Any views on the THD Hotplate? (Power Attenuator / brake )

[fleeced]

THD Hotplate

Has anyone tried one of these?

I'm playing a Dual Rec into a Marshall 4x12.

I'm not looking for the amp to sound good at really low volumes - (I kind of know that is not going to happen!) but in the pubs, clubs and marquees we play in, my amp is usually between 12 or 1 o'clock and plenty loud enough.

I'm looking for something that will let me dial the amp up a bit more and keep the volume to "drummer level" ...

Used like this, is the THD as transparent as some seem to claim?

I.e What's going to be better -

The amp at 12o'clock straight into the cab ....
or the amp at 3 or 4 o'clock through the THD and out at a volume the same as a 12o'clock amp?

Also:
The DR has 4,8 and 16 ohm outs, the Marshall has both 4 and 16 ins (or 8 in stereo) ... so I can pick any of the 4/8/16 ohm units. - Is any one of them going to sound better than another?

 

[gonzo]

i prefer the Weber Mass lite.

feels more natural...
sounds great, on my rig.
and cheaper.

and uses an actual speaker motor, in conjunction with resistors, versus just resistors in the hotplate.
YMMV

 

[fleeced]

i prefer the Weber Mass lite.

feels more natural...
sounds great, on my rig.
and cheaper.

and uses an actual speaker motor, in conjunction with resistors, versus just resistors in the hotplate.
YMMV

thanks for that - looks interesting


how easy is it to get the tone right with the two dials? .... does it vary then much when you switch from clean to crunch etc?

 

[stephen sawall]

When I bought my Hot Plate (2002) I wondered how much I would use it.
That turned out to be all the time.
I love it with my Tremoverb and my other dozen amps.

What's going to sound better to you would be guessing.

Nothing is transparent ~ changing a chord out well change the tone.
The way your ear hears different volumes is a bigger problem.

I have tried most of the other attenuators and like the sound of the Hot Plate the most.

But that is me..... :mrgreen:

 

[cvansickle]

Another vote for the HotPlate. There's no way I could play at home without it.

The trick to getting a good sound at -16db, I find, is using some radical EQ curves. You have to work at it to find the good sound, but it's there.

 

[stephen sawall]

A lot of people do not know this ....
You need to re-EQ once you get in the volume range you want.
Then fine tune everything.

 

[babow2]

I also use my Hot Plate all the time these days. I have both an 8ohm unit and a 4ohm unit, which i use depending on whether I am running one speaker or two cabs. Or, for some gigs, I will run one cab straight out near me, and put the 8ohm hotplate on a speaker on the other side of the stage, so I can control how much volume is going to our keyboard player.

At the lower db settings they are pretty transparent. Everything affects tone, of course, but at the lower settings, not much of an issue. When you get to 12db, you start to lose some tone. However, psychoacoustically, we lose high and low end detection at lower volumes naturally. But, keep in mind that the hotplate has a treble and bass boost buttons. Also, once you find the setting that gets you the right volume, you adjust your EQ settings.

They do wnat they are supposed to do, allow you to keep your amp at a setting that produces the gain you want, with some control on your volume. it is all a balancing act.

As to which one to get- you need to match the speaker load to the unit. If the speaker you are running to is 8ohm, it needs to be an 8ohm unit. If you run two 8ohm cabs (a 4ohm load), then you would plug a 4ohm hotplate into the 8 ohm output jack of the amp. All you need to do is read the manuals and info on the thd site to learn what you need.

Good luck!

 

[dmt]

i use the thd as well and i like it. i have the 8 ohm version and it works plenty fine. the trick is to not pull off too much volume. If you can pull off -12 dB or -8 dB it is very much transparent. there is a deep and bright switch and i pretty much always have them on. i actually like to have that ability, even if it colors the tone a bit. in my mind its just another EQ point. when you go to the -16 dB setting (or lower by turning the other knob) it really sounds different. Its thinner etc. So the trick is to set the amp to a pint where you don't need to put the Hotplate below -8 dB or -12 dB.

I've tried the Marshall Powerbrake in a store and I didn't like it. Not real controls etc. Never tried the Weber.

Gonzo, what do you mean by speaker motor? Speakers have no motor. Its a magnet and a coil of wire around the paper cone that does all the moving and makes sound. Is that what you mean?

+1 for THD Hotplate.

 

[gonzo]

how easy is it to get the tone right with the two dials? .... does it vary then much when you switch from clean to crunch etc?

depends on how hard you're driving your output transformer.
some amps, just give you more saturation.

there's a sweetspot, at least on my Mk2B, where i have to leave enough headroom on the master, to get the right combination of output distortion, and preamp distortion.

i CAN run the boogie wide open, and clean up the Vol 1 a great deal, and THAT is a completely different feel than running the master1 on 2, and using the WEBER to simply dial off the excess ( i can gig with the master on 2, and it's only a 60 watt amp!)

the greater percentage of the VOLUME is being attenuated on the LOW dial, the bass dial.

so, the way i use it, is to take the bass dial all the way down, bring it back up to the volume i want, then use the HIGH dial (the treble) to dial in whether i want it creamy, edgy, or crunchy

so, the answer to that question is, it's easy.
but, there's always the back and forth between the attenuator, tone controls, and master/preamp volumes, until i find that 'sweet spot'.

every amp will have a characteristic sweet spot, and even the same two amps side by side, will probably have differences.

Gonzo, what do you mean by speaker motor? Speakers have no motor.

from the weber site:
Other Weber Attenuators utilize an actual speaker motor to apply a reactive load on the amp. The attenuators are unlike any other on the market, and provide a much more interactive, natural sound when in use. They affect the tone less than the resistor-based models.

it's easier to explain with a link

http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm

i can say this...
if you've never played through a weber mass, with the 'speaker motor', then you just don't know.


also, this is cool..

a weber-designed impedence attenuator matcher, for your thd hotplate:
https://taweber.powweb.com/store/attenmatch.htm

 

[stephen sawall]

The THD's are also reactive ..... the fan.
It is just done in a different way.

 

[gonzo]

THIS IS TRUE...

but, they don't feel the way the weber feels.

it's just this touchy-feely thing that happens...

having used both, on the same rig, side by side, it was something i discovered.