Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

[Young Angus]

Okay, im actually going to buy an attenuator really soon now that im out of my financial crap-hole, so im after some final advice.

Ive read all the technical stuff and have lots of technical stuff that i can get my hands on about them, but i want opinions from fellow gear hounds and axemen.

The hotplate is easiest for me to buy, they sell them up the road for a half decent price and they aren't rare by any stretch of the imagination. Only thing is i want to be able to use it with any impedance cab and i noticed the hotplates only work with a specific impedance depending on which one you buy...or you have to buy two if you've got a different impedance cab....dont like this :blackeye:

Im not going to worry about if one colours the tone a smigen more than another one, they are all supposed to be pretty good in that respect with only minor differences, which you would probably only notice if you ran them side by side.

So what about impedance, do other attenuators offer attenuation on all impedance cabs at the flick of a switch?

So recommend me something, and i dont mind if its hard to get, i just want one that i'll be happy with.

Cheers guys...and you probably know what gear ill be using it through by now anyway

Thanks all :cool2:

 

[jeremy]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

you can get the weber mass with with switchable impedance, mine has 4 and 8 but you can have whatever you want

 

[tiefightertk069]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

The best I've tried (and by best I mean the most transparent attenuation and the most versatile) are the Mass Weber and the Ultimate Attenuator.

...if money isn't an issue I would definitely suggest the Ultimate. It lives up to the name.

 

[B2D]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

I've got a hotplate on the way that will be taming my Mesa Rectoverb thru a 1960ax Marshall cab... I'll post a full review when I get it and run it thru its paces.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

The best I've tried (and by best I mean the most transparent attenuation and the most versatile) are the Mass Weber and the Ultimate Attenuator.

...if money isn't an issue I would definitely suggest the Ultimate. It lives up to the name.

The Ultimate Attenuator puts a 32ohm load on your amp....

 

[some_dude]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

What cabs are you looking at?

I've talked to THD and their rep (Ed DeGenero) told me you can mismatch 2:1 in either direction. The only difference is that the tone controls are optimized for the specific impedance the HotPlate is designed for. So, you could pick up an 8ohm model and use it with 4, 8, or 16ohm cabs, should you so desire.

The trick with the Webers is that the impedance selector adjust the tone stacks. From the research I've done, the actual impedance of the unit remains the same through all settings.

Both the THD and Weber are great units. DrZ seems to sound best with DrZ amps, and the Ultimate Attenuator I don't know enough about yet to really say much....



Edit: Oh yeah, I vote HotPlate.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

The Ultimate Attenuator puts a 32ohm load on your amp....

Wouldnt that make it un-useable with an 8ohm cab? Surely "ultimate" means its switchable or something?

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

And cabs im looking at are my ENGL 412 vintage 30 cab, which i would want to use mono at 8ohms and stereo at 16ohms to only drive two speakers, as well as the same deal on a future 412 with greenbacks or g12h30s. I just want versatility because even if i dont use it straight away im bound to use it in the future.

 

[italic zero]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

Wouldnt that make it un-useable with an 8ohm cab? Surely "ultimate" means its switchable or something?

On their website it says that the standard will work with 4, 8, or 16 ohm amps and cabs. It even says that it will match impedences, e.g. you could plug a 16 ohm amp into a 4 ohm cab.

:eek5:

 

[some_dude]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

Wouldnt that make it un-useable with an 8ohm cab? Surely "ultimate" means its switchable or something?

I'm not sure, I'm still trying to find out more details about the technology behind it.

The only problem I have with it so far is the name. In my experience, anything that needs to be called "Ultimate", usually isn't.

 

[B2D]

Re: Time has come to finally buy an attenuator...need final advice.

I checked it out... thats a lot of damn money for such a little device. Hmmm...