Advice on guitar attenuators

A_T_W

Just wondering if this is a good route to go down to get the most out of my nice (and far too loud) amps at home. Has anyone got any favourites or pieces of advice about them? Especially interested if anyone has the Swart Night Light, just looks really good and would be a good match with my Swart amp I'm guessing :P

Exorcist

I was put off of them for years, as you hear so much attenuator bashing online.. But I bought a jettenuator and couldn't be happier. I only use it for at home, TV volume playing from 5-15 watt amps that need a bit of cranking for the sweet spot, and it sounds great. I read so much about how they are only for taking the volume down a notch, NOT for how I use it. But it works for me..

absolutpepper

Sometimes you need to be careful with an attenuator that you don't have the amp on full tilt all the time, as the wear and tear can shorten the lifespan of components and also burn through your power tubes quickly.  I have a Koch loadbox which I use a lot for recording my valve heads into my DAW where I then use cab impulse responses.  The Koch is excellent and it has cab simulation built in for headphone playing.  You can also use it as a standard attenuator and it will step down in intervals.  You do have to match the OHMS however so if you have multiple heads with different loads then you'll need to give that some consideration.

Exorcist

I thought that was a myth about attenuators shortening valve life, having an amp on full tilt would shorten the valve life, but I don't think putting an attenuator between the amp and the speaker makes any difference - apart from the fact you are turning your amp up higher? Which is maybe what you meant? 

Lebarque

The general consensus seems to be that different types/styles of attenuator work better with different amps. I've got a Swart nightlight, which was much better than the Dr Z Brake light I used to have with my old Princeton. As you say, I would guess that the night light would work well with your Swart. I don't use it anymore since i have a built in attenuator, so give me a shout if you're considering getting one.

A_T_W

@Lebarque I definitely am, what sort of price would we be talking? PM me if you'd rather. Love to hear what you think about it generally too if that's cool

ICBM

Exorcist said:

I thought that was a myth about attenuators shortening valve life, having an amp on full tilt would shorten the valve life, but I don't think putting an attenuator between the amp and the speaker makes any difference - apart from the fact you are turning your amp up higher? Which is maybe what you meant? 

It depends on the amp. If the amp runs the valves pretty hot anyway - eg a Tweed Deluxe, Vox AC30 etc - then it won't make a lot of difference. If it runs pretty cool - eg Mesa, most Peaveys - then it might make a bit more, but still probably not that much unless you're really thrashing the amp for extended periods. My guess from what I know of the Swart is it will be in the first category.

Lebarque

@A_T_W  When I researched attenuation a few years back, I found the following:
1. Power scaling - Requires modding your amp and can't be done to all amps 
2. Bloody expensive attenuators. I'm sure they're great, but I didn't want to pay £400 for one
3. Dirt cheap attenuators - all the reviews said they were rubbish.
4. Reasonably-priced attenuators - This is what I went for. At first, I got a Dr Z Brake Lite, but was unhappy at how the tone degraded. My amp just didn't sound good anymore. After I read a thread on TGP, I got the Swart Night Light and was really pleased with it. It worked equally well with my PRRI and Cornell Plexi 18/20. The tone was more transparent and even on the maximum setting (quietest) it sounded good, although I did have to re-EQ the amp to add some of the highs back in - to be expected. I never really used the light bulb compression thing - couldn't hear much of a difference tbh. Or the stereo drive. Oh, and the light really does look cool, which is the most important thing, obviously. :0)

You'll probably get a variety of responses on here, with some people liking power scaling, some liking attenuators and others recommending modelling amps for bedroom use. As I said, different methods seem to work better on different amps, but given that the Night Light is "optimised for the Swart range" of amps, there's a good chance it will suit you, without having to go through the pain of trying a load.

One thing to note is that "the Night Light will work with ANY amplifier 22w or less with the light compression, 30w with it off.  In addition, it's designed for 4-8ohms load.  16ohms will not work with this version of NL." What wattage is your amp?

I'll PM you about mine.

A_T_W

@lebarque Wow, good write up, thanks so much! I had a Cornell Romany with in built attenuation which was cool, but didn't get on overall with the amp so it had to go. Very tempted by the Tone King Falcon which has the same thing, but probably wiser to buy a good separate attenuator rather than a brand new £1000+ amp possibly...

And my amp is just 5W, one of the little Swart Space Tones

mattacjones

Hi, I've had an L-Pad, cheap n cheerful and pretty good, then had a thd, but best of all is the swart night light. Paid 90 quid for it used

pj310

@A_T_W the Cornell Romany has power scaling, which imo doesn't sound great at all when used in the higher settings. it makes the amp very mushy and farty. The Tone King amps have a (very good) attenuator built in, so quite a different beast for using at lower volumes. I'm sure there are plenty of forumites who have used TK amps and could tell you more about the built in attenuators.