What do you think of attenuators?

[mthomps]

I have a twin reverb reissue and I'm interested in using an attenuator, the THD Hotplate to get a clean sound that sounds as it does just before break up at a normal jamming volume. By the time the twin is border line breaking up (which to me is the ultimate clean sound) the drummer really needs to be banging away and that's no good for any sort of dynamic.

I'm not really interested in getting an overdrive sound from it. I just want that hot tube clean bell sound. I have read that a lot of harmonics get killed and the attenuator is only good for drive tones. Just looking for some more insight into my personal situation.

[Mark Wein]

I'm not the biggest fan of attenuators (I'd rather have a lower wattage amp run at a higher percentage of its power capacity. The THD has a pretty good reputation, though. I've never used one. I used to have a Marshal Powerbrake and what I hated about that was that part of the tone I liked was how it sounded when you pushed the speaker harder.

At the jam I was at yesterday the organizer had one on his silverface Princeton that worked great, though...very transparent sounding. I should find out who makes it for you...

[mthomps]

Ya if you find the time that would be great.

If I could do it again I would get a deluxe or a super. I have almost 2 grand into this amp now and swapping it for something smaller would seem like a waste. What do you think of deluxe for a clean tone un-miced for small gigs. Can it get loud enough without breaking up?

[Mark Wein]

Ya if you find the time that would be great.

If I could do it again I would get a deluxe or a super. I have almost 2 grand into this amp now and swapping it for something smaller would seem like a waste. What do you think of deluxe for a clean tone un-miced for small gigs. Can it get loud enough without breaking up?

I use my silverface Deluxe with a 25 watt greenback (the speaker makes it a little more efficient):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey9frsFHUJM

tbh I can't think of too many gigs that I'd need a twin reverb for....they are incredibly loud for most gigs....

[Prages]

I'm not a big attenuator fan either. I had a Weber Mass 150 when I had my old Marshall, and it really sounded too compressed and flat when you used the attenuator for anything more than a subtle volume drop.

It might work well if you're just wanting to tame the volume a bit to get to the edge of breakup, but don't expect it to work miracles for a super loud amp and still sound like the amp when it's dimed.

[matou]

You can buy another amp for what some of those attenuators cost.

[yabba]

I think attenuators are great for fairly subtle volume cuts (and I use one almost all the time for that), but anything more than that and you start to lose much more than you gain.

[jaxn slim]

I have a THD hotplate, but I don't really use it any more. They are good attenuators. If you want to keep your twin and get that near-breakup sound, you should go for it. Hell... I'll sell you mine. It's 8 ohms.

Otherwise, just get a DRRI or a PRRI. Less amp and less shit to haul.

[GoofyDawg]

Going against the grain a bit... I'm a HUGE fan of attenuators, and have tested and evaluated several. Admittedly, the newest breed can be pretty pricey, but what they give you is a lot of versatility in that if you ever do want breakup, you can crank your amp and not make your ears bleed; and more importantly, the high-end attenuators such as the Aracom PRX150-Pro stay pretty transparent down to low volume levels. I did a video on the usefulness of attenuators that you can view here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk-PhDz5cLc. Even though I have one of the pricier ones (the Aracom PRX150-Pro), if all you want to do is take the edge off, then your HotPlate will work just fine, though I'd go with a Dr. Z Airbrake or Alex's Attenuator before I'd use a HotPlate.

[jrockbridge]

I'm not a big fan of attenuators because they all suck tone to some degree. I've tried a lot and owned a few. There is one that I found which doesn't steal away the magic sparkle of an amp. It's a very simple design by Trainwreck that doesn't have many features. Dr Z makes them under license....It's called the Z Air Brake. Unfortunately, it's a bit pricey.

It only has input for 8 ohm, so I don't think it's safe to run a 16 ohm load into it. But, I've gone out of an amp 8 ohm into a 16 ohm cabinet and that works fine. It's rated at 100 watts. I've run a 60 watt Fender through it with good results. It's the most transparent I've ever heard. However, once you switch to bedroom mode, I hear some tone being lost. Of course, part of that may be the Fletcher Munson effect. Once you turn down anything down enough, it will sound like the tone suffers due to the way we perceive sound.

[jrockbridge]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4HoiBOBdGQ&NR=1&feature=fvwp