-2hrs a day on it. Never had an issue and the tone I’m getting beats the 8-10 attenuators I’ve tried previously. I run Friedman amps though it all the time. And you are wrong man, it’s not complicated in the least.

Don’t get the Katana dig, more pro guitarists use/have used Boss products on tour and on recordings than prob any other manufacturer of guitar products ever, including Marshall.

Like I said, I’m sure the PS sounds great. The feature set of the TAE is amazeballs tho. And it sounds great as well.

 

[V-man]

I’ve owned the TAE for over 5yrs, I avg between 1-2hrs a day on it. Never had an issue and the tone I’m getting beats the 8-10 attenuators I’ve tried previously. I run Friedman amps though it all the time. And you are wrong man, it’s not complicated in the least.

Don’t get the Katana dig, more pro guitarists use/have used Boss products on tour and on recordings than prob any other manufacturer of guitar products ever, including Marshall.

Like I said, I’m sure the PS sounds great. The feature set of the TAE is amazeballs tho. And it sounds great as well.

You responded while I performed a punctuation edit and added a final point at the end that tied it all together better. That said Boss makes terrific gear but IMO it already seems to show the forward-thinking TAE is off trajectory 7+ years later.

for > 1,000:

- All-tube all-analog > SS AD/DA.

- Me cherry-picking my analog (or digital) FX in the loop > dealing with Boss’ digital stuff and having to learn how to program the presets

- I don’t want to replace the IR tech (and other perishableware at that price point). The Boss IR-2 just came out and I can work something like that into my setup… or something else at a more humble ($250-$500) price instead of dealing with aging TAE firmware and replacing that for $1-2K every so many years.

The TAE was an all-in-one marvel 5+ years ago, but I think now people much rather replace the “newer, better, cheaper” IR/etc tech separately from attenuation/reamping in a cutting-edge cost-effective “disposable“ format (IR-2/FRX etc) rather than being wedded to some “all-in-one” unit for 15-20 years that‘s aged 10 years behind the curve on those applications.