NAttD!

[Ian Price]

Sounds like it will definitely be worthy of an experiment.

[dave_mc]

Yep, there'll be a difference.  Power Scaling down to tiny levels on its own gives a 'small' sound I've found.  Running it at say half, with an attenuator knocking some dB off at the back end, should work well.  Compared to just the volume control on my Dual Terror adding the attenuator gives a larger, rounder sound at the same overall volume level.

i didn't realise that either, but i guess that sorta makes sense. I know they always say running an attenuator to get you down to bedroom volumes kills your tone, and that powerscaling (or similar) is a better fix for that. But perhaps running powerscaling/VVR plus an attenuator together, so neither is doing massive amounts of attenuation, is the best option overall.

I've never messed with attenuators myself as my vintage-voiced amps are either already pretty low wattage or have VVR (or both). my higher wattage amps are higher gain, more modern things, so I figured (perhaps incorrectly) that there wasn't a massive need for an attenuator with them (especially since most attenuators are £100+ :lol: ).

:)

[JacksonRR]

Eminence also do those "flux density modulation" speakers that employ a mechanical change in the speaker to drop output level. So i'll raise you Dave with two of those, a Weber Mass, power scaling, THD Yellow Jackets and a PPMIV all sitting on top of 3 Grammas.

[Toe-Knee]

Eminence also do those "flux density modulation" speakers that employ a mechanical change in the speaker to drop output level. So i'll raise you Dave with two of those, a Weber Mass, power scaling, THD Yellow Jackets and a PPMIV all sitting on top of 3 Grammas.

Ive been speaking with Tom about these recently and he said they actually work really well.

But on max attenuation it makes the valve error lights on his infinium bugera come on which worried him.

[MrBump]

I had a Weber Mass 150 (I think) for my Orange.

It was great - but I did blow the Orange up using it.  I'm sure it's better with modern amps, but the Orange really didn't like.  For the brief time it worked though it sounded awesome!!!

 :D

[Toe-Knee]

I had a Weber Mass 150 (I think) for my Orange.

It was great - but I did blow the Orange up using it.  I'm sure it's better with modern amps, but the Orange really didn't like.  For the brief time it worked though it sounded awesome!!!

 :D

i love the recurring myth of attenuators damaging amps :D

The thing that actually damages it is the fact people run the amps close to or at full pelt with an attenuator.

If you were running the amp full on without it you would still end up with the exact same issues

[dave_mc]

Eminence also do those "flux density modulation" speakers that employ a mechanical change in the speaker to drop output level. So i'll raise you Dave with two of those, a Weber Mass, power scaling, THD Yellow Jackets and a PPMIV all sitting on top of 3 Grammas.

haha

they're really, really dear, though. If you consider that (certain attenuators, anyway) will work with all your amps, i'm not sure the speakers would be the best way to do it.

I mean... i guess you could use those speakers with all your amps, too. but then you're stuck to one speaker. With an attenuator you can use (certainly with the weber, anyway) pretty much any different speaker you like.

maybe the speakers work better than an attenuator, though :?

[Toe-Knee]

Eminence also do those "flux density modulation" speakers that employ a mechanical change in the speaker to drop output level. So i'll raise you Dave with two of those, a Weber Mass, power scaling, THD Yellow Jackets and a PPMIV all sitting on top of 3 Grammas.

haha

they're really, really dear, though. If you consider that (certain attenuators, anyway) will work with all your amps, i'm not sure the speakers would be the best way to do it.

I mean... i guess you could use those speakers with all your amps, too. but then you're stuck to one speaker. With an attenuator you can use (certainly with the weber, anyway) pretty much any different speaker you like.

maybe the speakers work better than an attenuator, though :?

From what ive heard they do.

[JDC]

Rather interested to see what results you get from this, I presume the speaker is still moving a far bit of air for the tonez ;)

[BigB]

I've been using this very same attenuator (the weber) with my HRDx for about two years now, no damage to the amp (but I'm NOT using it to get bedroom volume with the amp cranked up :lol:), works fine for "light" attenuation (-6 to -9db I'd say), eats a bit of the tone and dynamics yes, indeed (repeat after me: there's NO silver bullet), but the result is still way better than trying to get the same volume _without_ it (specially on fenderish circuits).  Very valuable tool at catalog price, and definitly a bargain at £80.

[Twinfan]

I forgot to say it was £80 posted, so around £75 for the unit itself.  I'm looking forward to trying it out tomorrow with the '65 Empire  :D

[Twinfan]

Rather interested to see what results you get from this, I presume the speaker is still moving a far bit of air for the tonez ;)

Not at TV volumes, no!  It's about letting the amp work just enough so it's not strangled.

[dave_mc]

From what ive heard they do.

ah :lol:

[MrBump]

I had a Weber Mass 150 (I think) for my Orange.

It was great - but I did blow the Orange up using it.  I'm sure it's better with modern amps, but the Orange really didn't like.  For the brief time it worked though it sounded awesome!!!

 :D

i love the recurring myth of attenuators damaging amps :D

The thing that actually damages it is the fact people run the amps close to or at full pelt with an attenuator.

If you were running the amp full on without it you would still end up with the exact same issues

Wasn't suggesting that the attenuator damaged the amp.  My orange is 40 years old, and not used to running at those volumes. 

[blue]

my Marshall is 43 years old, and nearly blew up my Weber Mass 100!! :)  there was smoke billowing out of it!  luckily we spotted it straight away and it seems to be fine.

it's a good attenuator, i'm very happy with it, but from that experience i would repeat Weber's advice that your attenuator should be rated at about twice the wattage of the amp.  i'll only be using it with 50 watters from now on :)