Attenuating Express 5 50

[Slyfox]

Greetings,

I have a Weber minimass attenuator that is capable of attenuating up to 35 watts adequately and was wondering if it would be okay to use it on the 5 watt or 25 watt mode of my newly acquired Express 5 50. Would anyone care to advise?

 

[DrKev]

Yes it should be fine.

A note about the power level: You should select an attenuator that can handle at least as much power as your amp puts out.* (see FAQ)

Amplifiers are generally designed to operate clean, and most manufacturers specify the output power as clean power. When you run the amp full blast, the output devices actually become more efficient because distortion is not considered. Under those conditions, the amp may be capable of putting out as much as 50% more power than its rated clean power. Be aware of that when choosing an attenuator, because the idea of using an attenuator is to run the amp full blast into power tube distortion and then controlling the level going to the speaker. If you are going to dime a 50 watt amp, you should choose a 100 watt attenuator.

Which suggests you should use the 50 watt rated attentuator for a 25 watt high gain.

 

[smunger4]

Speaking of attenuators, has anyone used one with a Mark V? Obviously using masters and the main "Output" knob, and running on 10 watt gives bedroom volume, but I always feel I am not really "hearing" the amp.

What about using a quality attenuator and running at 90 watt full bore?

 

[shawnohio]

You shouldn't risk smoking your amp on the 50 setting, and don't know if it's safe on the 5 watt setting, although technically it should be, i don't believe that 5 watt setting is accurate for this type of thing because it's class A not class A/B, and I believe it makes a difference. of course I fully expect someone to instantly say i'm wrong because that's just what people do, but i, as i'm sure you have, noticed that the 5 watts on this thing is very loud, not what you'd expect. Anyway, I use a Bugera PS1, they run around 100-130, and it works great, sounds great. I can actually use the amp, where before I could barely turn the master volume up to like .5 and the amp was blasting. The bugera got a bad rap around 2012 or so because the chinese factory made some changes and they had a ton of failures, but for the past four years I've been watching and everyone is happy with them. a 100 watt weber would be better, but it's going to cost you a lot more. And i haven't read anything about the line out. I haven't even tried the line out on mine, i'd be likely to get a captor x if i needed to go that route. All i can say is, if you get a new bugera 100 watt, you're going to be satisfied with it for the money. Weber recommends the attenuator should be double the watts of the amp's watts. Which means a 35 watt weber would be good for a 15 watt amp. Probably A/B amp... Don't do it.

 

[shawnohio]

while we're at it, i was just suggesting to a Mark user that he tried an OCD or knockoff OCD pedal. I use it at 40% gain, tone on 1 o'clock, and output about 40%, and the express on 40% gain, on any amp setting except blues (my least fave channel i guess, i love all the others) I would suggest a used OCD, or a knockoff. The very latest OCD release has some changes from previous issues, any of the previous issues will work for you. It gives your the harmonics, sustain, distortion, and still some original guitar tone. in short it sounds better than the amp alone, and actually makes the amp sound close to boutique. I use the express in stereo with a dsl20 on the right, express on left, and it's truly awesome.