HNAD (again)

mongooz

mongooz

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well.....update. i finally DID get a Kustom Defender 5H. came from UPS today. just got it set up and couple pedals hooked.....reverb, delay and blues driver. so far the tone is very nice britishy in a vox sort of way (that would be the EL84). the only problem is.....5 watts my ass!!!! on 2 maybe. jeebuz this thing is loud. it would tear up a Egnater 20 Rebel. i've played one full up thru a 4x12 cab....and i swear this is as loud or more.

guess an attenuator may be in order. anyone have good suggestions for one....that isn't $400+?
the tone is nice. i have not been able to find out where the gain stages are. WAY too loud in an apartment for that. at 9 o'clock it's very borderline loud. i need a house damn it.
part of the loud may also be the cabinet i'm using. it's a EV TL-806 with an EVM 12L. very efficient LOUD cab and speaker, and rated at 120 watts+, there's no 'sag' at all.
maybe i should look into a 'softer' speaker for this cab. this EV will take a Mark I Plexi, all by itself.
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i'll get some pics up this weekend.
i'll just have to keep working on it. but i think that an attenuator may be necessary. not just to get it to break up, but so it can get the tubes breathing a little.
also, i got a 12AU7, that i may put in the pre section to take some of that heat out of the preamp.
 
I just bought a Juice Box on Reverb.com the other day, and it arrived today. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it sounds pretty good on youtube.

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I have the K 5w with the K cab and love it. My other amp is the Soldano Atomic 16. I think you are expecting too little from so much. With pedals, the K5 is so easy to work with even I could get a great low volume sound ( and I have NEVER used pedals before). There is a thing called a volume knob on your geetar, I believe thwap0
 
Hnad. 5w can be loud. Heck, 1w can be loud. Where amps like that run out of steam is when you play w/a drummer, then 5w ain't so loud.
 
after playing it most of the evening, i'm not feeling the love for it. it's like it's the full 5 watt volume on 2 and then just crunches up more as you go up. not what i was looking for. i want something that's at 5 watts full on 7 or 8. when i put the blues driver in front of it, i have the K on maybe 2½ and the level on the blues driver at about the same. that's a useable volume IN AN APARTMENT.....but there's almost no tone and no low end.

guess i have to keep looking. at least i didn't spend hundreds on it. i may try an attenuator, but i'm not in the mood to spend twice the cost of the amp just to quiet it down. i'd be better off putting the money into a different (controlable) amp.

not a real happy puppy right now.
 
It's an attenuator, and it's made by Tubular Mods. It comes in different flavors - 8 ohms & 16 ohms. New, they're $75.
 
Stratguy said:
It's an attenuator, and it's made by Tubular Mods. It comes in different flavors - 8 ohms & 16 ohms. New, they're $75.
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but it runs thru a effects loop....so not really an attenuator but more of a power brake between the preamp and the poweramp.
the K5 has no effects loop. so i would need an attenuator that goes between the amp out and the speaker.
 
The instructions have it connected between the speaker and the amp. There's a Juice Box 50, for amps up to 50 watts, and a Juice Box 25 for amps up to 30 watts.
 
mongooz said:
after playing it most of the evening, i'm not feeling the love for it. it's like it's the full 5 watt volume on 2 and then just crunches up more as you go up. not what i was looking for. i want something that's at 5 watts full on 7 or 8. when i put the blues driver in front of it, i have the K on maybe 2½ and the level on the blues driver at about the same. that's a useable volume IN AN APARTMENT.....but there's almost no tone and no low end.
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IMO, this is pretty standard for any low-watt tube amp. I had a Fender Pro Jr. and it's the same thing -- whisper and then, all of a sudden, ROAR.
 
Stratguy said:
The instructions have it connected between the speaker and the amp. There's a Juice Box 50, for amps up to 50 watts, and a Juice Box 25 for amps up to 30 watts.
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REALLY?? i could swear i read a description earlier today that said it went in the effects loop.
maybe i need to look at that. how does it sound? do you still get decent lows and tone?
 
Here's the write up from the Reverb site. Mine is the 8 ohm version, but it's the same thing. If I recall correctly, it was Chad that has one, too.

DESCRIPTION: The Juice Box is a small and straight forward attenuator for tube amplifiers It has one knob - no switches, no lights, no battery. It allows you to adjust your tube amp's volume at the speaker level from a roar to a whisper and everything in between. Play your tube amp in it's sweet spot without hurting your ears or angering your neighbors. It's perfect for getting the right volume in every situation, without sacrificing your tone. These are made by hand in the USA by me. In addition to ventilation holes, my enclosures feature professionally painted graphics and powder coating for a durable finish, and I test each one for about an hour on my own amps to ensure quality.

USE: The Juice Box 25 contains a 50 watt L-Pad. However, since tube amps often put out more peak wattage than they advertise, if you are going to run your amp wide open, I only recommend it for tube amps up to 25 watts. (For more powerful amps, use my Juice Box 50). The Juice Box has one input and one output. Run your amplifier's 16 ohm speaker out into the Juice Box. Run a second speaker cable from the juice box to your 16 ohm speaker or cabinet and you're ready to rock.

SOUND: The Juice Box doesn't alter your amps basic tone. It also doesn't thin it out. Like most attenuators, there is a slight reduction in treble frequencies if you drop the volume by more than about 50%. This is easily adjusted at the amp's format end, however. You just dial in a bit more treble on your amp.
 
Got a chance to use the Juice Box tonight on my Fender DRRI. I wanted to play Pink Floyd's "Breathe" tonight, so I wanted to use the vibrato along with a chorus pedal to get the univibe effect. It was pretty good, but then I cranked the amp, and dialed back the Juice Box. Wow! I got some cool tone out of the amp, and it wasn't at ear splitting level for the living room. Mongooz, if your issue with your amp is that it's too loud, definitely get an attenuator. The Juice Box is only one that I've seen for under $100.
 
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I have a Morley Optical volume pedal that works like a charm on my pedal board with the K5. It was dirt cheap. Zero noise, and full control.
 
The ones that go in the effects loop are literally a volume pot wired to two jacks in a project box. They commonly sell on eBay for $10.
 
Stratguy said:
Got a chance to use the Juice Box tonight on my Fender DRRI. I wanted to play Pink Floyd's "Breathe" tonight, so I wanted to use the vibrato along with a chorus pedal to get the univibe effect. It was pretty good, but then I cranked the amp, and dialed back the Juice Box. Wow! I got some cool tone out of the amp, and it wasn't at ear splitting level for the living room. Mongooz, if your issue with your amp is that it's too loud, definitely get an attenuator. The Juice Box is only one that I've seen for under $100.
Click to expand...

will look into it. but first i'm going to swap out the stock cheap chinese EL84 with an electoharmonix one i just got and (especially) i'm going to swap out the 12AX7 with a JJ's 12AU7, which should ramp down the preamp section, hopefully allowing me to turn the volume knob up a little more before i get too loud. i can do the same thing with a pedal.....but with the amp only on 2.....you're hearing the pedal....not the tubes. we'll see.
 
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