Roadster Output or THD Hotplate?

[Pontius2000]

I'm debating on whether or not I should sell my Hotplate. I had it for my previous amp. then I sold the amp and got the Roadster which has the universal Output knob. everybody keeps telling me the Output knob is not the same as a volume attenuator (like the Hotplate), but I've tried them every which way.....with the hotplate, w/o the hotplate, with the hotplate and the output. realizing that the output knob is NOT an attenuator, I still can't really figure out the difference or tell the difference. is there any advantage to keeping the Hotplate or should I just sell it?

 

[Metaltastic]

Well the difference is that AFAIK, turning down the output knob on the Roadster means turning down the power amp, so when it's not working as hard you're not getting as much coloration from the tubes (whereas the Hot Plate reduces the signal after the power amp, so you can work the power tubes harder and get more coloration from them). That said, my experience (and judging from clips) is that power tube saturation just adds some fullness to the tone, but it's hardly worth the expense of a Hot Plate IMO! (or in your case, depriving yourself of the money you'd get by selling it ) And furthermore, when do people even use a Hot Plate, anyway? Cuz IMO you'll get more than enough power tube saturation at live volumes (bear in mind, pretty much all the distortion tone in any modern high-gain amp comes from the preamp, and REALLY pushing the power tubes just makes 'em sag rather unpleasantly IMO), so the only time I can see a Hot Plate being useful is for bedroom jamming (or recording, but in my case I bought a re-amp box so I can record the DI's for the perfect take in relative silence, then do short bursts of high-volume re-amping, which my past neighbors have tolerated )

 

[mikey383]

Hotplates are useless on a high gain amp IMO.

The main purpose of a Hotplate is for low to medium gain amps. Such as a JCM800, where the power tubes need to really be driven to supply added gain. In those types of amps, they get really loud before hitting that breakup point.

On high gain amps, the gain comes from the preamp stages, not the power amp. The power tubes don't add gain unless it's really cranked. High gain amps are typically biased cold so the power tubes stay clean longer.

IME, driving a Recto into power tube saturation sounds like butt. A little bit is okay, but really pushing the tubes makes it very flubby and not very pleasing to the ear.

 

[Pontius2000]

Hotplates are useless on a high gain amp IMO.

The main purpose of a Hotplate is for low to medium gain amps. Such as a JCM800, where the power tubes need to really be driven to supply added gain. In those types of amps, they get really loud before hitting that breakup point.

On high gain amps, the gain comes from the preamp stages, not the power amp. The power tubes don't add gain unless it's really cranked. High gain amps are typically biased cold so the power tubes stay clean longer.

IME, driving a Recto into power tube saturation sounds like butt. A little bit is okay, but really pushing the tubes makes it very flubby and not very pleasing to the ear.

yeah, the amp that I originally bought the Hotplate for was a 40 watt Fender. and it worked pretty well because I couldn't get a great drive sound without jacking the volume up and then putting a pedal in front, which made it WAY too loud.

so what you're recommending is do away with the Hotplate and just use the gain to get the overdrive and keep the master volume down at a reasonable level?

 

[mikey383]

That's what I would do in your situation. I keep my gain around 2 oclock and channel master about 10 oclock on my Dual. Adjust master volume to taste.

 

[francric]

That's what I would do in your situation. I keep my gain around 2 oclock and channel master about 10 oclock on my Dual. Adjust master volume to taste.

Yup, what he said.............I use the master volume and it sounds fine.

 

[GD_NC]

I think it just depends on the amp. I really liked using a Weber Mass with my previous DC-3, but can't find much use for it since I switched to a Mark IV.

 

[fishyfishfish]

Sell it. I used one (Z Air Brake) for my LSC to get the power section going, but for a High Gainer like Mesa, it is just wasting away on your tubes. If you had an old JMP or 1987X sure keep it, but for a Dual or a Roadster it's kins of a mute point.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Agreed. I tried a hotplate with my rectifier years back, and it did nothing for me. If anything, it killer the sound of the amp.

If you want it to REALLY sound me, just crank it.

 

[moodyedge]

in my experience poer tube saturation has to be finely balanced with pre amp saturation for a full tone....its very easy to go over or under wioth either when using a thd plate... I felt it crushed the tone so I sold it after 2 days when I was using it with my orange rocker head.


they sap tone. After playing with my new duel rectifier at home for a week, Ive came to the copnclusion that they sound very good at low volumes....I had it at a band practice last week with a matamp 60 watt 2x12 cab and it sounded good there but that was the day i got it so the settings wernt dfialled ion right at all...but it was still good...cant wait to get a rectifier 4x12 cab and go back to practice in a few weeks. I got a great slipknot "sulfur" tone with it yesterday after paying around.........theres so many tone options its unreal.

had a good tone for each of these so far after a few hours playing around with settings

killswitch engage "the end of heartache album"
slipknot "sulfur"
papa roach "last resort"
rage against the machine "killing in the name"
disturbed "the night"
linkin park
dream theater "repentence" tone
blink 182 "Dysentery Gary"

can even get good jack johnson "f stop blues" tone from it on the clean channel...

soilwork "exile" is next on the list

blues to doom and everything inbetween

the list goes on, the more i play the more diff tones appear.

considering i bought it blind without ever playing one or even seeing one in real life,,,,,,,,it has payed off