Re: Attenuator?
you take your head, plug it into the attenuator (a weber mass is the correct one imnsho), then plug your speaker into the attenuator.
crank your amp up to get the tone you want then use the attenuator to bring the volume down to where it needs to be.
Don't buy this, it'll take away gain, ruin your tone, and maybe blow a couple tubes and fuses.
this is bull****. it doesnt take away gain, only volume. it will not ruin your tone although the more you lower the volume, the more your tone will change. if you are blowing tubes or fuses your amp has problems that have nothing to do with the attenuator.
what an attenuator does is take your full amp output and split it between your speakers and the "resistive device" in the attenuator. this is what uopt was talking about.
you are running your amp at what ever it says on the volume. so on your 50w marshall 1987 you want it cranked up to 10 with channels jumped. when you do that it means your amp is working really really hard and generating lots of heat and other punishing things. this is where the bs about blowing tubes and fuses comes in. your amp is working really hard, if it has problems then they are going to show up under these circumstances. if your amp is fine you are working your tubes really hard and the life will be shorter than if you ran the amp volume on 3. none of this has anything to do with the attenuator, just the fact you are running your amp full throttle.
the "ruin your tone" bs either comes from a ****ty attenuator or from the fact that if you knock the volume down too much then your ears dont hear things the same way and your speaker isnt getting pushed as hard so it isnt putting out the same sound. this might also be where the "lose gain" bs comes from. if you have a 25w speaker that you are pushing really hard then youll get some speaker distortion, if you dont push the speaker then you will lose that. again its not the attenuator thats changing things, its the lower volume hitting the speaker. having said that, most attenuators do color the tone a little but not as much as many people want you to believe.
so the bottom line is that a good attenuator will take your raging tube amp and bring down the volume. how much you take it down will effect how different it sounds. overall i think they work very well for what they are but dont expect a 50w marshall to sound the same at big stage volume as it does in your bedroom. i see their best utility as allowing you to basically get the feel and tone you want at levels that will work in most live gigging or full volume practice situations.
