you need to look at the egenator amp line.
killer quality at a fair price.
i need to get my butt down your way and come see tab benoit.
i just now heard about this guy. bought 3 of his disks already.
man can that guy jam!

Hi way cool: there is a different route, reputedly much better than an attenuator and ideal for a Blues Junior. It is a Power Scaling module, invented by (famous in the amp world) Kevin O'Connor at London Power in Canada. Here's what it does:

http://www.mastertone-amplifiers.co.uk/ ... caling.htm

And here's where to get it if you want to fit the kit yourself:

http://www.londonpower.com/catalog/abou ... s_kits.php

Alternatively, London Power are licensing folks in many countries to install the device for you if you don't fancy wielding that soldering iron yourself. Contact London Power for more info on who and where.

The claim is that this gizmo allows you to adjust your amp from 100 percent right down to zero whilst maintaining its cranked sound, and without the supposed disadvantages of an attenuator.

Worth a look-see...

Cheers - C

At a guess I'd say wire the speakers in series with the attenuated speaker being first from the input socket. You'd really have to watch your impedances though. Not sure as I dont know the product.

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Hi Nick: did you see my post above? Your ears are at least as good as anyone's - I'd be fascinated to hear about it if you have any experience of that Scaling system...?

Cheers - C

ceri

reading your link now.

I have no personal experience - cos I run my amps at the levels nature designed them for. But for what it's worth the Power Scaling thing got rave reviews in the guitar press - "cranked amp tone at whisper quiet levels", was one write-up that I have in front of me at this moment.

Cheers - C

Ceri

I can tell you after trying a few different attenuators that all the no change in tone gumf that they come is just nonsense. A lot of people don't know how to use an attenuator. This from Weber's site is the best explanaition I can find-



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


What people mistake as tone suck [sic] is nothing more than the speaker not shifting as much air. Now some attenuator manufacturers are honest about how they compensate for this. E.g this-



Thats about all there is to it. A eq setup inside the attenuator. I dont know how they do it, a normal eq circuit couldnt handle the power involved.
Dr Z, THD, and just about everyone else use something very akin to that. Usually in the form of a preset eq setting activated by a switch.

That to my mind is far more tone altering than a couple of resistors dissipating power as heat.

Another thing is that people don't realize how much they play volume. If you've got 120db banging on your eardrums your going to play differently than if you had say (to be extreme) 10db (whisper). Your either going to love it or hate it. You will certainly play differently to either compensate or exploit those two situations. Personaly I love it so much I'm thinking of buying new amps for the band, just so I can add another 3 cabs and a head.

What I am considering as a experiment is to attenuate one of my marshalls down to 20watts thereabouts and run it through a 15watt speaker. I reckon that wouldn't sound much different to a 100watt speaker with 100watts running into it. Just a lot quieter.

I run my Marshall powerbrake (archaic basic thing) inbetween my head and 240watt cab. I keep the master volume around 12o'clock and the attenuator at around half power. Sounds fine to me.



(tuck yer chins in mate)

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i just read that a few moments ago.
honestly, i would expect a slight tonal change.
im sure i could work around it no probs.
some folks make it sound like its total sound
altering. i do like the doc Z one though.
build my own, im not comfortable with that.
i want something tested and warrantied.
who knows what i'll do at this point.
it would be nice to play some of my gear that
cant be used at home, at home.

That's such an important observation. No matter what the tone is doing it just don't sound the same at pocket radio sound levels. Might be nice - but not the same.


Keep us posted, please!

...What I'm not quite getting from the reviews is why this Power Scaling thing should be significantly better than an attenuator - though that's what they're claiming.

After all, by either route you are losing the element of a hard-driven speaker cone and, as you say, the moving air.

Perhaps putting your ear close to tiny, tiny speaker cones is the way to go? The doll's house half-stack!

Cheers - C

By speaker power scaling I suppose your still getting the attenuation of watts, but driving the speaker hard. Because you've lowered the power of the speaker.

They must have made some kind of stepped attenuator to match up to that, or you'd risk blowing the speaker. In effect it's what Ted Weber and Eurotubes have been saying all along. You gotta have that speaker operating like it was paired to a amp of a certain output. 30watt speaker for a 15watt amp, example.

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psst... nikinija.
I am kinda stupid.
What's the difference between using the volume control on the guitar and an attenuator like that weber?

rolling back the olume you dont get the full punch of your setup.
with the attenuator you get the full punch but at
very controlable volumes.

You can turn your amp up loud enough to get the breakup/drive of your tubes but at a low volume (using a attenuator). If you just turn down the volume of your amp you'll not get the natural tube breakup or distortion at low volume. Make any sense to you? Of course if you have a solid state amp you don't need it anyway jut a pedal.

It's all about getting them power amp valves cooking, yknow mate, them big ones round the back that glow yellow.

People think you only get power amp clip/drive at 8+ on the volume knob but it's not the truth. You can get a good bit of the power section driving at halfway up on the volume knob, if your pushing the eq and preamp gain (if the amp has it).
Ok if your amp has valve rectification your going to hear a difference between 8 and 10, but if like most of us you use diode rectification, theres not much difference.

If I had a am like Fhopkins's Twin, I'd get a attenuator.
If I had a modern fender or some peavey designs, It wouldnt be top of my buy list, but I'd get one.


Also if your going to use a attenuator, learn to bias your class A/B amps. Attenuators dont eat valves, but you will go through them quicker than if you weren't running the amp hard.

I bought a fabulous tool of this very nice Chinese Gent called Victor. It arrived in under a week and works fabulously.
Bias meter
He doesn't seem to have any 4 stage meters in at the moment, but the 2 stage is good enough for most modern amps.

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I used to use one of those Tom Sholtz Power Soak units. It works fine and does what it's supposed to do, but now I'd rather just crank a 5w or lower amp when wanting the natural overdriven sound.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!