questions about attenuators

gimmesometruth27

i am in the market for a power attenuator for a 1974 marshall non-master volume superlead head that i picked up a few weeks ago. i have been running it through a 1960 av cab and occasionally through a stack of 1960 av and bv cabs.

my problem is the amp is so loud and the volume is so touchy, either it is off or its too loud with the slightest tweak of the volume knobs. anything over 1 on the volume knob and it is almost unbearable, and i usually play my amps LOUD....with alot of power tube saturation.

i have been looking into power attenuators and was looking at the thd hotplate. the problem is that no guitar shops in my area carry any attenuators so i would have to buy online without trying one out. the problem i am finding with the hotplates is they come in load specific models only. i would have to get a 16 ohm hotplate to run a half stack at 16 ohms. if i ran these in a full stack i believe i would have to buy one for 8 ohms, correct?? i was wondering if anyone has experience with attenuatiors and can you possibly share your experiences and any advice/recommendations in this thread. thanks!!

Pacomc79

http://www.thdelectronics.com/pdf/HP%20Manual%20060405.pdf

this should help. If that dosen't explain it email Andy Marshall

info@thdelectronics.com


look into a weber z matcher while you're at it.

https://taweber.powweb.com/store/zmatch.htm


oh and just for giggles in your research go to http://www.londonpower.com and read up on some of kevin's ideas.

http://www.londonpower.com/pskinfo.htm

power scaling will interest you.

gimmesometruth27

thanks paco. i'll email that guy to see which model of hotplate i would need. ideally one that will allow me to run halfstack for smaller clubs and fullstack for bigger clubs.

MLC2006

I have one of those Omnisonic volume things off ebay for about $15. I have used it for about 2 years now and it works great, though I don't play in bands or anything. it allows you to crank the amp's volume and drive as loud as you want and control the overall volume coming out with the knob on the box. it will work on any amp that has a straight line effects loop. sure it may not work as well as the THD box, but it's a lot cheaper.

gimmesometruth27

i was looking at those but unfortunately my amp does not have an effects loop.

so those work pretty well in amps with effects loops though? i have heard that from others that i know but when i saw the price i was a little concerned that something so inexpensive might damage an amp.

who's_pearljam?

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i was looking at those but unfortunately my amp does not have an effects loop.

so those work pretty well in amps with effects loops though? i have heard that from others that i know but when i saw the price i was a little concerned that something so inexpensive might damage an amp.

Those Omnisonic things are actually just a volume control. They go between the preamp and power tubes. They don't attenuate the main power tubes, which is what you want.
An attenuator is soaking up some of the power from between the head and the speakers either via capacitors or a motor or a fake speaker. If you were to just put a volume control between the head an speakers and turn it down,


Take pictures! Because it'll be smokin' before it blows up!

I've gone to smaller amps, but one friend who still lugs around his 100 watter is using this:
https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/mass.htm

$225 but if you're fussy about your sound, you can tweak the EQ. Attenuating will generally take out some of the treble. THe more you quiet the amp, the more treble you lose, so you probably want something with a treble boost on it to equalize.