Talk to me about Attenuators

Make it loud here.
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Snake Hips
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Re: Talk to me about Attenuators

Post by Snake Hips » Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:18 am

Dr Tony Balls wrote:
Wed Mar 03, 2021 7:40 am
2 x 6V6 OR/OD 120 clone with a pentode/triode switch would be 1) 15/7 watts and sound proper, and 2) awesome.

Yeah, that would be awesome, however, time and money would be too much.

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stevemac100
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Re: Talk to me about Attenuators

Post by stevemac100 » Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:45 am

I used a THD Hotplate for use with my 68 Princeton - it worked pretty well for bringing it down to bedroom levels and it was not expensive. Have since swapped the Princeton & Hotplate for a Tone Master Deluxe with no need for attenuation.

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Racing
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Re: Talk to me about Attenuators

Post by Racing » Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:39 pm

Most attenuators out there are NOT made to turn a roar into a whisper.
Doing so is using them WRONG. They are NOT designed to handle this.
Yes, there are exceptions but they are few and far apart.

IMO if you can live with a MINOR difference in behavior what you need is for a tech to install a WELL DESIGNED so called PPIMV setup. It´ll always be there, that thing CAN turn a roar into a whisper and it adds no additional cost - apart from the install.

What´s more, attenuators.. "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long". Simple fact.

That said i´ve by now installed hundreds of PPIMV´s and have yet to have someone come back and ask me to revert their amp.

PPIMV for Post Phase Inverter Master Volume.

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MrJagsquire
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Re: Talk to me about Attenuators

Post by MrJagsquire » Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:16 am

I use an attenuator on my Marshall SV20H (aka 20 watt Plexi) when I'm playing it at home, even in 5 watt mode into a 2x12 cab. This controls the level and still allows the power amp to distort. I don't care that it might shorten the life of the valves since it's not something I do on a daily basis. I also use the attenuator to control the overall level and still allow power amp distortion. It does slightly change the tone, but nothing that I can't adjust out using the presence control or the treble raised slightly.

Some owner use a volume control in the loop, but it's not the same sound as when the output valves distort, so I've not gone down that route myself. I think the key thing is (mostly) using the attenuator to slightly reduce levels rather than squashing them completely. It's a more extreme setting at home, but as said it's fairly rare (I tend to practice on another amp anyway).

You might have to chose an attenuator that matches your amplifier/speaker load too: I'm using a 16ohm Palmer model myself, so it means I can't use it on some of my other amps with 8ohm speakers/outputs.

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Riffraff
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Re: Talk to me about Attenuators

Post by Riffraff » Sat Apr 17, 2021 5:31 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Mon Mar 01, 2021 6:35 pm
Maggieo wrote:
Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:14 pm
If you want one that hides in a cab, the Swart Nitelite is great.
You ever use the line out on yours?
I have a THD Hot plate and a Weber Mass100. I've used the line out on both to record with. I use Reaper to record with and use the Realfir EQ plugin to remove the noise from my guitar tracks. It's real easy to us the "subtract" feature to remove the noise from your track. You basically teach it what you want removed and it takes it out.

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rfc
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Re: Talk to me about Attenuators

Post by rfc » Sat Jun 19, 2021 11:32 am

I use a Ho's Attenuator on my Gomez G-Reverb (Princeton clone-ish) and it works pretty dang well to bring "ear-pain" (anything over 3 on the dial) down to "pretty loud for a bedroom, but not insane" without losing too much tone.

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