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Post subject: Anyone ever use a Hot Box?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:52 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
I'm thinking of getting one for the Delta Blues. Would be nice to record that breakup at a lower volume. I've never used one, so I just thought I'd ask about any pros and cons before making the purchase.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone ever use a Hot Box?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:54 pm
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Yea, but it gets really foggy in the winter, so my friends and I usually go to my shed or the woods.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone ever use a Hot Box?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 3:46 pm
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Badump Psshht..

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Post subject: Re: Anyone ever use a Hot Box?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:45 pm
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The real thing to do is get a real attenuator. These things are just volume boxes that go in the effects loop. A real attenuator like the THD Hotplate or Weber Mini Mass. They go between your amps output and speaker. That's really the only real way to get things cookin.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone ever use a Hot Box?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:12 pm
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Most attenuators colour the sound of your amp. Typically the more reduction you dial in, the more it colours your tone. The old Marshall Power-Brake was one of the worst ones for that. The small foot stomp ones are pretty bad as well because they mostly just cut the gain going into your preamp which pretty much defeats the purpose of trying to hear the roar of your amp without the sound pressure. You need to run the amp hard but limit the power it sends to your speaker.

63Supro mentioned the THD and the Weber. They both do a pretty good job.

The Rivera Rock Crusher is also good.

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Post subject: Re: Anyone ever use a Hot Box?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:00 pm
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Thanks for the insight. I think I'll probably wait a little on this idea. I'm going to take some time to experiment a little longer. I'm really finding out some cool things about the Delta.

The clean breakup is seriously great. I love it. As I was switching back and forth between the two channels, I noticed a volume drop with the overdrive channel. You literally have to push the "Post" knob to 10 to get the volume to where 6-7 is on the clean channel.

That works in my favor. So I started going through my preamp tubes looking for a tube that could match the clarity and sonic quality of the clean. I went through about 10 different NOS brands and found that a GE long plate gets me dangerously close. USA NOS tubes keep the bass tones in tact, and the highs pushing through in the same manner.

Only the GE was able to keep the clarity of that clean edge that the clean channel preserves while breaking up. Now I can take the overdrive channel, reduce the post volume, and adjust the pre volume to the same sweet spot before it goes into total clipping. When I switch back and forth, they sound almost identical, just a very slight difference sonically, but I get a significant drop in db with the overdrive channel.

The result so far: a very similar sound to the clean breakup in the overdrive channel at a lower volume. I can have a clean channel, power tube crunch in the overdrive, and use a pedal in the clean for distortion solos (or an overdrive pedal in the overdrive channel..Or both) And they can all be balanced volume-wise.

It's a lot of experimentation, but I'm really digging this amp the more I get into it.

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