Attenuators

Monkeyemmo

Looking for recommendations/opinions on attenuators. Do they work? Do they alter your tone much? Talk to me....

paulnb57

I waded my way through this vid, then bought a Palmer (like a retard an 8ohm rather than the required 16 that I needed, its for sale in the classifieds......)

Good vid but as usual for TPS it drags on and on and on!....

peterc52

Fryette PS2 is the best one

Sassafras

Depends on the amp, what you want it to do and how many features on it.

Wazmeister

peterc52 said:

Fryette PS2 is the best one

Spot on.

ICBM

Attenuators do work. They don’t significantly alter the tone until they’re down a fair way - most of the apparent change is due to the speakers and your ears simply not responding to a quieter sound the same way. But they do change it a bit, that’s inevitable - they alter the interaction between the amp and the speaker, which is important with a valve amp.

Different attenuators work best with different amps - there isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all choice. So for a recommendation you first need to know what amp it’s for.

The Fryette isn’t an attenuator, although it can be used to do a similar thing - it’s dummy load and re-amp system. Much more complex and expensive, and has the advantage that you can do other things as well as just reduce volume, like run effects after your main amp. But it also completely separates what comes out of the speaker from your amp, which is now effectively just a preamp.

prowla

I think Boss are due to release an attenuator with an FX loop and power amp, effectively turning your existing amp into a pre-amp...

variplexi

I've tried the small ones from Weber (mini mass) and Dr Z at home and for small gigs. Both work; I currently have the Weber mini mass which work for upto 50 watt amps, which I prefer for its "dial range" rather than the 4 clicks on the Dr Z. The Tone King amps have the Iron Man built into it (which can also be bought separately) which also I found very good. If the main purpose is to get a driven amp down to home volume level, there is compromise on tone (more compression, loss of clarity and top end). But you can play "loud" at home! At lower attenuation levels when gigging, the tone is preserved and they are very useful in finding a usable balance between playing volume and amp break up. The Weber also has a treble boost switch to adjust for loss of top end and an impedance matching switch, so can be used with 4/8/16 ohms. 

p90fool

Monkeyemmo said:

Looking for recommendations/opinions on attenuators. Do they work? Do they alter your tone much? Talk to me....

Talk to us instead, what amp is it and how much do you need to attenuate it?

Monkeyemmo

Guys, thanks for all the info. The amp is a Victiory V30 with a matching 2x12V. It’s for home use only. Tried one in the shop and loved it but concerned may be a little too much. I know you can do the single end thing with and reduce the watts but I liked the ‘cooked’ tone that I was getting In the store. Seems to be a good knowledge base on here. 

clarkefan

prowla said:

I think Boss are due to release an attenuator with an FX loop and power amp, effectively turning your existing amp into a pre-amp...

Cool, I'm interested

It's sort of weird, the Fryette came out what 2-3 years ago and it was a unique, successful idea.  

I fully expected the big boys to ride in and do it better and cheaper, but nothing happened, not even smaller companies, so to my knowledge Fryette are still the only company doing a load/reamp box.

ICBM

clarkefan said:

It's sort of weird, the Fryette came out what 2-3 years ago and it was a unique, successful idea.  

I fully expected the big boys to ride in and do it better and cheaper, but nothing happened, not even smaller companies, so to my knowledge Fryette are still the only company doing a load/reamp box.

Actually the 'Ultimate Attenuator' was the first as far as I know - but it was let down by poor design and shockingly (potentially literally, given by the one I worked on) poor build quality. The Bad Cat Unleash is the same concept too - both of these use solid-state power amps rather than valve though, the Fryette may be the only one with a valve amp.

Wazmeister

Monkeyemmo said:

Guys, thanks for all the info. The amp is a Victiory V30 with a matching 2x12V. It’s for home use only. Tried one in the shop and loved it but concerned may be a little too much. I know you can do the single end thing with and reduce the watts but I liked the ‘cooked’ tone that I was getting In the store. Seems to be a good knowledge base on here. 

My advice is... change the amp to one more suitable...

clarkefan

ICBM said:

clarkefan said:

It's sort of weird, the Fryette came out what 2-3 years ago and it was a unique, successful idea.  

I fully expected the big boys to ride in and do it better and cheaper, but nothing happened, not even smaller companies, so to my knowledge Fryette are still the only company doing a load/reamp box.

Actually the 'Ultimate Attenuator' was the first as far as I know - but it was let down by poor design and shockingly (potentially literally, given by the one I worked on) poor build quality. The Bad Cat Unleash is the same concept too - both of these use solid-state power amps rather than valve though, the Fryette may be the only one with a valve amp.

Good point about valves, I can't see Boss going there, whatever they have in mind.

Monkeyemmo

Wazmeister said:

Monkeyemmo said:

Guys, thanks for all the info. The amp is a Victiory V30 with a matching 2x12V. It’s for home use only. Tried one in the shop and loved it but concerned may be a little too much. I know you can do the single end thing with and reduce the watts but I liked the ‘cooked’ tone that I was getting In the store. Seems to be a good knowledge base on here. 

My advice is... change the amp to one more suitable...

Yeah, I know what your saying, but when you like something you like it. That’s the issue with us guitarist is that we are always chasing the holy grail that is ‘tone’

Wazmeister

Monkeyemmo said:

Wazmeister said:

Monkeyemmo said:

Guys, thanks for all the info. The amp is a Victiory V30 with a matching 2x12V. It’s for home use only. Tried one in the shop and loved it but concerned may be a little too much. I know you can do the single end thing with and reduce the watts but I liked the ‘cooked’ tone that I was getting In the store. Seems to be a good knowledge base on here. 

My advice is... change the amp to one more suitable...

Yeah, I know what your saying, but when you like something you like it. That’s the issue with us guitarist is that we are always chasing the holy grail that is ‘tone’

Yep, I get it, and have been there...

But really, its not tone we’re talking about here but volume...

Monkeyemmo

Wazmeister said:

Monkeyemmo said:

Wazmeister said:

Monkeyemmo said:

Guys, thanks for all the info. The amp is a Victiory V30 with a matching 2x12V. It’s for home use only. Tried one in the shop and loved it but concerned may be a little too much. I know you can do the single end thing with and reduce the watts but I liked the ‘cooked’ tone that I was getting In the store. Seems to be a good knowledge base on here. 

My advice is... change the amp to one more suitable...

Yeah, I know what your saying, but when you like something you like it. That’s the issue with us guitarist is that we are always chasing the holy grail that is ‘tone’

Yep, I get it, and have been there...

But really, its not tone we’re talking about here but volume...

But isn’t a factor on getting the tone having the valves working harder, which then produces the volume as a side product so to speak. Ideally want the first without the second which is why I thought I’d look into attenuators. Another option would be a different amp.  Oh well nothing purchased yet so can keep searching. 

timmysoft

Attenuation is rubbish. Your ears compress differently at higher volumes, your whole body vibrates in different ways, that’s what makes the excitement.

guitar isn’t for the bedroom.

ICBM

It is a compromise, but it’s a perfectly sensible one. In my experience, if you want a big-amp sound at low volume then attenuating a big amp still sounds better than using a small amp, unless you’re taking it to extremes like trying to play an overdriven 100W non-master-volume amp at bedroom levels... that’s just going to sound crap. But if you’re sensible, you can get a better sound at lower volume than you would be able to otherwise.

I’m not familiar with the Victory V30 so I can’t recommend a specific one, but someone will have tried it.

Monkeyemmo

Again, thanks for all your inputs and advice