Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

[Gearjoneser]

Anyone here own, or have used any attenuator made by Weber? Until now, I never knew how many models they have. Interesting that they designed them two different ways........ ones with resistors, and the more advanced one with an internal speaker motor.

http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm

What do you think about the Weber Mass, compared to the Dr. Z Airbrake and THD Hotplate?

 

[cream123]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

i've never owned one. up until a couple days ago i wanted to get one, now i'm saving up for a nano amp by zvex

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

Hey Joe! I have one. It's the deluxe one with the speaker coil inside and a preamp out with volume and tone controls for DI recording...although I've never used that feature.

In fact, it's been over a year since I've used it...so I'm a little foggy on the details.

It does a really good job of getting the volume of a 50 watt or 100 watt amp down to a more reasonable performance level and the tone is good!

It sounds best if you're still playing at a decent volume. If you use it to bring an amp down to 3:00 AM apartment levels the tone gets a little thin and fizzy.

But for gigging volumes with an amp that's a little to loud for the gig and you just want to get your tone at a lower volume it does a very good job.

Haven't compared it directly to anything else.

Lew

 

[B2D]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

What do you think about the Weber Mass, compared to the Dr. Z Airbrake and THD Hotplate?

I haven't used or tested anything Weber's made, but I CAN say that I really like my Dr. Z Airbrake. The controls, layout, and overall operation is learned in about two seconds, and it does a VERY good job at retaining your tonal integrity and dynamics. If course at maximum attenuation things can get a wee bit compressed and thin out a tad, but it still won't sound BAD. I just use mine to make sure that the club owners won't kick me off the stage for excessive volume. :laugh2:

I love my Dr. Z and I have a hard time imagining anything else working better.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

Joe,

I compared the Dr. Z Airbrake, Weber Mass, THD Hotplate and the Ultimate Attenuator when I was shopping for attenuators...I ended up with the Mass. I feel that it did the best job or knocking down the db's w/o killing my tone...all the attenuators did have an effect the tone and under heavy attenuation they all ruined the tone.

The Dr. Z has a rotary switch as opposed to a more regular knob so the attenuation is in steps, thte THD locks you into an impedence and the Ultimate attenuator is a lot of bread and to be honest I felt that it was no better or worse than any of the others. The one tonal advantage thatthe Weber has is that because it's based on a speaker motor it reacts more to your playing style, pick attack and the use of volume and tone controls...add to that the kliller price, multi impedence function and thatfact thet dealing with Weber is great it's the hands down winner IMO.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

Also...FWIW, the Weber Load Dump is made like a Dr. Z, Kendrick, THD, etc with the resisters to attenuate and it's OK but the Mass is FAR better IMO...the Load Dump is like all the others in terms of playing dynamics while the Mass reacts more like I mentioned above...

 

[Mike M.]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I have the Weber 50 watt "Mini-Mass" and it works very well with my Marshall DSL 50. It has 3 settings: 4, 8 and 16 ohm. It also has a switch for Bypass (no attenuation) and Normal. When you switch it to Normal your signal is instantley lowered (I'm guessing here) by about 1/4. I can't compare it with other brands but so far it does what it's suppose to and does it well.

 

[Brow]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I have an older model 100w Mass with the internal speaker motor.

As I have amps of different wattages (30w, 60w, 100w), use different ohmage cabs ( 8 or 16) I basically HAD to get the Weber Mass as none of the others would be able to fit all the criteria which I need.

I've recently started using the Mass when I use my JCM800 2210 head live, but before that I mainly used it in the studio when recording my bands album in the studio over last christmas. I used it to get my main Overdriven tones from a 50w Plexi, it worked a treat

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I got my Mass for Christmas one year from Bruce. I used it mostly with my '70 Marshall head. Then I sold the Marshall and got a Chieftan and SC-30 with master volume controls that actually work and haven't used the Mass in a year or so. Like I said, I think it works best for lowering the volume of a loud amp that's a little to loud for the gig. Lew

 

[jeremy]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

i have a mass and really like it, like others have said if you knock down the volume too much it starts to mess with the tone too much but it sounds as good as anything else ive tried

 

[metal]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

how loud is considered cranked? i crank the volume but with the output (master) on 9:00 o clock and its extremely loud already, my house shakes no kidding , so this means that the amp is not cranked to the sweet spot? it needs to be louder?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

it worked a treat

Since I mostly use a British amps, that's what I wanted to hear! :usa1: :laugh2:

 

[aleclee]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I have a mini MASS as well as a Hotplate and used to own a non-mini MASS. They all work fine up to about -8dB at which point they get kind of fizzy. Which one is preferable depends on your amp & speakers (which is why I have both).

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

Mine sounds fantastic. I would go with the 150, with the speaker vs the resistor. I have been doing a lot of recording with it as of late, I am extremely pleased. If you have effiecient speakers ( higher watt ) it should sound good at high levels of attenuation. Speakers with a lot of early breakup tend to get murky. I am 3 1/2 years into useing a Mass. At gigging levels, it is perhaps the most important tool I have for getting good tone at useable volumes. All my amps are non master now, so loud can very easily be an issue.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I have one of those little weber 50 watt 8 ohm gizmos. It's a rather little one that gets hot enough to potentially catch fire to anything it touches.

Stuff that gets that hot seems like a dangerous link in my sound chain.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

They're supposed to get hot, they take on the juice. If you are running more than 50 watts through it, then it can be a problem. I have not come across anyone that has had an amp failure connected to the Mass. If that thing was gonna mess up, I would have surely seen one of my amps go up in smoke over the past few years. I run em hard.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

Joe,

I compared the Dr. Z Airbrake, Weber Mass, THD Hotplate and the Ultimate Attenuator when I was shopping for attenuators...I ended up with the Mass. I feel that it did the best job or knocking down the db's w/o killing my tone...all the attenuators did have an effect the tone and under heavy attenuation they all ruined the tone.

The Dr. Z has a rotary switch as opposed to a more regular knob so the attenuation is in steps, thte THD locks you into an impedence and the Ultimate attenuator is a lot of bread and to be honest I felt that it was no better or worse than any of the others. The one tonal advantage thatthe Weber has is that because it's based on a speaker motor it reacts more to your playing style, pick attack and the use of volume and tone controls...add to that the kliller price, multi impedence function and thatfact thet dealing with Weber is great it's the hands down winner IMO.

+1...my thoughts exactly.

I've owned 2 of the big boxes...a 50watter that I sold to buy the 100w stereo version.

You get a lot of options for the money....

The only Hotplate I ever tried was the built in one on a Univalve & it worked just fine. I'm not sure why the built in version can handle multiple impedences but the stand alone version is a set impedence......But I'm sure brighter minds than mine will know & hopefully chime in

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I have the older 100watt version, and it's honestly one of the greatest pieces of gear i've bought!

 

[mind_transplant]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I'm not sure why the built in version can handle multiple impedences but the stand alone version is a set impedence......

The Hot Plate actually can handle multiple impedances, THD just doesn't advertise it. If you buy the 16 ohm version you can safely operate it with amps at 4 or 8 ohms, the only problem is the frequency compensation isn't as effective. Then again, the frequency compensation is what makes the Hot Plate the best choice for me personally, as I find it really helps keep things from going fizzy or muddy at high levels of attenuation. In my mind they all have their strengths:

THD - Most tweakable for getting THE sound out of your amp
Weber - Great price, more versatile Line Out feature
Dr. Z - Reasonable price, ease of use (?)
Powersoak - Gives you an excuse to buy a new amp (or OT) every few years...

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Who owns a Weber Attenuator?

I sitll complain that the THD DOESN'T HAVE CONTINUOUS CONTROL

HUGE ISSUE FOR ME AND MY 100w HEAD which is too f----in LOUD

BTW IS that true? You can safely use 8ohms into the 16 ohm HOTPLATE? Can you go out to an 8ohm cab? I can't imagine you can go to an 8ohm cab. Merely, send an 8ohm signal to the Hot Plate.