Why are attentuators so expensive?

[B2D]

Are they just made out of pricey components and materials or is it one of those "captive market" things?

[Simon_F]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

I've been wondering the very same thing lately. You can imagine it would be easy to prey on people's fear that they might fry their precious vintage Marshall if they bought a "cheap" attenuator.

[tone4days]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

the small market drives the cost of production higher (per unit) than a more widley used commodity ... they cant amortize the cost over a very large production run ... they won't sell THAT many more of them if they lower the price ... so they are maximising their profit on the ones they do sell ...

as a luxury item (no one NEEDS one to survive), it is pretty impervious to economic forces ... face it, someone has already dumped $$$ for an amp that is so loud that it needs to be attenuated .. this proves they have disposable income ... the extra 'surcharge' for this accessory is in line with many 'add-ons' to luxury items

t4d

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

I would imagine it's more pricey components with a little "WE GOT YOU NOW" thrown in.

They have to withstand a lot of power without sucking up the tone, so in doing that in a compact unit probably ain't cheap.

Get a Weber MASS......best value IMHO

BTW....check these out:

http://www.reevesamps.com/reeves_amplification-7-10-05_011.htm

Built-in power scaling

[Simon_F]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

face it, someone has already dumped $$$ for an amp that is so loud that it needs to be attenuated .. this proves they have disposable income ...

Can't argue with that!

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

I would imagine it's more pricey components with a little "WE GOT YOU NOW" thrown in.

They have to withstand a lot of power without sucking up the tone, so in doing that in a compact unit probably ain't cheap.

Even if you get a fancy-pants super pricey attenuator, you're still getting a lot of your "tone" "sucked up" (I'm glad you used those terms- I couldn't have described it better!). If you're just getting a big ass variable resistor, you're kinda doing the same thing, but you're not providing an active load, nor allowing for tone bypass. Check around to industrial electronics stores and see how much a "big ass vairiable resistor" will run you.

[aleclee]

They have to be bulletproof

There's no room for failure in an attenuator. If something goes bad, it can take the amp with it and then you have people like me griping about it on every guitar board on the internet. The next thing you know, nobody's buying your product out of fear that it'll fail and destroy the amp in the process.

Engineering and components like that come at a price.

[B2D]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

Can't argue with that!

I can.

This amp that needs to be attentuated in question is a Carvin Legacy. Those run for only $800 brand new.

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

Even if you get a fancy-pants super pricey attenuator, you're still getting a lot of your "tone" "sucked up" (I'm glad you used those terms- I couldn't have described it better!). If you're just getting a big ass variable resistor, you're kinda doing the same thing, but you're not providing an active load, nor allowing for tone bypass. Check around to industrial electronics stores and see how much a "big ass vairiable resistor" will run you.

I like "big ass vairiable resistor" better!


Hey B2D, what did the Airbrake run ya' ????

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

I mis-spelled "variable!!!!"

[B2D]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

I like "big ass vairiable resistor" better!


Hey B2D, what did the Airbrake run ya' ????

They list new for $300. I picked mine up for $225 plus shipping from a guy on thegearpage.net.

That Legacy is working out great for me but MAN is it heavy artillery when it comes to volume. I literally had soundmen yelling at me that it was still too loud last week and it was on 2.

[Luke Duke]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

The good Dr. recommended one to me, however I've never picked one up. I eagerly await your review man.

Luke

[RiffRaff]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

The modern attenuators don't use a ton of resistors to attenuate the signals, unless your using the highest level of attenuation they really don't take away that much from your tone. One thing many players have a hard time dealing with is that at lower volumes your tone will sound different - not due to any of the electronics in the amp but because of your ear and how it functions. Lower the volume (without changing any of the aspects of the signal) and you'll also lower the dynamics of your tone.

[CharlieNC]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

what makes an attenuator exspensive?

making it not sound like sh*t

[marvar]

Re: Why are attentuators so expensive?

I remeber when the first generation of attenuators came out- back in the late 70s, the Scholtz was about 120 bucks, and the altair was a little more. So in today's prices, I guess it's about the same. It takes some real heavy duty ceramic resistors to attenuate safely, so I'd say the cost of materials, plus, as was mentioned, it's a fairly small market that buys them.