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Power Attenuators???

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  • Power Attenuators???

    Anybody know anything about power attenuators? According to this website, http://www.amptone.com/truesecretofamptone.htm, which is expansive in the information relayed in it, a power attenuator is the secret to great amp tone. Problem is, I've never heard anyone discuss power attenuators. Here's a passage from the Amp Tone page on this subject:

    "You can almost certainly get satisfactory sound from your existing decent tube amp, without mods, by using, or at least experimenting with, the following chain:

    guitar
    eq pedal
    Comp/OD/Dist pedals
    eq pedal
    amp's preamp
    amp's tone stack
    amp's tube power amp
    good power attenuator
    amp's guitar speakers

    The above is truly the "secret" of great amp tone. Most postings, books, and amp tone videos dwell on amp brands and mods and swapping tube types and swapping speakers or pickups, but such priorities are backwards. The real first order of business is knowing how to make the most of *any* decent tube guitar amp.

    It's a shame that most guitarists try all sorts of things other than the secret weapon that gets straight to the point: the eq>dist>eq pedal chain, which you can put before any guitar amp, in conjunction with -- just as important at the other end of the chain -- some way of getting power-tube saturation independently of speaker volume, and this amounts to the (unfortunately) "secret" of power attenuators.


    Every electric guitarist ought to be just as familiar with power attenuators and EQ pedals as they are with distortion pedals and amp brands. Everyone talks about amp brands and models all the time, and swapping tubes and guitar speakers and pickups, but those must be considered 2nd-tier, drastic solutions. The first kind of solution people should try is EQ pedals and power attenuators.

    There ought to be, therefore, proportionately less discussion of amp brands and models and distortion and overdrive models, and more discussion of EQ pedal usage and power attenuators. Most guitar stores don't sell THD Hot Plate power attenuators, and don't really even sell Marshall Power Brake power attenuators.

    But these stores are always eager to "solve" your problem by selling you another expensive guitar amp, or several distortion pedals. Most guitarists who own a tube amp have never seriously tried adding an EQ pedal or two and a good power attenuator.


    The problem isn't a matter of "finding the right amp"; it's a matter of truly understanding the true basics of amp tone, which amounts, first and foremost, before brand-specific and custom solutions, to really understanding the alternation of EQ and distortion stages, and understanding the existing products that enable you to dial in any amount of preamp distortion and any amount of power-tube saturation, at any speaker volume level."

    Please share your thoughts... thanks!

  • #2
    Surprised you've never heard of this...it's pretty common knowledge. You generally need the tube amp to run wide open to hit that tone sweet spot, but you don't want to have the cops at your place daily. An attenuator would be a solution. I don't believe it's the secret to great tone as the article suggests, but a solution if your amp can achieve great tone only at a high volume and want that same tone at a lower volume.
    My Charvel/Jackson Family



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    • #3
      In my experience, an attenuator was a tone sucker.

      I had a VHT Deliverance that was super loud and it didn't have a master volume. So, I bought a Rivera Rockcrusher, which is supposedly one of the better attenuators out there. It did the job of reducing volume, but it also took all of the dynamics out of the amp. I ended up returning it.

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      • #4
        I've seen bands use Marshall Power Brakes (The Darkness is the most recent I've seen). I don't have any experience with them, but I always assumed they were like an external master volume control.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by MetalDaze View Post
          It did the job of reducing volume, but it also took all of the dynamics out of the amp. I ended up returning it.
          I would assume that part of you tone was also the actual speakers being driven, so I would think that if you have an attenuator in line, the speakers are not going to produce the same sound as being fully driven.

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          • #6
            I have a Marshall power brake and it does fine on some amps and not so great on others.It depends on the amp.
            I have a Weber MASS as well and it does great with most all the amps I have tried it on.
            It will affect tone to some degree but I don't think its enough to warrant not using one if you need it for gigging.
            People that say it sucks too much tone need to use the tone controls on the amp. Thats what they are there for..... duh.
            When you crank an amp the dynamics change so you need to adj the EQ. If you have a setting or sweet spot you like at reasonable volume and you crank the amp everything changes so same goes for the use of an attenuator.
            Last edited by straycat; 08-21-2013, 04:13 PM.
            Really? well screw Mark Twain.

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            • #7
              Yep, some scientific story concerning fletcher/munson curves or Equal-loudness contour explains human hearing percieving certain frequencies different at different gainlevels
              "There's nothing taking away from the pure masculinity I possess"

              -"You like Anime"

              "....crap!"

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              • #8
                The Rockcrusher's best application IMHO is as a direct box for recording silent and using IR speaker plugins. That way you get your power tube tone stack.
                But as others have said. You have to find the right attenuater for your amp. As the device does affect the power stage. Some units "constipate" the amps and lessen tube life and transformers get hotter. So "That" tone is going to change when ever you add anything to the chain. Good or bad. Just depends on how all the pieces "talk" to each other.
                Try a few of them out. Then get what you like best. If you gotta have it, then get what you can live with.
                Here are a few companies
                Weber
                Koch
                Jet City
                THD
                Jim Kelley by Suhr
                Tube Amp Doctor
                Palmer
                Bad Cat

                Sure there are more. These are the ones I found. Have fun with it.
                An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
                A tooth for a tooth means we all eat through a straw.

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