Mesa Amps-----------Guitar Attenuator

[NorCal-Mesa]

Do you guys use Dual Rectifiers in the house? If so do you guys attenuators? If you do what to you guys like to use and why? I'm thinking of buying one for the 100W head. I don't want my tone to color or change.

Thanks

 

[Scary]

All attenuators suck tone as far as i've heard.

 

[knotts]

I bought a THD hotplate to use with my LSC at home. It wasn't bad when the volume was still pretty loud, but when you turned the volume down to "acceptable bedroom" levels, it colored the hell out of the sound and as mentioned, sucked the tone out. I returned it the next day. Waste of money. There may be another option out there that might work. If it does, you'll probably pay for it.

 

[kdorsey]

Marshal PowerBrake. Built like a tank, as transparent a sound as any attenuator ever made, and trust worthy. Kinda tough to find one though. If interested, I might part with mine but they are pricey.

 

[benjamin801]

I've never heard an attenuator that didn't suck horribly beyond about 4db of attenuation, and that simply isn't enough to make a 50 or 100 watt amp apartment friendly. :lol:

 

[94Tremoverb]

Attenuators don't suck tone.

They do change the way your speakers and particularly your ears respond, so you may think they do. But the actual change of tone is very minimal if there at all, and you can prove it (if you want) by recording attenuated and unattenuated versions of the same sounds and playing them back at the same final volume. There may be a small difference - due to the speakers - but you may be very surprised how little.

The biggest mistake to make with an attenuator is to crank the amp right up, get a great tone, then dial the attenuator right down and expect the tone to stay the same but quieter, without changing the amp settings. It won't, and that's why they are thought to 'suck tone'.

Reducing volume always gives the impression of worse tone, that's a well-known effect, and it will always happen if you click down the volume, even if there was NO tone change. What you have to do is to decide on the volume you want first, then adjust the attenuator and the amp's volume to give you that volume level (it's usually best to 'balance' them so each is doing the least work possible, rather than one high and one low), then dial in your gain and EQ.

I use attenuators (Powerbrake, Hotplate, and have used others) all the time with amps, including my Tremoverb at home, and they give me much better tone than I could get at the same volume without - right down to bedroom volume, if needed. But to do that, you don't start with the amp cranked - you start with the attenuator turned down and dial the amp in from there.

Don't blame the tool if you don't use it right. No offense intended.

 

[knotts]

Thanks 94Tremoverb. That makes sense and I wish I knew that when I had it. Instead bought a blackheart little giant amp to practice when the wife and kids are sleeping. It's no Mesa, but it works.

 

[NorCal-Mesa]

Hey thanks great post, what atenuator would you recommend for my 94 Tremoverb Head.

Thanks

Attenuators don't suck tone.

They do change the way your speakers and particularly your ears respond, so you may think they do. But the actual change of tone is very minimal if there at all, and you can prove it (if you want) by recording attenuated and unattenuated versions of the same sounds and playing them back at the same final volume. There may be a small difference - due to the speakers - but you may be very surprised how little.

The biggest mistake to make with an attenuator is to crank the amp right up, get a great tone, then dial the attenuator right down and expect the tone to stay the same but quieter, without changing the amp settings. It won't, and that's why they are thought to 'suck tone'.

Reducing volume always gives the impression of worse tone, that's a well-known effect, and it will always happen if you click down the volume, even if there was NO tone change. What you have to do is to decide on the volume you want first, then adjust the attenuator and the amp's volume to give you that volume level (it's usually best to 'balance' them so each is doing the least work possible, rather than one high and one low), then dial in your gain and EQ.

I use attenuators (Powerbrake, Hotplate, and have used others) all the time with amps, including my Tremoverb at home, and they give me much better tone than I could get at the same volume without - right down to bedroom volume, if needed. But to do that, you don't start with the amp cranked - you start with the attenuator turned down and dial the amp in from there.

Don't blame the tool if you don't use it right. No offense intended.

 

[RR]

Are you into diy-er? Willing to spend $100+? What about an Airbrake? Get all the parts at Mouser. :wink:

 

[babow2]

+1 for 94Tremoverb! Your ears aren't linear in how we hear. As the volume goes down, we lose more low end first in the perceived relative levels, then high end. That is why most stereos have a "loudness" switch for adding bass and a little high end at lower volumes. So, an attenuator triggers the same aural response. As the volume goes down, we hear less bass and then a little less treble. The attenuator doesn't suck tone, things sound different at lower volume. As 94Tremoverb fairly points out, what you do is find your desired volume level, then EQ your tone to that volume. You can't just take stadium volume, knock it down 16db and not have an impact. I've been using THD hotplates for years. I set volume, then EQ. Sounds good. NO, it sounds great.

 

[Riff Blister]

I've been using an Airbrake with both my Stiletto and my Budda for years. I think it works great!

 

[benjamin801]

Huh. Maybe I'll have to revisit the whole attenuation idea. I freely admit I made up my mind about them 15 years ago, when my own ear was much less developed, and I was an impatient twentysomething anyway. :lol:

 

[212Mavguy]

94t's post was elegantly stated and is exactly how an attenuator is meant to be used. Can't add better so won't add to his post.

I use a Weber MASS 100 watt, with every extra custom feature but the rack ears. All but one of my amps except a Fender 160PS running 6550's are 50 watts or less. The balanced line out with volume, treb, med, bass controlling it is a godsend for stages. They make a 200 watt model, that is the correct capacity for a 100 watt tube amp head. A bit spendy but it's one essential piece of gear when playing out with most of my amp stable, especially where I have to go into a soundboard. The MASS is good enough that I will refuse to have my amp mic'd unless the mic is a top end mic designed just for mic-ing guitar amps. I use it on my 2/12Maverick with wonderful results, I like playing out with it rather than amp alone, it makes the amp behave even more Dumble-y than it already does, and the Mav as I have mine modded sounds wonderful at small room volumes by itself. That design, the Weber MASS is tweakable as far as the amp's attenuated tone, or you can make the changes at the amp tone stack(s.) And it's AWESOME to have the balanced line out volume and tone stack and control over what tone goes to the board instead of what you're stuck with mic-wise. Nice when the guitar player has some control over personal stage and house sound from the same place on stage.

 

[sprinkle]

I echo many of the posts above. ya can't just take a cranked amp and then slap on -20db of attenuation and expect the same sound but quieter.... I have a Rivera Rockcrusher that I use when playing my Roadster in the house. Works pretty well. I dont really crank the amp but basically start with the attenuator on and bring it up to where I want it. Settings are often different that would be for the same sound at gig volume.