Attenuators: Your opinions

[alnikman]

I play in a louder hard rock/metal band. Right now, I play through a 120W Crate Blue Voodoo (I know, I know, but I got it to sound pretty decent with new JJ Electronic tubes and a Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal) head with a Mesa oversized 4X12 cab. So, as you can probably guess, I am having volume issues. I thought about getting another head that can switch from 100W to 50W (I have my eye on the Mesa Stiletto Deuce), but my bandmate suggested getting an attenuator. I have been looking at a few models, such as Dr. Z, THD Hotplate and the Koch Loadbox II.

What have been some of your experiences with attenuators? I have read that the Hotplate does its job well, but saps your tone a little bit, while I read nothing but good things about the Koch (which would make sense since it is $250 more). How much of an issue is it switching from the clean to the dirty channel with these devices? Can you get clean switches at all? Or, should I not even mess with an attenuator and get a much smaller combo amp?

FYI, my band is playing in small/midsize clubs at the moment.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

Love my Weber Mass 200, for both studio and gigging.

 

[everdrone]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

I play in a louder hard rock/metal band. Right now, I play through a 120W Crate Blue Voodoo (I know, I know, but I got it to sound pretty decent with new JJ Electronic tubes and a Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal) head with a Mesa oversized 4X12 cab.
....

u could also consider playing through a 2x12 to tame thingz some

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

If the amp is a channel switcher, it shouldn't make a difference what channel the amp is on regarding the attenuator. The attenuator only affects the volume of the amp and it changes the tone slightly as you turn the volume down.

Instead of buying an attenuator, you could possibly mod the amp and throw in a Lar/Mar Post Phase Inverter Master Volume if you have a decent amp tech in the area who isn't a con artist. It's easy to do and the parts cost $8. Should be a less than $50 job I'd think. Maybe $80 if he's expensive. I feel that the Lar/Mar master volume is much better than an attenuator and it doesn't rob tone nearly as much for the amount of volume reduction it gives.

I have a Weber Mass 100 attenuator (one of the best on the market IMHO) and it's not as good as the Lar/Mar PPIMV in my opinion.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

I like my Weber Mass as well.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

IME owning a Hotplate and a MASS, they're good up to around 8dB of attenuation. That would take a 120W amp down to around 20W. While that sounds impressive, taking 8dB's off of "too loud" may not do it for you. I find it most effective when turning the amp down to where it's still sounding good and then using the attenuator to reduce volume while letting the tubes still cook.

IMO, other than the Fletcher-Munson curve, the biggest problem with attenuators is the fact that most speakers sound strangled until they have a certain amount of juice flowing through them. Nothin' an attenuator can do about that.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

+1 to aleclee. Attenuators are a great way to fine-tune an amp to the situation. They are less good at adapting a too-big amp to ANY situation.

Many will argue with me on this, but I think unless you're playing arenas regularly, a 100-watt halfstack is too much power. For what you'd spend on a 150-200 watt attenuator (they are not cheap), you could probably trade the Voodoo, and spend the whole wad on a more suitable amp in the 20-50 watt range. You'll be amazed how "big" 20 watts will sound through that Boogie quad cab.

Attenuators are a wonderful tweaking tool - I use mine all the time - but the amp needs to be in the ballpark.

Oh, and BTW... Weber MASS FTW.

 

[marvar]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

I have a Dr Z Brakelite, it's perfect for my SF Princeton Reverb
It allows me to get the tubes cookin' then dial back the volume to a resonable level.
It's does just what it's supposed to do- so you can set your amp at the
'sweet' spot-but it isn't for getting your amp down to bedroom levels.

 

[alnikman]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

Just to be clear, I am not trying to get bedroom levels out of the stack. I just want to set it at a reasonable level (with the best tone I can coax out of it) for rehearsals and and gigs. I just want to be able to hear more of my vocals and have the guitar blend in with the rest of the band (drums, bass, keys/rhythm guitar, and two more vocalists).

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

I loved my Weber MASS.

It really made my rig.

Also, pay attention to Kevlar3000 --- he gets DISGUSTINGLY AWESOME tone with his setups.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

One other option you might consider is pulling two power tubes to cut your power in half.

 

[Stef]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

I play in a louder hard rock/metal band. Right now, I play through a 120W Crate Blue Voodoo (I know, I know, but I got it to sound pretty decent with new JJ Electronic tubes and a Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal) head with a Mesa oversized 4X12 cab. So, as you can probably guess, I am having volume issues.

Mesa cabinet is the problem. 4 X V30 are very loud and untamable. Try your amp through 4x g12m or an older mono marshall g12t75 cab.

 

[Mechanical]

Re: Attenuators: Your opinions

I have the hotplate in both 8 ohm and 16 ohm versions. The 8 ohm tamed down a Fender Blues deluxe reissue nicely I thought. That was a 40ish watt amp if I recall. The 16 ohm version I use currently on my 5150 III. I only like it up to about 4 db. I play it at 8db a lot because it's so loud, but I can hear the tone change at any setting above 4db. It's not a perfect solution... but it helps.