Better attenuator than Hotplates?

[TheChris]

You're going to get a bunch of answers here... Best is subjective. Having said that, I wouldn't buy cheap Chinese junk like Bugera.. I have an old Scholz Power Soak. Totally rebuilt. I love it... It does what I want it to do with my 2210...

 

[TheChris]

Wasn't the Power Soak dangerous for the amp ?...............I know the UA was but
not sure about the PS ?

Absolutely not... Designed by one of the smartest guys in the world of music!

 

[Kelia]

Absolutely not... Designed by one of the smartest guys in the world of music!

Thank you !

 

[sct13]

The sholz model benefits with a slight boost in treble.... but I love mine..

 

[Trapland]

Powerbrakes, plexi, basketweave.

• Trapland
• Dec 23, 2017

Powerbrakes, 1968 50w plexi, 1968-69 basketweave 412

I like these.

 

[Ufoscorpion]

Get a Friedman amp , any flavour you like , amazing master volume no attenuators required , say no more .

 

[Trapland]

Get a Friedman amp , any flavour you like , amazing master volume no attenuators required , say no more .

Wait! There is more to say. Master volumes do not sound like cranked attenuated power amps. Nor does master volume distortion have the picking and guitar volume dynamics of an attenuated power amp. They are very different and sometimes one suits a music style better than the other.

Having said this, I have to admit the Friedman master volume marshall type amps sound amazing, really amazing. I’d love to have one next to my 68 plexi with its Powerbrake. In fact if I wanted a master volume amp at all a Friedman smallbox would probably be at the top of my list, then a Boogie 2c+ and 3rd an SLO.

 

[MullardFillmore]

Just to clear things up, a reactive load means it has reactive components in it such as a capacitor or inductor. Since a speaker’s voice coil is an inductor that is what you find inside reactive load boxes. It mimics the response of a voice coil.

I’ve owned hotplates, Webers, recycled sound. The recycled sound is very good and knocks it down a few dB.

The Friedman JJ jr has a built In load so you can run it with no speaker and use the xlr cab simulation output, which sounds really good. Running that to a mixer or small amp would be a very viable option.

 

[Mike J]

Has anyone tried the Boss Tube Amp Expander? Personally I think it is awesome. It offers attenuation, a reactive load AND an effects loop if your doesn't already have one. I saw Doug Doppler do a demo of this on Joe Satriani's JVM and I couldn't believe good it sounded even when heavily attenuated. The reactive load is also configurable for different types of speaker cabs. Definitely worth a look.

 

[Monstercastle]

I opted to buy the Mesa Powerhouse Reactive attenuator and give it a try vs. my Hotplate, which is resistive. I debated getting the Cabclone IR+ as well, but this was lower cost now. I'm probably going to get a UA Ox Box in a couple months anyway, so this approach is better. If I don't like the Mesa, I'll get another Rockcrusher. I may do that build in the other thread as a project anyway for fun too.

 

[Justin Whitstine]

Hate to say this... but the amp sims are getting really good. I wouldn't 100% rule out a Line 6 HX Stomp or Pod Go. I prefer a real amp, but I've heard some fantastic sims on youtube lately. Just sayin. You can always return it if it's not your cup of tea.

 

[Monstercastle]

Hate to say this... but the amp sims are getting really good. I wouldn't 100% rule out a Line 6 HX Stomp or Pod Go. I prefer a real amp, but I've heard some fantastic sims on youtube lately. Just sayin. You can always return it if it's not your cup of tea.

It's true. I have an AXE FX III (spectacular), a Helix Floor, Helix Native, and my UAudio Apollo with a few of their Plexi, Friedman plugins. All good stuff for recording. I still like my tube amps though, so this thread was just about options on knocking of 4-8 db in the "best" way possible through attenuation.

 

[recycledsound]

Always find it humorous when this subject comes up! I agree with OP in that using an attenuator to mod your volume “slope” is the best use. Using one to completely stifle your amp in an effort to crank it is a fad for home bound rock stars!
If your familiar with Teye of Teye Custom Guitars.... he approached my booth at Summer NAAM with his personal Hotplat in hand. After a/b’ing it with our Power Plug 100, he reached into his pocket and BOUGHT ours! He used it the rest of show to demo his very expensive guitars! We have since sold/shipped several to his customers based on his recommendations!

 

[Sonic_Axe]

[QUOTE="Even 5 watt amps can get very loud. Bigger amps even mildly attenuated sound better than 1-5 watt amps in my 40 years of experience.[/QUOTE]

I couldn’t agree with you more!

 

[Whizzinby]

Timely topic, I just got a 50w EVH 5150 Stealth which doesn’t have a master volume and quickly realized I need an attenuator. lol

Like most things guitar gear there can be a bit of analysis paralysis.

I’m considering either the Weber Mass 200 for $300 or plunging forward for the Fryette PS2. The Iron Man II looks really good, but the Fryette has other functionality at the same price point, so it’s hard to spend that on the IM for just a straight attenuator when the Weber is half the price for just straight attenuation.

 

[obx351]

All attenuators suck the tone from amps. It's ancient technology. Buy a smaller amp for gods sakes.

Been there done that and it doesn't work. About 10 years ago I bought a Blackstar Artisan 15 and my amp guy make the tiny modification to turn the lower gain channel into a 1974 and it sounded fantastic, but it's still too loud for bedroom levels. I attenuate it with a Dr Z Air Brake and it sounds great. A few years later I bought my '68 JMP50 with a 8x10 and a 4x12 (all pulsonic cones) cabs. When I added the Aracom attenuator, I stopped playing all of my other amps. Even attenuated to bedroom volume the Marshall still sounds better than everything else I own that has an attenuator, either Dr Z Air Brake or a PPIMV. YES, I lose the the wattage needed to push the speakers and yes I lose some highs BUT it's still the best sounding amp that I own that I can run at or below 90 dBs period. Granted my Marshall an exceptional amp; however, I still get excellent tone out of my JMP or JTM clones running via a PPIMV or the Aracom out of modern Celestion speakers at 90 dBs or less. And it still sounds better than my smaller, 7 to 15 watt amps.

 

[AlboK]

I think many are totally missing the point about attenuators. If all you want is volume reduction just turn the amp down if it's MV, that's it no attenuator needed. I use them because at the volume level i play at with 100w heads there is hardly any signal of any strength going through the head especially the PI/PA.
I use the attenuator to knock off some of the output so i can drive a bigger signal through the head, giving the circuitry more to work with which i think allows it to work better and drive the power section a little harder which again i think makes it work and sound better.

Rockcrusher gets my nod. Not only are these good attenuators they are also usable on the bench as a load box.

All attenuators suck the tone out of the amp. The Rockrusher kills the tone and its massive
The hotplate is ok for the first two settings anything lower the tone gets sucked right out. How anyone says anything differerent isn’t telling the truth.

 

[AlboK]

You're going to get a bunch of answers here... Best is subjective. Having said that, I wouldn't buy cheap Chinese junk like Bugera.. I have an old Scholz Power Soak. Totally rebuilt. I love it... It does what I want it to do with my 2210...

That Bugera is horrible returned it the next day sucked the tone out of the amp

 

[anitoli]

All attenuators suck the tone out of the amp. The Rockrusher kills the tone and its massive
The hotplate is ok for the first two settings anything lower the tone gets sucked right out. How anyone says anything differerent isn’t telling the truth.

So you're saying we are liars? My ears don't hear this "massive" tone loss you attest to. Maybe you just don't know how to run an amp................

 

[obx351]

All attenuators suck the tone out of the amp. The Rockrusher kills the tone and its massive
The hotplate is ok for the first two settings anything lower the tone gets sucked right out. How anyone says anything differerent isn’t telling the truth.

I spoke with Greg Germino, who in the last few years has added a PPIMV into his amps. He said the same thing about PPIMV, 1 or 2 clicks is okay but any more clicks kills the tone. I agree there's no way to drop significant dBs without losing tone. This is not a "truth" or "lie", it is a fact.

BUT the other fact is that you can still get 70% to 80% of the tone at attenuated vols from a big amp and cab with multiple speakers that sounds better than a small, non-attenuated amp. I've tried it, with my '68 Princeton Reverb (not a reissue), my two '61 Gibson Falcons, my Blackstar Artisan 15, Swart STR and a few other vintage or vintage style or clone amps. Also, even though most of the above amps are at or under 15 watts, all of them were were at or over 90 dBs at volume. For me it's a no brainer to run an attenuated 50 watt amp with a 4x12 cabinet at the same dBs or less because the bigger amp/cab has a much fuller sound at the same or less volume.