Attenuator recommendations please!

[herbychimp]

I would like to be able to extract those 'cranked' tones from my new Blackstar HT Soloist 60W at practice / small gig levels and have been investigating in an attenuator. I contacted the guys at Blackstar who told me that the 'Doctor Z Airbreak' was very popular with their players, but at nearly £300, I am wondering if their is a more cost effective alternative that won't suck tone out of my valve experience.

cheers

Stef

[BigB]

I would like to be able to extract those 'cranked' tones from my new Blackstar HT Soloist 60W at practice / small gig levels and have been investigating in an attenuator. I contacted the guys at Blackstar who told me that the 'Doctor Z Airbreak' was very popular with their players, but at nearly £300, I am wondering if their is a more cost effective alternative that won't suck tone out of my valve experience.

cheers

Stef

An attenuator that don't suck tone ? If you find one, please let us know. The best you can hope is an attenuator that don't suck too much... Also, keep in mind that the cab and speakers greatly contribute to this "cranked" tone, and that something you just can't have at low volume.

This being said, weber attenuators are a bit cheaper, but I can't tell how well they'd work with your own amp.

[Brow]

I have a 100w Weber Mass with switchable Ohmage settings on it to match to any amp/cab and it does exactly what it says on the tin.

I won't lie and say it doesn't detract from the tone a bit, but it does the job it's designed to do and does it well.

[MrBump]

I had a Weber Mass 150 and it was great.  Bought it for my Orange, but the Orange died after using it... (fault of 1972 technology rather than attenuator though...)

[blue]

i have the same Weber Mass 100, switchable ohmage and a few tone tweaking bits and pieces.  it's the only attenuator i've used, so i can't comment on how it compares to others, but it is definately more affordable than others, is more versatile with it's ohmage switch, and i've been quite happy with the results.  of course it doesn't sound quite as good as the amp on it's own, but when you have no option but to reduce your volume levels, it's not a bad compromise.

[Gizmo]

I have a Dr Z brake lite. it was only £140. It uses same method but less complex just a 4 position switch.

If you go onto the Dr Z forum there is a really good demo that a subscriber made which shows the amp sound without attenuation and at each setting, but he increases the recorded volumes to the sames volumes you hear on the demo because the main issue is that when something is quieter it doesnt sound as good but when you level them out you can actually tell if it changes the tone or not.

I think from these clips and personal experience it hardly alters it and the main issue is purely not being as loud and the movement of air.

For me on my small tube amp i can turn the volume up a couple of notches and that means more harmonics & more saturation.

[Alex]

I hear the one from TUBE AMP DOCTOR sounds quite natural.

[Telerocker]

I think one of the best 

http://www.ultimateattenuator.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJmUMshxE2o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embKhhouNds&feature=related

[BigB]

I think one of the best 

http://www.ultimateattenuator.com/

Did you actually tried it ?

[Telerocker]

No, but I did hear it in the shop when a guy demonstrated this unit. Wicked thing.

[Dmoney]

i have a hotplate, but i find that just using the amp kind of quiet sounds better.

even at -4db the hotplate will take some top end.

ive seen clips of the faustine phantom, but i know nothing about it. just wanted to add that to the list.

[Alex]

I think the main problem is that the speaker coils sound differently - more open and brighter - when pushed. Most attenuators have bright switches to deal with that to some extent, but the problem is still there: attenuators work before the speaker.

[viking]

I think one of the best 

http://www.ultimateattenuator.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJmUMshxE2o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embKhhouNds&feature=related

  5OO Euros (normal version)and 625 Euros for the dual volume one ! :(  Air Brake is at about 375 Euros.

[hunter]

The UA and the Ho Attenuator both do reamping, which is nice, but it requires power (be careful with US versions) and in the end is a transistor amp. However they can be used for neat W/D setups which rules. Also you can ask Ho to build a version with an FX loop, so you don't have to use the loop of the amp - no tone suck.

The two passive ones that are hyped now and according to the US guys are of equal quality are the Alex and the Faustine. Faustine with switchable Ohms is 600 bucks and 6 months wait, Alex is available and 499$. You can find his contact and stock situation on thegearpage.com (search for Alex Attenuator).

If you believe the people on rig-talk and hugeracksinc (and usually they know their stuff), these play in a totally different league than the THD, Weber, Z et al

[Elliot]

I have a UA - and as Hunter says it is essentially a reamper, so it is different to the Dr Z Airbrake.  The trouble with passive attentuators like the Dr Z (I have a Brake Lite in my Blues Junior) is that anything about a 6db drop begins to sound wrong.  6db is nothing - an OD pedal boosts more than that.   

The UA is damn good - you can play at genuinely low levels and get a good whack of the amp's tone.