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Any experience with attenuators?

brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,739
edited June 2012 in Musicians and Gearheads
My ears are pretty damaged such that too much loudness ramps up my tinnitus quite a bit. This makes getting any crunchy or overdrive sounds out my electric guitars impossible. I'm told I can run my guitar through a Tube Screamer or similar distortion pedal and then run that through an attenuator into an amp to get over-driven sounds without the loud volume.

Anybody done this? Any suggestions? Any particular effects/brand name recommendations?

Thanks!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
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  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    Ah yes Attenuators. Well I'm sure MIG will step in and give the detailed response on multiple brands.

    The better ones that I've heard are from Weber and Dr. Z. I still think that no matter what they all color the tone some. The other thing to keep in mind is how much speaker response and break up affects tone.

    Is this for home, or playing out? What's the wattage of the amp? Speaker arrangement?

    http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm

    http://www.drzamps.com/products/z_air_brake.html

    Weber's site has a pretty good write up about attenuators.
    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

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  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 Posts: 23,170
    brianlux wrote:
    My ears are pretty damaged such that too much loudness ramps up my tinnitus quite a bit. This makes getting any crunchy or overdrive sounds out my electric guitars impossible. I'm told I can run my guitar through a Tube Screamer or similar distortion pedal and then run that through an attenuator into an amp to get over-driven sounds without the loud volume.

    Anybody done this? Any suggestions? Any particular effects/brand name recommendations?

    Thanks!
    i use a thd hotplate for practice and gigs. i have an old 1974 marshall that does not have a master volume. i jump the channels on the amp with one of them dimed to get the tubes nice and hot and the other one on like maybe 3 and it gives me great tone that i can play at home, in practice, or in big outdoor gigs. to get good distortion you have to have the tubes really cooking. the hotplate allows me to do just that, get them nice and hot at a desirable overall volume. it is basically a dummy load which cuts some of the output of the amp and makes it much easier to control volume. i use a couple of pedals in front of the amp to color my tone or thicken it some but i mostly use the distortion from my amp. if i did not have the hotplate i could not crank the volume to get the tubes hot because the amp gets waaay too loud before i get the desired distorted tone. i plug my guitars into a pedal board with a few pedals on it and them plug the board into the guitar input. the hotplate is plugged in in between the head and the speaker cab and that is how the amp is attenuated.

    for home use i set it at -16 db, for band practice and most small club gigs i set it at -12 db and for outdoor open air shows i set it at -8 db.

    my main problem with the hotplate is that the more you attenuate the more high end you lose. at -16 db my amp tone is muddy, but the hotplate has a treble and mid booster on it so that you can compensate for any high end you lose through attenuation. the drawback on that is i have my pedals set up a certain way to make that marshall sound good, but if i decide to use an amp with a master volume without the hotplate then i have to completely re-configure my pedal settings and then it is a mega pain in the ass to get them set up again for that marshall.

    i would go to the guitar store and actually try these attenuators out before you spend the money, because they are pricey. mine was about $320 or so, but it is a must have if you play a vintage non-master head. be sure that you get the one with the appropriate ohms, and if you are going to play a marshall half or full stack be sure to get the 16 ohm one.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,739
    Thanks guys. Gives me some ideas to work on. I may be putting the cart before the horse since I'm wanting a new amp. I've got an 80's Rivera Fender Deluxe Reverb II that's in great shape but even without an attenuator it has a real muddy sound- too much boom for my my tastes. I may just end up getting a little Fender champ for home use.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    I have a Weber mini Mass I've had for awhile. Same experience as above. Works great for attenuation but you lose at least perceived high end. There are plenty of Attenuators on the market these days that have EQ's to compensate for that now.

    Generally, not playing out right now I just use my master volume and pedals. It's a great solution for a non master volume amp and if you simply prefer your amps overdriven without the addition of pedals or preamps.

    You're pretty much limited by your budget these days.

    One Caveat. I've learned that you want to order your attenuatior for much more wattage than for the amp you plan to use it with.

    Example I ordered a 15 watt attenuator for a 15 watt amp, result, not enough attenuation really. I should have at least doubled the wattage I ordered.

    Given that this is the era of tiny tube amps, It may be a great idea to look for a nice low wattage amp.

    I ended up taking it off generally because it didn't sound the way I wanted it too and I had a good master volume anyway.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    Descent Attenuator article as well

    http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... spx?Page=1
    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

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  • DriftingByTheStormDriftingByTheStorm Posts: 8,684
    my 2cents

    would be take the money you'd spend on an attenuator and instead by a low wattage amp.

    there are plenty out there now a'days, and a good few in the under $250 range.

    Hell if you go low enough (like maybe 1watt tube) you may even to get away with using a BOOST pedal, instead of needing to attenuate.

    lolz.
    If I was to smile and I held out my hand
    If I opened it now would you not understand?
  • DriftingByTheStormDriftingByTheStorm Posts: 8,684
    brianlux wrote:
    Thanks guys. Gives me some ideas to work on. I may be putting the cart before the horse since I'm wanting a new amp. I've got an 80's Rivera Fender Deluxe Reverb II that's in great shape but even without an attenuator it has a real muddy sound- too much boom for my my tastes. I may just end up getting a little Fender champ for home use.

    this.

    answered your own question.

    don't think you are limited to just a champ though.

    there are ASSloads of "boutique" and big-brand boutique-esque low wattage amps now. tube, solid state, what ever other fancy modeling hungus-jungus ... whatever, there are like 20x more low watt amps now as there were 5 years ago even (when i started lookin at the suckers).
    If I was to smile and I held out my hand
    If I opened it now would you not understand?
  • JH228JH228 Posts: 38
    I have quite a bit of experience with this topic... :geek:

    There are several options, all depending on the amp you use.

    Small low wattage amp is one option.

    Attenuators are another option. These can work your amp hard and do somewhat colour the tone.

    Power scaling or Valve Voltage Reduction (VVR) circuitry is another option. These are smarter ways to attenuate an amp with less effects on your tone. Without sounding like a helicopter head...these two designs work on reducing internal circuitry voltages in order to effectively reduce the output of your amp. You can vary the output from 1 Watt to 50 Watts or whatever max output your amp can handle. Any good tech can add this circuit to your amp. I've added it to around 300 amps, one of my most popular amp mod requests.

    One more option that can be considered is adding a master volume to your amp if it does not already have one. There are multiple circuit designs or ways to add a master volume to an amp, they all sound different. You'll have to talk to an experienced amp tech to figure what's best for your amp.
    www.GlacierAmps.com
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 41,739
    I like the small boutique amp idea but, man, those little suckers are expensive!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • All Those YesterdaysAll Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    brianlux wrote:
    I like the small boutique amp idea but, man, those little suckers are expensive!

    always find a used valve junior head, and get a 1x12 cabinet, or a 1x10 cabinet.
    E. Lansing-98 Columbus-00,03,10 Detroit-00,03 (1&2),06, 14 Cleveland-03,06,10 Toledo-04, Grand Rapids-04,06 London-05, Toronto-05, Indianapolis 10, East Troy (1&2) 11, Chicago 13, Detroit 14

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