Quick question about hotplates

[Muso]

Hi

My Amp at the moment is a 5150 mark 2 a decent amp but too bloody loud! anyway Im wondering how fesable would it be for me to get a hotplate and lower the volume right down to bedroom level and stick a mic in front of it for direct recording. at the moment i use a guitar port but I would really like to get used to playing the 5150 all the time as the tube amp plays so differently than a virtual one, u know the pick attack is soo different.
Also I would like to develop a tone at home and then when i jam with my band just let from volume off the hotplate?

Any ideas would be great

[chrisola]

i did it with a Weber Mass and my JCM800 (very loud amp!).. now using it with my Engl Fireball.

Its a great idea to use something like a Mass\Hotplate... you can even DI from it into the guitarport for 'silent' practice :)

[Gary]

A hotplate will do exactly what you describe. One thing to be aware of however is the tone starts to suffer a little at extreme attenuation levels i.e. attenuation at -16dB and the right hand dial set to less than half way. It's still good for home use though and you would never have to use that much attenuation in a band situation.

[TwilightOdyssey]

The Hot Plate has many great features, one of which is a compensatory EQ for playing at low volumes. I have compared my head at low volumes verses running the amp at a higher volume with attenuation. I prefer the tone with the amp attenuated a bit at home.

To dial in a tone at home you should defeat the EQ on the Hot Plate, tho.

If you plan on keeping the Hot Plate in your signal chain, then you can definitely use it to dial in your tone. I don't use mine live, so I have to make minor adjustments depending on the room and what volume I'm playing at.

[_tom_]

I use a Weber Minimass and its ok but does take a bit of the high off when you have a high attentuation, I dont really care too much though! I wish I bought Willo's hotplate he had for sale but I had other things that needed paying for  :lol:

[maliciousteve]

I use a Hotplate and i've tried it with the volume quite low. The tone starts to sound a bit thin at low volume levels, but it does sound alot better than if i were to not use the hotplate at all.

[t3h haze]

And another question for Hot Plate owners.....can you use them with bass?

[HJM]

You should be able to as long as your amp doesn't exceed 150w. 8)

[t3h haze]

You should be able to as long as your amp doesn't exceed 150w. 8)

That's cool then, I use a Super Bass (The best amp I've ever heard, seriously), so it's useful for both guitar and bass  8)