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Post subject: Amp Attenuators
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:03 pm
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I am looking for a good quality attenuator. I haven't been around any in live situations to have real experience. Advice from people who own one would help a lot. I like Weber products very much & their attenuator looks pretty comprehensive. Thanks.


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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:10 pm
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I like Weber myself as well. Using the mini-mass right now. Does the work and does not break the bank (cheaper than hotplates), although I must admit it does suck a bit of the color. In all, the neighbors and I appreciate it the Weber.


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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:26 pm
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I bought an older mini mass (without the treble boost) and it does the job well. As you said, it's versatile (4, 8, 16 ohms) and CHEAP. I got mine for under $50 and the newer minis with the treble boost can be had for around $55-75 (for the 50 watt versions). Considering other attenuators are usually ohm specific and 2-3 times as much, the Webers aren't a bad deal. As long as you plan to use it for knocking off just a few dbs and not bringing your cranked amp down to whisper volumes, I'm sure you'll be pleased.

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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:34 pm
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I have the treble boost on mine at it was $50 if I remember correctly. I dont always turn mine on because I use a 5W amp but if I play at night I turn the Weber to 8 and keep the amp at 8, the sound is very respectable.


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Post subject: Attenuators
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:45 pm
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It must be serendipity that I'm getting so much helpful advice at this hour. I don't want to use the "B Word" (female dog)...but my horribly unhappy neighbor across the stairs just finished asking me if this electric guitar noise was 'something new'. What a compliment! I've been playing 45 years. A letter to my landlord is next. anyhow, thanks to all 3 of you for the advice. I really didn't want to consider a "hot plate" at their prices. Even if they are in 29 pretty colors.


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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:48 pm
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F...ing neighbors. They're killing our creativity :)


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Post subject: Re: Attenuators
Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:24 pm
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pdyckman wrote:
It must be serendipity that I'm getting so much helpful advice at this hour. I don't want to use the "B Word" (female dog)...but my horribly unhappy neighbor across the stairs just finished asking me if this electric guitar noise was 'something new'. What a compliment! I've been playing 45 years. A letter to my landlord is next. anyhow, thanks to all 3 of you for the advice. I really didn't want to consider a "hot plate" at their prices. Even if they are in 29 pretty colors.


From your original post, I thought that you were planning on using an attenuator for live settings, but it appears that you might be trying to play quiet for your neighbors. If that's the case, you'd probably be more satisfied with a quality overdrive/distortion pedal. I only use my attenuator to take the volume down a few notches. If I want bedroom levels, I much prefer my pedals.

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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:25 pm
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Yep, it the Weber Mini Mass for me too! It tames my Hot Rod Deluxe quite nicely.

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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:47 pm
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If you could find an old Tim Scholtz(of Boston fame)Power Soak you'd have a great attenuater as they didn't affect the tone at all as heard on the Boston recordings.They gave full volume response at living room levels.Power Soaks come up on ebay from time to time for a decent price.

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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 6:49 pm
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That's Tom Scholz from Boston. I had one of his Rockman things that I got as a gift many moons ago and it sounded like arse. I sent it back, It was real Kazoo tone generator. :wink: I'd go Weber. I've never heard an attenuator that didn't do something to the tone. You just have to adjust the tone controls for it.


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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:45 am
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Very happy with my Dr. Z Brake Lite Attenuator in my Bandmaster. It's good to 40-50 watts, after which you need their Air Brake. Haven't noticed a dip in tone.

Am loving the built-in attenuator in my Dr. Z Mini Z head - you can have the amp on 11, sounding like it's melting down, but be almost able to talk over it.

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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:24 am
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I've heard good things about the DR. Z Air brake (sp) among some of his other stuff. 8)

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

http://drzamps.com/products/brake_lite.html


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Post subject: Attenuators, distortion pedals,
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:17 am
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I want an attenuator for gigs as well as my apartment. I did some reading about attenuators. I learned a lot in a short read. One thing that I had not thought about was that an attenuator goes between the amp output and speaker. Since it's ahead of the speaker you won't get the speaker's distortion'. I've been wanting to learn more about how tube amps work, so I'm going to find a little one watt DIY kit. I took another good look at Weber's attenuators and they are reasonable.


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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:42 am
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I too have been reading positive reviews of Dr. Z's rig,reviews have said that it brings out the distorted overdriven tones of the speakers at low volumes.If that's the case then it would have acheived it's purpose.Forgive my To(i)m Sholtz spelling error I knew the difference but accidently hit the adjacent i key.

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Post subject: Dr. Z's attenuators.
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:05 pm
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Thanks for the Dr. Z lead on attenuators. I was going to call Dr. Z a boutique amp. Before I could type that out, I realized that I throw the phrase "boutique amp" around a lot. There are so many amp builders out there now that I'm not sure anymore. What qualifies an amp to be "a boutique amp'? Is there a middle ground? Like Mesa Engineering for instance? As far as spelling mistakes are concerned: I spend more time editing a post than the typing of it in the first place.


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