Power Attenuator

[awesomeguy666]

I plan to be buying a new amp soon, and I've all but decided to get a Peavey 6505+ 1x12 Combo. I play mainly thrash metal, but I need to be able to get the amp to perform well at low volumes. Therefore, I'm looking into buying an attenuator with it. Any recommendations about specific attenuators that would suit my amp and style?
Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question; I know absolutely nothing about attenuators.
Thanks for your help.

[Twinfan]

The THD Hotplate is a good safe bet  :)

[Brow]

When I was in the market for an attenuator I went for the 100w Weber Mass as it has enough power handling, but it is also impedence/ohmage switchable which means I can use it with any of my amps or cabs.

[Alex]

Attenuators, are in my experience, normally are not a solution for bedroom sound levels. They are more a solution to pub gig volume levels.

Bedroom sound levels are mostly domain of good/powerful preamps (e.g. the 6505 you're looking at) and a suitable speaker choice. I use a small Blackstar 10" cab at home, which does the job well, but which I would never use in a live situation.

[Telerocker]

Rivera has a good one. One of the best is the Ultimate attenuator. Pricey though.

[darkbluemurder]

The 6505 gets most of its tone from the preamp. The power amp does not saturate much if at all so an attentuator seems wasted money in this instance.

Cheers Stephan

[dave_mc]

The 6505 gets most of its tone from the preamp. The power amp does not saturate much if at all so an attentuator seems wasted money in this instance.

Cheers Stephan

+1

also, from what i hear (haven't tried them), as alex said, attenuators aren't really for getting down to whisper volumes.

Just get an overdrive pedal. They help a lot with lower volume tones, in my experience.

[awesomeguy666]

I want to make one thing clear: I just want to be able to turn the amp up to about 4 or 5 so that the tubes can get the best sound out. I'm not looking to turn it up above that.

[stonevibe]

I would second what has been said above. I've owned a few Plexi type amps which get their distortion from power tubes and then it makes sense in a gig environment. or you go deaf and get kicked out the pub.

But for this type of amp and bedroom volumes it doesn't really work. As has been mentioned the tone comes from the preamp and an attenuator won't get you to a safe home levels output.

I'd go overdrive pedal and Master volume as low as it'll go.

[awesomeguy666]

Any recommendations on overdrive pedals? I was thinking the Wampler Triple Wreck.

[stonevibe]

I use a Klon myself, but you'll probably be fine with something like a tubescreamer type unit or an SD-1 type pedal.

[dave_mc]

I want to make one thing clear: I just want to be able to turn the amp up to about 4 or 5 so that the tubes can get the best sound out. I'm not looking to turn it up above that.

that's pretty much full volume :lol:

nah not a triple wreck, that's a distortion pedal (and a high gain one at that).

You want something along the lines of a tubescreamer- maybe a tonerider american od or joyo vintage overdrive (i don't see much point in paying £180 for teh ibanez one when those others are basically the exact same thing, or at least close enough when used as a boost).