Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: JDC on September 23, 2007, 06:05:53 AM

Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: JDC on September 23, 2007, 06:05:53 AM: ok i'm up too late and half asleep and thinking too much again

instead of using something like marshall power brick thingy to get the most tone out of your amp, could you fx loop out your amp into the fx loop of say a different but lower powered tube amp?

probably change your tone a bit but cheaper way to do it if you already have a low power tube amp

or am I talking absolute rubbish and would kill an amp or 2?

just curious :)
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: igloo0213 on September 23, 2007, 06:44:01 AM: You could definitely do it, but putting your signal into a lower powered power amp also means that it will have different tubes, therefore changing the tone quite significantly.

And I would also assume that you would not be able to get the volume down a whole lot lower. Remember: twice the wattage only equals another 3dB of volume (Or is it clean headroom? I can't remember).

My 20 watter can get pretty darn loud, so I definitely would not be trying to use the poweramp of it for the preamp of my 50 watt, if the intent is to achieve lower volume.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Ratrod on September 23, 2007, 02:29:14 PM: I made a little box with a volume knob that you can put in your FX loop.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on September 23, 2007, 04:35:37 PM: The best alternative to an attenuator is to play in a place where you can turn the amp up properly!!
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: LazyNinja on September 23, 2007, 10:40:19 PM: Quote from: Ratrod
I made a little box with a volume knob that you can put in your FX loop.

Or simply an EQ pedal. If your amp has a serial FX loop you can just stick an EQ pedal in there with all the sliders turned down and it works a treat.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: hunter on September 24, 2007, 08:44:35 AM: One thing to keep in mind is that if you need to flip the source amp fully on to use its preamp, it needs a speaker load (even if vol on "0").

On the Bogner Shiva and the Diezel Einstein this is not needed as its preamp fully works with the amp on Standby.

However, when I ran the Send of my Shiva into the Tiny Terror, it was rather disappointing. Overly bright and thin. Maybe it was wrong because I used a line level send into an instrument in of the Terror ... actually thinking about it now that was most definitely the issue.

As others mentioned before, even 5W amps are still damn loud.

The only really working alternative seems to be London Power Scaling.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Twinfan on September 24, 2007, 08:47:39 AM: Quote from: hunter
The only really working alternative seems to be London Power Scaling.

Agreed. I'm looking forward to trying it out on an amp in the future.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: sgmypod on September 24, 2007, 09:07:13 AM: London power scaling?? whats that then
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Twinfan on September 24, 2007, 10:48:00 AM: It controls power to the valves. Lower power = less output. It's a fairly serious mod.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: sgmypod on September 24, 2007, 10:54:55 AM: oh cool
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: hunter on September 24, 2007, 11:01:10 AM: Some recently released new amps that are using the feature:

Fargen MiniPlex Mk II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_euZJYNlaY

Suhr Badger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBUxUB-6qjw

Wondering if I could fit this in a Tiny Terror :twisted:
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: badgermark on September 24, 2007, 11:13:06 AM: I think I have found my new amp, Suhr Badger sounds awesome. Shame it doesn't have reverb...

How much are these puppies?
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: hunter on September 24, 2007, 12:15:33 PM: 1700$

They have an FX loop so reverb can be added at will

You liked the Badger more than the MiniPlex?
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: badgermark on September 24, 2007, 01:15:40 PM: I wasn't too impressed by the Miniplex.

I'm on the lookout for a good low powered valve head, looking to splash out on a super sweet amp next year. I'll come back in 12 months and see what's on offer.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Johnny Mac on September 24, 2007, 05:12:07 PM: Quote from: Twinfan
It controls power to the valves. Lower power = less output. It's a fairly serious mod.

Is it something like Van Halen's 'Variac' mod he had on his Plexi?
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Twinfan on September 24, 2007, 05:37:10 PM: Sort of, but more sophisticated as it keeps the valve bias set correctly. Unlike the variac...
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Brow on September 24, 2007, 05:40:24 PM: Quote from: Twinfan
Sort of, but more sophisticated as it keeps the valve bias set correctly. Unlike the variac...

So it won't burn out valves as quickly as the variac did?
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Twinfan on September 24, 2007, 06:12:57 PM: That's the theory!

I've yet to hear it in person, but I believe it's very good.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Johnny Mac on September 24, 2007, 06:13:36 PM: Sounds good then as I think his amps would last around a day or so! It was a light dimmer or something like it wasn't it?
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Oli on September 24, 2007, 11:06:23 PM: An iso-box is an alternative; a sound proofed speaker cab enclosure... i've been meaning to build one for a while, but i've got too much stuff on to do it at the moment however.
Title: Re :
Post by: viking on September 27, 2007, 03:11:14 AM: If you have the $$$, there is the CARR Mercury (2900$ !):it's a 8/2/0,5/0,1 watts !It's a combo,single EL34,P to P,class A. 8)
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Bird on September 27, 2007, 03:21:36 AM: I use the Axetrak and I get good results with that. Here's a link to a clip

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6085&highlight=
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on September 27, 2007, 01:44:51 PM: ^ I totally want an Axetrack!!!
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Bird on September 27, 2007, 07:51:58 PM: Quote from: TwilightOdyssey
^ I totally want an Axetrack!!!

It's a pretty cool piece of gear. I love being able to use my amp to record in an apartment. 8)
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: ChrisB on October 05, 2007, 09:44:15 AM: Don't forget speaker sensitivity. Using a 96/97db speaker will be a fair bit queiter than a 100db and allow you to crank it more.
Title: power attenuator alternative?
Post by: Philly Q on October 07, 2007, 02:29:13 PM: This chap on eBay has just started offering Power Scaling on his modded Epi VJs and Harley Bentons:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RAT-HOTROD-EPIPHONE-VALVE-ELECTRIC-GUITAR-AMPLIFIER-AMP_W0QQitemZ140165964349QQihZ004QQcategoryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Previously he was using an "L-Pad" speaker attenuator control.