Amp attenuator

[michael c]

I need to get a power attenuator for my Marshall 2205. Has anyone owned / used the DR Z Airbrake, Ultimate attenuator, or Richter? What were your impressions?

Thanks.

[Knastratt]

Try the THD Hot Plate. Sounds really great.

[Sizzleboy]

Originally Posted by michael c

I need to get a power attenuator for my Marshall 2205. Has anyone owned / used the DR Z Airbrake, Ultimate attenuator, or Richter? What were your impressions?

Thanks.

The Hotplate is very durable, and can handle a good bit of power. It sound good, and has a bass and bright switch to compensate when using very low volumes.

The best SOUNDING attenuator I have is the Weber MASS. It has a full tone stack after the atunuator. I think it's modeled after the EQ section of a blackface fender. It is not as durable as the THD and I lost a driver in one, but again, it has a great sound.

[matskull]

I don't know a lot about attenuator, all I know is that I would like sometimes to be able to play without ****ing my earing up.

Yeah it's super cool to play a loud marshall with no master, I do it often, but I'm at a point where I'd like to have a good crunch even if I'm not alone at home.
I often restrict myself to play with no amp because I don't feel like having 120db in my ears.

So I think it's time for me to look at attenuators.

The TDH Hotplate has a good reputation but I need one tha handles 100 watt at different impedance, I don't wanna buy 2-3 different unit just to use with different amp, I want one that does it all, like the Weber.

I have red really good stuff about the Weber's sound, apparantly very transparent.
Did anybody else have issue with their weber mass?

Is there anything else on the market that I should look at?
I want something good.

Also, can an attenuator damage an amp, is this a myth or what?

Thanks

[Insomniaclown]

Attenuators are safe to use if you are taking no more than 20% or so off the overall volume. Maybe a little more, maybe less. The problem becomes when someone cranks their amp all the way, and then attenuates it down to bedroom volume. You are basically pushing your amp past what it can handle, and it will eventually start burning. Literally. Some say that attenuators shorten the life of your power tubes, but actually turning your amp up to performance levels shortens their life span.

There is an attenuator called the motherload that is supposed to be very good. Also the Marshall SE 1000 is another one that is supposed to be very transparent sounding. The SE 1000 is out of production, and might be tough to find. Its based on a groove tubes design, but apparently marshall did a better job. Koch makes an interesting looking box as well.

I have never used an attenuator, so I can't tell you about which one is better.

[Milliken]

As far as impedance goes you just need an equal or higher impedance attenuator than the output of your amp. So a 16 ohm attenuator will work with a 8 or 4 ohm amp. However, a 4 ohm attenuator on an 8 ohm amp can damage the amp. I have two hotplates and can say that they do definitely "mess" with the high and low of your EQ. You can adjust your amp EQ to get it back to how you like it though. The compensation switches on the hotplate sound aweful, trust me, they are a joke and should be removed. I use the line out on the hotplate for direct recording. (which is great if you have a speaker simulation plug to follow it) I run mine into the FF800 instrument input with the software speaker sim. The EQ I set to record this way is totally different than the EQ I would set to mic the amp. So if you want your speaker and line out to sound the same, the hotplate won't do it. Otherwise they work great and seem like they are pretty indestructable. You can get a used one on ebay for $200 and sell it for about the same if you don't like it.

I did some research and found the best reviews to be for the Palmer PDI-03. I think Eddie Van Halen uses it live and in the studio. It only handles 8 ohms though and is more expensive (like $600).

[Blue Lizard]

Have had a Motherload Elemental for around a month now - great!

Running a Laney GH-50L and an Orange Tiny Terror through it (not at the same time). Well built, with just the right amount of tweaking and i/o options without getting too complicated. Definitely worth a look, but it took me quite a while from ordering to receiving a unit (around 3 months) as Rick @ Motherload is hand assembling 'em

[matskull]

How much is that Motherload Elemental?
How's the speaker sim on it?

I don't need it but if it's good that's a positive point.

I don't really wanna pay too much for that, otherwise I'll just get a low watt amp...