Attenuators

[Big Bad Bill]

2. You said that your 5150 sounded exactly the same at high and low volumes, but you were wearing earplugs. If you were wearing earplugs, you weren't being affected by the Fletcher/Munson curves, so the tone you heard is inacurrate -- the sound everyone else heard was different than the sound you heard.

I acknowledge that the use of earplugs, even my expensive custom ones with 'filters' etc will alter the perceived sound of my amp. The point is I suppose, why damage ones hearing for what are actually only small differences in the perception of sound from an amp as purported by hearing damaged artists producers etc? To say the sound is inaccurate totally negates the point that sound depends on so many variables (settings, valve types, cab type, room size, shape, reflectivity, shape and position of your ears, your age, the amount of hearing damage you have not to mention braining wiring etc) that its impossible for anyone to hear the map in the same way and so trying to achieve favourite CD-like tones with an attenuator is pretty futile. Just enjoy your amps own sound in the circumstances its in.

[boswell]

When me and BBB tried a THD Hotplate on his 5150 neither of us were wearing ear plugs, on the -12 & -16dB settings (ie. those which brought it down to bedroom levels) the tone was awful, a harsh grating tone sounding nothing like the "fully cranked" tone. At lesser attenuation it was fine meaning you could have the amp turned up full at smaller venues without the hotplate colouring the tone.

The Hotplate is useless at bedroom levels!

The real acid test involved cranking the 5150 and comparing it with the bedroom practice level, surprisingly to the pair of us (still without ear plugs) there was little if any difference.

The only real difference I've ever noticed on my own amps betweeen bedroom level and cranked up is that the treble/mids often needs a slight reduction at volume and increasing at lower levels, however when playing with a band I've often left the treble/mids high to help cut through.

[Jeries]

my boogie road king at home i've never put past 2... and i've never put it past 3-4 at a gig

someday i'll see what it actually can do

[Kremlin]

Like I said, it varies drastically amp-to-amp. Perhaps your 5150 sounds more or less the same at 7 or at 2. Most tube amps don't. Don't assume that because the tonal differences at high and low volumes for your amplifier indicate that the tonal differences for other amps will be similarly small.

My Mesa Mark IV and my Rivera? Night and day. Same goes for the Bogner Ecstasy and pretty much every Fender amp I've ever played. It's not a subtle change at all, it's pretty drastic when that volume knob gets to a certain point.

I'd second your suggestion to wear earplugs though. I have a set of etymotics earplugs that are supposed to be "transparent" (they're not, but they're better than the foam bullets you get at the drug store) and would suggest anyone playing at high volumes to do the same. I've fiddled with a THD hotplate before and did find that at the -16db setting it colored the tone a lot, and not in a good way...

I'm looking into better attenuators like the Ultimate Attenuator and the Webers. Problem is, I'm skeptical that my cabinet's SPEAKER will sound good at low volumes.

[Patill]

The Webers are really great. Like boswell said, I have the same experiences with a HotPlate. Harsh and completely f*cked up the tone was.

The Webers are completely diffrent. If you crank your amp you really get into that area where you want your sound to be, even at low volumes. But it does of course get even better if you turn the attenuator a little bit above bedroom levels . But you don´t have to break the walls...

[Stephen Brown]

Turn it up. If you don't get a brick through your window within a month your playing well.

[bucketbot]

Turn it up. If you don't get a brick through your window within a month your playing well.

Must be doing OK then...
No attenuator.
3 x 100W Carvin Tube amps.

No bricks so far!

[Patill]

No bricks so far!

no windows ?

[Stephen Brown]

or.....




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESOrSKGojtg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.rivera.com/products/silentsi ... sister.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Patill]

those things are still too loud.

I also think that´s the reason why they don´t demonstrate it in the "product video". As long as I didn´t overlook a demonstration video.

[notavirtuoso]

I can see it being good for live performances in a church like he said in the video but I'd rather spend the money to build a small sound proof room within a room than use that to record.

[teokiatuan]

OK so the amp is in and as expected is friggin loud!

Right now i'm thinking either an attenuator, or a Master Volume like here http://www.carvinguitars.com/bbs/viewto ... 350eb079fb ...hmm

[Big Bad Bill]

Turn it up. If you don't get a brick through your window within a month your playing well.

My neighbours used to throw bricks through my window when I played, but I assumed it was so they could hear me better.

[Patill]

OK so the amp is in and as expected is friggin loud!

Right now i'm thinking either an attenuator, or a Master Volume like here http://www.carvinguitars.com/bbs/viewto ... 350eb079fb ...hmm

I wouldn´t put an extra hole into the amp and if you aren´t familiar with soldering I wouldn´t do that either. Plus, what if something goes wrong and you have hissing in your amp then? You can screw up everything very easily .

And you also can use an attenuator with another amp, so I´d go with that.

[bucketbot]

OK so the amp is in and as expected is friggin loud!

Right now i'm thinking either an attenuator, or a Master Volume like here http://www.carvinguitars.com/bbs/viewto ... 350eb079fb ...hmm

I wouldn´t put an extra hole into the amp and if you aren´t familiar with soldering I wouldn´t do that either. Plus, what if something goes wrong and you have hissing in your amp then? You can screw up everything very easily .

And you also can use an attenuator with another amp, so I´d go with that.

Disagree completely.
The Mod is very easy to do with moderate soldering ability.
It produces no added noise whatsoever & makes the amp more versatile.
What's more it's completely reversible if you don't like the result.

Also the extra Knob looks cool IMO!
If you wish you could easily mount it at the back of the amp to avoid changing the look of the front.