attenuator a must!!!!! discuss please!

Gassage

I have a Clapton Twinolux with onboard power scaling and a very clever switch that cuts off one speaker.

However, as a pedals into amp kinda guy, I use the full fat 40w at all times. It's sweeter. Even at low vols.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

This has been done - there was a demo with a THD Hotplate years ago on TGP, and you could hear almost no difference.

Did that thread go well? Sounds like it had the potential for some lulz.

ICBM

Dave_Mc said:

ICBM said:

This has been done - there was a demo with a THD Hotplate years ago on TGP, and you could hear almost no difference.

Did that thread go well? Sounds like it had the potential for some lulz.

It wasn't too bad actually. It proved a point clearly enough that there wasn't much argument possible - that really, the effect of attenuation (and speaker 'drive' for that matter, since that was obviously lower as well) on tone is more psycho-acoustic due to the reduction in volume, than real. It was *just* possible to identify which was the un-attenuated sound, but harder to pick out which of the four attenuation settings were used.

Likewise, the 'loudness' button on a hi-fi is to compensate for the different frequency sensitivity of the human ear at lower volumes (basically reduced bass and treble response, as given by the Fletcher-Munson curve), not the speakers. This is a big part of why master volumes, attenuators etc appear to "suck tone". They don't, your ears do . Things just sound better when they're louder, even if they actually sound exactly the same.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

It wasn't too bad actually. It proved a point clearly enough that there wasn't much argument possible

You don't spend much time on TGP, do you? )

Seriously, though, that's nice it went well. I always suspect there's a lot of guff talked about mythical tones. I don't mind low volume tones. )

ICBM

Dave_Mc said:

ICBM said:

It wasn't too bad actually. It proved a point clearly enough that there wasn't much argument possible

You don't spend much time on TGP, do you? )

Used to, although there is a reason I left years ago .

Dave_Mc

)

Yeah I pretty much left, too. Luckily some of the guys on another forum keep a sort of closeish eye on it and alert me any time there are any lulz to be had. )

ESBlonde

If an attenuator is a must, could it be that you are using the wrong amp for your application?

I concede there are some classic sounds that are based on particular guitar amp and speaker combinations that require the amp to be working hard enough to fill a 1500 seat theatre, but if you want that sound in your bedroom you have the wrong amp. I am a big fan of old single channel amps grunting hard, but I can't rely on being able to use them for all my gigs so other amps and pedals are required.

HHwarner

Not a must but very usefull. I use one on MV 2203s and 2204s. People who say no good for MV amps ain't heared a 2203 with the MV passed 3 o clock. You can't get that from the pre amp. And it's way too loud for most venues. So they have their uses. Just depends what you want. As said earlier. If you want cranked stack at bedroom volume you've got the wrong amp

Lew

A celestion blue has the same sensitivity as my g12h75.

Danny1969

Brad Paisley use's Fluxtones, controlling magnet strength to make speaker less efficient 

Check this out :

strtdv

Louder just sounds better to your ears unfortunately.

You can get quite good results by just using a nice open sounding speaker (like a G12H30 rather than something like a V30). Beyond that, EQing it a bit differently (I find that on amps that have a control that adjusts bass response, like a dynamics or focus control setting it quite high for a bigger, looser bass response helps) and keeping the gain down a little (tends to sound fizzy at lower volumes) all help.

Having said all that, I still like playing my Orange on 6-7 on the master volume which seems to be where the sweet spot is. I just keep it to sensible hours.