Should I get a Hotplate

[seymourstiletto]

i love the sound of my amp cranked up and i have heard that a hotplate will keep the sound and lower the volume but at that price are they worth it or not and is there any chance of them "burning up " my amp?

 

[jdurso]

i love the sound of my amp cranked up and i have heard that a hotplate will keep the sound and lower the volume but at that price are they worth it or not and is there any chance of them "burning up " my amp?

its worth it if your expectations are a super cranked tone at a normal playing level. if your looking for a bedroom playing level i wouldnt because reducing the dbs down that low kill the tone. just remember running the amp hot is only the half of it, the other part is filling up your cabinet which you wont do at bedroom levels. i had the hotplate for a while and while i found it did its job well, i just wasnt attenuating it enough to constitute keeping it, especially at its $$. I was cutting out 4db which is more or less the difference between too loud and loud. i also found using something like my eq allowed me to crank my amp and reduce the colume to my liking.

i would say check for a similar post not too long ago because someone mentioned a unit that you put in your fx loop to do what your looking for and it only cost $20. i think dropping $20 as compared to 250+ for very similar results is the better way to go.

 

[clutch71]

Attenuators are not cheap and some folks swear by the webers and the THD's. JD is right your not going to get the speaker cone movement that is an intregal part of the saturation chain. I've heard with attenuators you want to get something that has tone controls that allow you to reshape the tone directly on it.

My .2 for tube tone at low volumes is an amp with lower wattage. The Orange Tiny Terror seems to get a lot of praise but are a little pricey, $599(?). The Bumbox, and Black Heart are other current production amps($399 and $299) that I've heard good things about.

Try em out and if you like them unload the Crate and MG, you will at least recoup some of your money.

 

[voodoo_child]

its worth it if your expectations are a super cranked tone at a normal playing level. if your looking for a bedroom playing level i wouldnt because reducing the dbs down that low kill the tone. just remember running the amp hot is only the half of it, the other part is filling up your cabinet which you wont do at bedroom levels.

Yep, i'd agree 100%

I have a hotplate, and I use it with some of my amps (the ones that only sound good at 11!), but only with maybe 4 or 8db attenuation. Which might sound like a lot, but isn't really. Basically, something like putting the master on 3'clock, but getting the loudness as though it was on 12'oclock (just a very rough illustration).

 

[siggy14]

You want to crank your amp more with less volume there is a cheap and simple solution. You buy some sound proofing wedges and cover up the two top speakers of your guitar cabinet, if you have a 2x12 cover up one speaker. This will cut 40% of the volume and still lets you crank your amp and get speaker movement.

Here is a auction for sound wedges I usually use bungie cords to hold them around my speaker cabinet.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Auralex-Wedgies-1x1-Acoustic-Foam-Studio-Soundproofing_W0QQitemZ290237036281QQcmdZViewItem

its worth it if your expectations are a super cranked tone at a normal playing level. if your looking for a bedroom playing level i wouldnt because reducing the dbs down that low kill the tone. just remember running the amp hot is only the half of it, the other part is filling up your cabinet which you wont do at bedroom levels.

Yep, i'd agree 100%

I have a hotplate, and I use it with some of my amps (the ones that only sound good at 11!), but only with maybe 4 or 8db attenuation. Which might sound like a lot, but isn't really. Basically, something like putting the master on 3'clock, but getting the loudness as though it was on 12'oclock (just a very rough illustration).

 

[jab]

I read once that in the old days, EVH only liked the tone of his amp when cranked to 10, so he put big pieces of foam up against his cabinet because he felt sorry for the people standing in the first couple of rows.

 

[155]

I know some will **** on this but I just bought one and it happens to work great with my roadster. I had a hotplate and was not impressed with the sound when it was turned down . This thing is as good if not better and offers more adjustment imo. For 20 bucks its worth a try!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tube-Amp-VOLUME-BOX-for-FENDER-Blues-Deluxe-Deville_W0QQitemZ130247484067QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130247484067&_trkparms=72%3A552%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

 

[insideout]

I have to respectfully disagree with the foam over the speaker idea. I had the Stiletto Ace 1x12 for about 3 months before trading it in on the Deuce. That amp (50w) with channel volume on 11:00 and master on noon in a bedroom would rip your face off and those levels are hardly pushing the amp.

I've had the Weber mini mass for about a year now. My take is, it's great for lowering the volume when practicing at home. It does alter the tone somewhat (makes the distortion more buzzy to my ears). Thankfully, I don't find it necessary when playing with the band. Believe me, I've gone back and forth with it a hundred times, but ultimately I just like my tone without it better. But my wife loves the fact that I have it for home practice (where ultimate tone isn't as important and keeping her happy is :lol: ). For low volume, there's no doubt the attenuated tone sounds better than just turning your monster tube amp way down. By the way, the treble adjustment on the mini mass is an absolute must - without it your tone suffers terribly and I wasn't able to get it back with amp EQ. Just MHO 8)

 

[scott1]

Another thing to consider is your tubes wear faster when you run something like a hot plate on them all the time. I would also agree that it makes your tone somewhat buzzier and doesn't reproduce the speaker cone movement that is basically why it sounds so cool to crank an amp.

Honestly the best solution is to just get a lower wattage amp.

 

[ja22y]

Honestly the best solution is to just get a lower wattage amp.

+1000. That's why the power option like the ones in the Lonestar is worth every penny to me.

 

[newfinator]

I have a HotPlate and it has been my experience that the level of usefulness varies greatly from amp to amp. It seems amps that rely heavily on power amp distortion benefit more than preamp centric amps. For example I think it's very helpful, if not required, on my Legacy but near useless on my 5150 and Mark IV.

 

[JW123]

I use a Weber.

I am a big amp guy, my band plays classic to alt 90s heavy rock. Lately Im using the Weber to really turn dowm my stage volume and letting the pa do its job. The sound of our band overall is way better than it ever was. When I was blasting noone could hear anything, now we hear everything cause me and the bass player have cut our volume almost to the point it is a joke.

In fact live these days my amp volume is lower than my practice volume at home. I fought this for years, but an old guy I know who plays really good told me a few monthes ago. "Ive never lost a gig because I was too quiet, but I know Ive lost a lot for being to loud" Now you headbangers on here arent going to believe me, but if you can get your onstage volume down, you will sound a lot better to the audience.

I believe in attenuators live and at home, If you have anything over a 20 watt amp, then you at some point will benefit from some kind of attenuation.

My stage rig is on the right.

With the Weber I could play your granmas house and she wouldnt complain with this rig. Any big amp person should have an attenuator.

 

[JW123]

I use a Weber.

I am a big amp guy, my band plays classic to alt 90s heavy rock. Lately Im using the Weber to really turn dowm my stage volume and letting the pa do its job. The sound of our band overall is way better than it ever was. When I was blasting noone could hear anything, now we hear everything cause me and the bass player have cut our volume almost to the point it is a joke.

In fact live these days my amp volume is lower than my practice volume at home. I fought this for years, but an old guy I know who plays really good told me a few monthes ago. "Ive never lost a gig because I was too quiet, but I know Ive lost a lot for being to loud" Now you headbangers on here arent going to believe me, but if you can get your onstage volume down, you will sound a lot better to the audience.

I believe in attenuators live and at home, If you have anything over a 20 watt amp, then you at some point will benefit from some kind of attenuation.

My stage rig is on the right.

With the Weber I could play your granmas house and she wouldnt complain with this rig. Any big amp person should have an attenuator.

 

[CoG]

The Weber worked for me but I eventually ditched it when I got a Palmer speaker sim... better tone and silent but there's a slight price difference! :lol:

The secret with the Weber if you really want to attenuate low is you have to basically re-dial in the amp and attenuator at the volume you want, you can't just plug in with your normal settings, crank it down, and expect it to sound good.

+1 that the best way to cut volume is to use less speakers. With the band I use a 2x12 on the floor. If I had a slant half stack with the same output from my amp and the same speaker mix times two, I would stun the first three rows from the shock wave and then they'd be killed when the lighting rig fell on them