thd attenuator whats peoples views

[guitarando]

I have a 4 ohm.  That's the problem it can't be used with an 8 or 16 ohm amp like other hotplates.  It works very well though & gets the valve amp breaking up & I can run it at lower volumes without changing the tone too much.  On the lower settings it's not soo good as it farts & burps a bit, but generally it will decrease decibles noticably without changing tone.

[avdekan]

I have a Koch loadbox and although I never had the chance to try any other attenuator, I think it is one of the best options out there for several reasons:
-it is very transparent. I can run my amp at 5% through the loadbox without any audible "squish".
-it can be used as a load for the amp and has a line out / DI with cab simulator for silent recording.   
-headphone out

stuff I don't like about it:
-the cab sim isn't fit for metal IMO. for cleans and rock/blues it is very good.
-the headphone out is a sad joke, but I wouldn't have used it anyway

[andymac]

I use a Hotplate with my TSL 100.  I would never be without it now.  Master volume is good but full up amp is better, especially the clean channel, without a Hotplate it was not nice.  I got mine from http://www.chucklevins.com 4 years ago.  At the time even with tax and shipping it was about £220.  This was cheaper than I could get anywhere in England.

Andy

[broken cord]

I have a 16ohm THD that I used to use on my Soldano. However, I use a 65 Amps London 18 now and I don't need to cut the 18 watts. The THD does what they claim to do; you can bake your tubes to get the natural overdriven sound and still manage your volume level.

The problem with attenuators comes when one tries to cut a 100+ watts to bedroom levels because when one tries to scrub too much signal it gets harmonically unstable. After a certian amout of cut off you end up loosing any benefit the attenuator gives by pushing your signal beyond its boundaries of staying harmonically rich and full.

If you are in an environment where you are just trying to save yourself from a little hearing loss but still want the full push of the tube driven sound an attenuator will do the trick.

[ailean]

I've got a 16 Ohm HotPlate for use on my RockerVerb50, it works well, and I'll grant that it will mess with your tone when heavily attenuated, but it's still better than having the volume on the amp right down.

I can't remember for sure what I paid for mine (Feb 2008) but I'm pretty sure it was under £250 new. I think it was £230?

[opprobrium_9]

Is this THD attenuator better or as good as the Bad Cat attenuator?

[JamesHealey]

I wouldn't use a Hotplate to bring a 100w Non-MV amp to bedroom levels it really doesn't work well for this kind of application, but it allows you to run my Plexi cranked to high heaven at gigs without the sound guy crying to turn it down, and thus in this application it really shines.

if your amp has a MV control using it conjunction with the HP has a better effect and this is the way i'd suggest doing it for those trying to achieve bedroom tones from a 100w amp.

anything below -8dB starts to compress, flatten out and aquire strange overtones and noise from the background gets pushed forward in the compression and any blocking distortion or crossover distortion is highlighted, once again if your using a 100w amp theres a diode clipper mod that can be done (by Randall Aiken) which lets you attenuate the amp lower without all these unpleasent frequencies being pushed forward although it's not perfect it helps.

[ailean]

if your amp has a MV control using it conjunction with the HP has a better effect and this is the way i'd suggest doing it for those trying to achieve bedroom tones from a 100w amp.

I should have made this point, there is no point in running the amp flat out and using the HP to bring it back down, bring the amp down as low as you can while retaining most of the tone and let the HP do the rest.

Also bear in mind that you won't get the same speaker excursion at low levels no matter what trickery you use, speakers are lazy, they don't move unless pushed.

Ultimately you can't gig in a bedroom, something has to give, and the HP is a good device to give you more control. I've also heard it said that the THD HP is kinder to your tubes than some of the others, how true that is I can't say as it's at least 3rd hand information.

[Alex]

i don't use an attenuator, and for this reason:

i used to use a 100db sensitive speaker (like Vintage 30, G12H etc etc). i'm using a 97db one now (greenback, hot100, g12-75) and that 3db less makes all the difference.

i'm quite happy using a 97db speaker and the master on low volume (1-2) for home usage now - a bit of practice and recording. i've a 50w marshall.

i'd try a g12s-50 (an even less efficient speaker), but apparently they don't sound very good

I know I'm late on this discussion (as usual) but I second this comment! A 3db difference in loudspeaker difference makes a greater dfference in volume than you'd think. Add in that the very loud V30, a speaker which also needs to be pushed to sound good, is extremely popular and it is no wonder that many people run into problems when trying to keep the volume down but "the tone up".
If you check some manufacturers, you will find some more quiet speakers that are not too expensive but still suit tonal needs. THe g12t75 is a speaker I am not particularly fond of, but it does sound good at lower volumes, making it a good choice for home practice.

[roland_rat]

Hi,

Thanks for all info guys great help.  I decided to pick  a THD hotplate of the bay and give it a try.   If its not for me I will  stick it back on the bay. Hopefully it will be a keeper but either way I should have some fun trying. 

Thanks again guys

[roland_rat]

The Hotplate has arrived and im quite pleased.  Ive been able to get some quite nice tones out of a ENGL screamer and a Mesa F30 at much more neighbour friendly volumes.  For the moment it looking like a keeper. Though I am toying with the  idea of geting a 5w Martamp head.  If I go down that route it may well get sold though, time will tell.  Thanks all of you for the advice on the Hotplate.