The best tube amp attenuator ever!

[hunter]

Check it out, Pete Thorn (guitarist of Chris Cornell and others) demos the Faustine Phantom Attenuator.

I think the difference between unattenuated and attenuated is just different speaker travel, it's awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71h7Lv7LKcU

[Lew]

It's that time of the week already! 'Hunters bite-size HRI thread highlights of the week'  :lol:

 :P

[MrBump]

Sounds good.

Any idea of price and availability???  Really need an attenuator...  Or rather, my wife, kids and neighbours do...

 :(

[Plexi Ken]

Aren't they 750USD or there about  :?

[hunter]

This is what I have from TheGearPage:

The new prices for the Faustine Phantoms are as follows:

Phantom DX (multiple impedance model) - $749 retail
Phantom z4 (4 ohm impedance) - $659 retail
Phantom z8 (8 ohm impedance) - $659 retail
Phantom z16 (16 ohm impedance) - $659 retail

A deposit of 50% is required to secure your order. Currently, all orders should be placed only through Tone Merchants:

Phone: Noel Evangelista at (866) 795-6808
Email: noel@tonemerchants.com

[dave_mc]

wow, that's a lot of money. I think i'm still going to get a weber minimass, just to see how i get on with attenuators. :lol:

[hunter]

Problem is that a lower priced attenuator will suck tone, so you can also play low volume again. Think it's gotta be this or the UA (even more $$$).

[gingataff]

A deposit of 50% is required to secure your order. Currently, all orders should be placed only through Tone Merchants:

Is it my imagination or is Tone Merchants some kind of Suhr cartel?

Not only is Ed Yoon the director of Marketing, Sales, & Customer Service at Suhr Guitars but he's also the owner/manager of Tone Merchants. And there are 2 Suhr amps in the rig in the video.

This kind of thing really puts me off this kind of gear, no matter how much GAS I get.

[HTH AMPS]

Sounds pretty transparent down to -6dB, after that the bass thins out.

I dare say that you could re-EQ the amp to compensate for this though.

[jpfamps]

Sounds pretty transparent down to -6dB, after that the bass thins out.

I dare say that you could re-EQ the amp to compensate for this though.

Do you think this is an inevitable consequence of the Fletcher-Munson effect?

[hunter]

I also asked Pete and he said he had the mic pre optimised for full on and didn't readjust its gain when switching in the attenuation. So with less speaker travel and less optimum mic gain you can as well explain some loss of punch.

It's expensive, but it's cheaper than the ultimate attenuator, and the latter needs a separate power supply and doesn't sound as good it seems. Guess this is a once in lifetime investment and then no more need (like if you get a THD you'd pay less but would always look for improvements).

[indysmith]

I think it sounds poo. Gets really glassy and nasty as the volume goes down. I noticed the effect on -2dB...AND on youtube! wtf is the point of a -2dB setting? when is that gonna be useful?
I don't think attenuators are the way forward.

[sgmypod]

For the price would buy a smaller amp for home use

[MrBump]

For the price would buy a smaller amp for home use

Hmmm... not so sure about that.  Even 5 watts of valve amp could do with a little of the volume attenuated, certainly in my house!!!

[Elliot]

I agree - I have a Champ 600 - great with a 2x12 and an OCD - but it needs an attenuator to be truly at terrace house bedroom levels.  Heck - even the 1/4 Killer Ant needs to be attenuated to stop the neighbours thumping the wall