alternative to power soak?

[psy]

Hi all,

I'm about to buying a power soak for using my tube amp in my flat. Today a friend told me that I can use a "Lautsprecher Pegelregler" - don't know how to translate this. Maybe "speaker level controller"? Anyway this thing would be much cheaper than a power soak.
It is also put between power amp and speaker and - according to my friend - it does not affect the sound. He uses it in HiFi speakers.

Here's a picture of it:
http://kaufen.conrad.de/lautsprecher_pegelregler.asp

Does anybody know if I can use it for a tube amp? What makes a power soak like Tom Scholz or THD so expensive?

Your opinion is highly appreciated
Thanks, Chris

 

[bert123]

Re: alternative to power soak?

Das ist eine Loudspeaker Level controller (I used google to translate the page, My German is very rusty)
It uses an L-Pad, a resistance network to send some signal to ground. If you search for L-Pad you will find more info. People report as you increase attenuation of the signal through an L-Pad you lose more highs and the sound gets muddy. The THD products try to overcome this by emulating the dynamic behavior of a speaker.

Look at the Weber Mass products which actually contain a speaker driverWeber Attenuators

 

[suislidE03]

Re: alternative to power soak?

Yea i actually just bought a weber minimass off ebay for $80, and im pretty happy, but at high levels of attenutation i can tell the highs and little of the tone gets flat. Its worth it though.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: alternative to power soak?

I got a Weber Mass 50 for christmas and it works really well on my Rectoverb. It has a 6db treble boost to compensate for the loss of high frequencies. I use it for the distortion channel and just flip its' bypass switch for cleans. It doesn't sound very good for cleans, but it is not needed for that anyway.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: alternative to power soak?

Bang for the buck, Weber delivers. I also recommend the Dr. Z Airbrake and THD Hotplate.

 

[psy]

Re: alternative to power soak?

Thanks for your help @all. Will try to get a HotPlate at EBay at a reasonable price. If not I'll have a look at Weber's stuff