Fryette PS-2 Attenuator & Power amp... with a Marshall SV20

Nerine

fretmeister said:

Or.... send it back and get the 2 channel version instead so you can have the Fryette do the boost?

Did consider the 100, but I think the two speaker outputs will be more useful to me than the switching on the unit given how I’m going to be using it most of the time. 

Plus if I decide to use my JCM 800, I don’t need the Fryette so my board just hooks up to that as usual. 

randella

The only GAS I have at the moment is for the PS-2. Guitars, amps, pretty much everything else I'm interested in - zero (admittedly I did buy an old BBC Micro to scratch the retro computing thing).

My Torpedo is working just fine though, and the PS-2 is a fair old leap over the £130 I gave Captain Anderton for it.

Like all good attacks of GAS, I'm sure I'll man-maths it in the end  

Nerine

Well, the SV20 and PS2A arrived. 

Initial thoughts. 

It’s been a while since I’ve played through a non-master volume amp. Takes a bit of getting used to. A lot less compression on the drive side of things. Very dynamic. 

The Fryette is superbly built and engineered. Weighs a lot. Actually “wow’d” when I opened the box to have a look at it. Looks and feels very premium, especially when peering inside the top heat vent a bit. 

The attenuator in it sounds fantastic. Doesn’t seem to lose any clarity or definition. 

It’ll go loud. 

Everything else just works and sounds exactly as you’d expect really. Literally zero surprises. It seems like a brilliant idea on paper and the same is true in practice. 

The one watch out, however. 

I had a weird squealing noise when connecting up the fx sends and returns to my Friedman Buffer Bay on my board. 

Thought unit was goosed. Nope. 

The patch cables I use (Ernie Ball ribbon) have an exposed metal connector holding the cable. This isn’t a problem. UNTIL they’re next to each other and touching on the buffer bay board side AND the two “loops” are going into different devices. 

I.e. if the cable connector that runs in front of the Marshall (exiting the buffer bay towards the first pedal in the chain) touches another exiting cable that is running in the fx loop of the Fryette you get squeal. If they don’t touch, it’s not an issue. If the two loop cables (send and return to the buffer bay) touch, no issue. 

Worth mentioning. I just rotated the cables slightly so they didn’t make physical contact with each other and problem solved. Although I will probably put some electrical tape between them at some point. 

How does the amp sound? 

Like a Plexi. Unsurprisingly. The videos I’ve seen on it sound really representative to the amp in the room. 

With a Les Paul it is just THAT sound. 

Thick, biting, aggressive, cutting, etc. The added depth control on the Fryette giving my Two Rock 1x12 a bit of extra welly in the low end is very nice indeed. 

Can’t wait to try it in a band mix. I think it’ll absolutely rule. 

digitalkettle

Ah yes, that 'don't cross the streams' issue got me just before a fairly important gig a couple of years ago...not nice at soundcheck volume

fretmeister

How is the fan noise on the PS2?

paulmapp8306

fretmeister said:

How is the fan noise on the PS2?

Quieter than the Seymore duncan power stage I replaced. 

Nerine

fretmeister said:

How is the fan noise on the PS2?

Barely noticeable. 

I can’t tell it’s on. I can’t really believe that fan noise is considered a “thing” with these. Seems a bit of a reach to me to be honest. 

guitaraj

Nerine said:

fretmeister said:

How is the fan noise on the PS2?

Barely noticeable. 

I can’t tell it’s on. I can’t really believe that fan noise is considered a “thing” with these. Seems a bit of a reach to me to be honest. 

I think it depends on the use case. If you’re jamming and that’s the be all and end all it’s absolutely not a problem as you said. 

I have mine set up in the studio with the heads and I’ll be recording parts and then tweaking sounds and going back and forth so there’s plenty of time where the kit is switched on but not being played. In the intervening periods where I’m doing critical listening and not playing the drone of the fan noise can raise the noise floor of a well treated room to the point that it could be considered a nuisance, but YMMV. Might just be that I’m easily distracted of course!

Nerine

guitaraj said:

Nerine said:

fretmeister said:

How is the fan noise on the PS2?

Barely noticeable. 

I can’t tell it’s on. I can’t really believe that fan noise is considered a “thing” with these. Seems a bit of a reach to me to be honest. 

I think it depends on the use case. If you’re jamming and that’s the be all and end all it’s absolutely not a problem as you said. 

I have mine set up in the studio with the heads and I’ll be recording parts and then tweaking sounds and going back and forth so there’s plenty of time where the kit is switched on but not being played. In the intervening periods where I’m doing critical listening and not playing the drone of the fan noise can raise the noise floor of a well treated room to the point that it could be considered a nuisance, but YMMV. Might just be that I’m easily distracted of course!

Well, mine sits in my (well treated) mix room, too. 

I don’t notice it when there is no other noise in the room or when I’m listening critically whilst editing etc. 

Mine is brand new. Perhaps they changed the fan spec or something. It’s barely noticeable to me. 

If I was to slate my example for the fan noise, it’d be ridiculous. 

I don’t know who called it out to begin with, but it seems a bit obsessive to me. 

guitaraj

I must say this thread has got me intrigued to try out an SV20. 

goldtop

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

Nerine

goldtop said:

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

I can hear the breath coming out of my nose more than I can hear the fan in the PS2A. 

What other similar spec solutions are available that do the same thing? 

Dave_Mc

Nerine said:

goldtop said:

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

I can hear the breath coming out of my nose more than I can hear the fan in the PS2A. 

What other similar spec solutions are available that do the same thing? 

You've tried breathing out of your mouth, presumably?

(Sorry    Also excellent score on the Marshall and the PowerStation  )

goldtop

Nerine said:

goldtop said:

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

I can hear the breath coming out of my nose more than I can hear the fan in the PS2A. 

What other similar spec solutions are available that do the same thing? 

Load box and the FX Return of any other amplifier.

Load box + IR + FRFR/studio monitors. 

Do what Keef did with a Champ and a Twin.

Etc

Nerine

goldtop said:

Nerine said:

goldtop said:

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

I can hear the breath coming out of my nose more than I can hear the fan in the PS2A. 

What other similar spec solutions are available that do the same thing? 

Load box and the FX Return of any other amplifier.

Load box + IR + FRFR/studio monitors. 

Do what Keef did with a Champ and a Twin.

Etc

So nothing that will do what the Powerstation does. 

Hang on a minute. 

You don’t have to have the fan active anyway. The power does not need to be on for it to work as a load box for silent recording. So this is all completely moot. 

If you are running through a cab, and want to use the volume control on the front then you need the PS powered on. At that point, you aren’t hearing the fan over your cab. 

As I’ve said. Complete non issue. 

randella

I must admit the fan noise in my Captor got on my tits when the unit was on the desk. I bunged it on the floor where it can suck up all the cold air it likes and now I've stopped noticing it.  

Petepassion

And this is why I’m lucky my tinnitus is so loud

randella

Petepassion said:

And this is why I’m lucky my tinnitus is so loud

Oh my hearing's shagged in one way or another, you can cash that cheque no worries! I don't have tinnitus as such but any sort of white noise, rustling, or crowd chatter I find incredibly distracting. 

goldtop

Nerine said:

goldtop said:

Nerine said:

goldtop said:

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

I can hear the breath coming out of my nose more than I can hear the fan in the PS2A. 

What other similar spec solutions are available that do the same thing? 

Load box and the FX Return of any other amplifier.

Load box + IR + FRFR/studio monitors. 

Do what Keef did with a Champ and a Twin.

Etc

So nothing that will do what the Powerstation does. 

Those signal chains all do exactly what the PowerStation does. And a Guytron GT-100 (the same cascaded-amp idea in a single box from 20 years ago). And as I said, Keef was doing this 50 years ago, as was Randy Bachman with the Herzog.

(I've already said above that for live use, fan noise is not an issue at all.)

fretmeister

Nerine said:

goldtop said:

If you don't want fan noise, you don't want fan noise. It's totally valid. Other solutions are available.

I can hear the breath coming out of my nose more than I can hear the fan in the PS2A. 

What other similar spec solutions are available that do the same thing? 

This is very encouraging. Hopefully it is a general spec thing and not just that you got a particularly quiet one!