Anyone using a Fryette Power Station to make a low wattage amp louder??

Nerine

As per the thread title really. 

Does it work as expected? 

Any thoughts or experiences to go on? 

I’ve been considering one of the 20w Marshalls and it won’t be loud enough. Thinking the bigger power section and depth controls will give one some needed girth and wallop. 

Cheers! 

jellybelly

Nerine said:

As per the thread title really. 

Does it work as expected? 

Any thoughts or experiences to go on? 

I’ve been considering one of the 20w Marshalls and it won’t be loud enough. Thinking the bigger power section and depth controls will give one some needed girth and wallop. 

Cheers! 

Do you want to run it clean live or something?

jellybelly

Should say I've seen a couple of people use them for the opposite reason live and sounded good. 

Nerine

jellybelly said:

Nerine said:

As per the thread title really. 

Does it work as expected? 

Any thoughts or experiences to go on? 

I’ve been considering one of the 20w Marshalls and it won’t be loud enough. Thinking the bigger power section and depth controls will give one some needed girth and wallop. 

Cheers! 

Do you want to run it clean live or something?

No. A 20w Studio Classic will not be loud enough on the dirty side of things. I’m not interested in clean. 

I had a Pink Taco briefly and it couldn’t quite get to the gig volume levels I ran on my Friedman Small Box. 

I also regularly use a full on JCM 800, so the 20w is too much of a drop down. 

jellybelly

Nerine said:

jellybelly said:

Nerine said:

As per the thread title really. 

Does it work as expected? 

Any thoughts or experiences to go on? 

I’ve been considering one of the 20w Marshalls and it won’t be loud enough. Thinking the bigger power section and depth controls will give one some needed girth and wallop. 

Cheers! 

Do you want to run it clean live or something?

No. A 20w Studio Classic will not be loud enough on the dirty side of things. I’m not interested in clean. 

I had a Pink Taco briefly and it couldn’t quite get to the gig volume levels I ran on my Friedman Small Box. 

I also regularly use a full on JCM 800, so the 20w is too much of a drop down. 

Wow, I'm shocked you can use a 100 watter live, when I gigged a 2203 I never got it past '2' on the dial with a cleanish tone. Fair enough if you've got experience that it won't be enough volume for you. Hope you hand out ear plugs to the front row! 

I assume the Fryette will do what you need if you've ran out of options. But if you're one of the few people who can open a 50 watter or 100 watter up on stage I'd just get the real deal, personally!

jasonbone75

I can vouch for the Boss TAE doing exactly this and doing it well. I've used it for 15 and 50 watt amps. The additional advantage is you don't have to stress the amp - unless you want to of course as might be the case here.

digitalkettle

I use a SV20H with a Power Station…always attenuating…mic’d (or DI’d) to the PA…run through a 2x12 did backline. No shortage of volume in this ‘use case’.

tweedphan

I used my Power Station on Friday night for the first time, at a gig. Amp was a Carol Ann clone of an 18 watt Marshall with volume on about 4. I was able to use volume controls on my Les Paul to cover clean and overdrive, plus turn the volume up on the Power Station as the pub got more crowded and raucous. Brilliant piece of kit !!

nick79

Yeah I’ve used my ps2 with my Mesa studio 22 to give it a bit more volume and girth - works really well, really fattens it up!

Wazmeister

Boss TAE ideal for this.

nero1701

Wazmeister said:

Boss TAE ideal for this.

Yep, I used it on a 12 W Princeton, was fantastic for this, also for FOH

NickB

Yes I use mine with my Cornell Romany 12 to get it to proper gigging levels with minimal break up on the amp. 

Nerine

jellybelly said:

Wow, I'm shocked you can use a 100 watter live, when I gigged a 2203 I never got it past '2' on the dial with a cleanish tone. Fair enough if you've got experience that it won't be enough volume for you. Hope you hand out ear plugs to the front row! 

I assume the Fryette will do what you need if you've ran out of options. But if you're one of the few people who can open a 50 watter or 100 watter up on stage I'd just get the real deal, personally!

It’s not necessarily about pure volume. It’s about headroom, depth, size of sound etc. 

The 100W amp is always gonna sound bigger regardless of volume, IMO.

I run my 800 at 3 on the master, so it's starting to open up a bit, and then it runs into my Hot Plate knocked back a couple of clicks, with the depth control engaged. 

I still have ample headroom left for a boost in the loop for solo volume. 

With a boost in front, this setup simply sounds frigging huge and is essentially God Tier tone.  

A 20w'r on it's own simply wouldn't sound anything like as huge without a bigger power section. 

I had a 20 watt Friedman briefly. It was just about OK for dirty rhythm stuff, but would just saturate more on leads when boosting through the fx loop, rather than giving me more volume, so was unusable for my circumstances.

And, yeah, without any kind of attenuation, "3" on a 2203 is too loud for most places, that's for damn sure. "2" is also a push in some smaller venues. I used to be happy if I could get mine up to 2 with no attenuation going on. That was where I'd set it by default.  

 
I much prefer a bigger amp beginning to cook than a smaller amp being thrashed into power amp distortion. I also usually run smaller cabs - often 1x12's and 2x12's so having a power section that can really deliver some low end can often just help the cab sound a bit thicker when required in some rooms. 

I'd simply use my 800 all the time if space and logistics (and being arsed to actually cart it around) were not so much of a consideration.

The head takes up a lot of room because of the width. 

Last gig I had my 1x12 cab on it's side and my 800 on it's end, behind it to be able to fit in properly. Hence my quandary...

Hence a 20w JCM 800 SC20H, Fryette PS100 and 1x12 cab. Big sound, less width, more compact, similar vibe.  

UranianWilly

Yes, I use a Power Station with my Friedman PT-20 — mostly to reduce volume, but occasionally to increase. Works well both ways. To my ears it's virtually transparent if you want it to be, or it can add quite a bit of colour.

If it's extra girth and wallop you want, the "warm" and "deep" settings will deliver in spades. Those toggle switches have quite a pronounced effect, and work especially well too liven-up a line out to IRs. The presence and depth controls are more subtle: better suited to compensating for the effects of lower volumes. 

Nerine

UranianWilly said:

Yes, I use a Power Station with my Friedman PT-20 — mostly to reduce volume, but occasionally to increase. Works well both ways. To my ears it's virtually transparent if you want it to be, or it can add quite a bit of colour.

If it's extra girth and wallop you want, the "warm" and "deep" settings will deliver in spades. Those toggle switches have quite a pronounced effect, and work especially well too liven-up a line out to IRs. The presence and depth controls are more subtle: better suited to compensating for the effects of lower volumes. 

Thanks. V. interesting. 

DPC

Bought a Fryette PS2-a a few days ago and used it for the first time today. Gone through quite a few attenuators over the years but this is by far the best I have ever used. Retains the amp's character almost flawlessly at low attenuated volumes. Cannot recommend highly enough

nick79

They are also fantastic used as a power amp for a modeller - I run my hx stomp through mine into a 1x12 cab and it sounds and feels great. 

Genuinely the best piece of gear I’ve ever bought. 

Wazmeister

As i said before, this one of the many strengths of the TAE.

Theres one for sale in the forum;

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/258534/boss-tube-amp-expander#latest

PinstripePhil

I do this. You need a Fryette PS-100. It is a killer way to go. Yo get an effects loop also which is essential with small amps. I use mine with a champ.  BTW, forget the TAE. Been there. Go with the PS-100.