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Comments
The Marshall Powerbrake is definitely the best for these amps. They're discontinued but not too rare. I've found I can get a decent sound with a MV Marshall with the Powerbrake quite a long way down - as low as -18dB (the settings are not labeled, but they're steps of 3dB and -18 is the one just below halfway) or even lower. Not as good as cranking the amp with no reduction, no... but nothing is.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The Hotplate isn't good on Marshalls - which I think is one of the reasons attenuators got a bad name (aside from people trying to use them to get bedroom volume out of huge non-MV amps), since it was one of the first and most popular - but is very good on most Fenders and Mesas.
It's to do with the impedance curve of the attenuator, ie how its "resistance" changes with frequency compared to a fixed resistance, and how inductive it is which affects the flyback voltage the amp sees and which changes the dynamics of it. Different amp power stage designs respond to these things in different ways. How closely the attenuator mimics a real speaker - which is sometimes claimed by attenuator manufacturers as something theirs does better than others - doesn't actually seem to be that important, in fact the DRZ is purely resistive so on that theory it shouldn't sound good... but it does.
Power rating matters too, I wouldn't use an Airbrake on a 100W Marshall, although it should be OK on a 50.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein