Modern attenuators: HELP!!!!!

Fortheloveofguitar

It’s been a few years since I’ve had attenuators but I have a 100w Marshall Slash head arriving this week so need to tame the beast 

Back in the day I tried:
THD Hotplate
Tube amp Doctor
And one of the Fryette PS first gen

All of which were crap and tone suck city. So much tech has come on the market since then that I’m already lost as to what to get, passive, reactive, non binary etc etc 

Advise would be greatly appreciated. Just to add that I only need it for attenuation so don’t need all the line out, fx loops etc. Though I would consider such a device if it truly excelled in the attenuation department

Many thanks 

tekbow

What's your budget?

The current thing is Reactive loads sending a line level signal into a FRFR/Hifi/wideband/whatever power amp.

For that, the big names are Two-notes, Torpedo Reload, The Fryette Powerstation (which version is current) and the Boss Waza TAE in order of increasing price and Feature set.

I've got the Torpedo, think its great if you just want to attenuate. But I'd not say any of the above is better than the other In terms of sound.

Then there's Reactive loads which pass through signal to the speakers like the Rivera Rockcrusher.

My only real issue with those types are stepped attenuation.

With a 100w head i'd be looking at a load the can handle 150w RMS minimum.

Have to say though, I mostly go through IR's in the DAW or a hardware IR Loader (CAB-M in my case) and into monitors these days.

Fortheloveofguitar

tekbow said:

What's your budget?

The current thing is Reactive loads sending a line level signal into a FRFR/Hifi/wideband/whatever power amp.

For that, the big names are Two-notes, Torpedo Reload, The Fryette Powerstation (which version is current) and the Boss Waza TAE in order of increasing price and Feature set.

I've got the Torpedo, think its great if you just want to attenuate. But I'd not say any of the above is better than the other In terms of sound.

Then there's Reactive loads which pass through signal to the speakers like the Rivera Rockcrusher.

My only real issue with those types are stepped attenuation.

With a 100w head i'd be looking at a load the can handle 150w RMS minimum.

Have to say though, I mostly go through IR's in the DAW or a hardware IR Loader (CAB-M in my case) and into monitors these days.

Thanks for your comment

Budget wise there is no set limit it’s whatever is best for the job but I won’t use it for anything other than attenuation 

I love the amp and cab in the room tone. Really don’t like all the IR loaders through monitors etc. Just sound too hifi for me. Need that punch of a real cab 

tekbow

I'd say the Rockcrusher or Torpedo Reload then. I think the Rockcrusher is something Mad like 300w.

I believe @ICBM ; has some views regarding reactive attenuators with certain types of amps that would be worth hearing.

Also there's the power brake, but no idea if the Slash sig you have is one of the Amps it sounds optimal with.

Fortheloveofguitar

tekbow said:

I'd say the Rockcrusher or Torpedo Reload then. I think the Rockcrusher is something Mad like 300w.

I believe @ICBM ; has some views regarding reactive attenuators with certain types of amps that would be worth hearing.

Also there's the power brake, but no idea if the Slash sig you have is one of the Amps it sounds optimal with.

Good idea in asking @ICBM

Its a Marshall Slash 2555SL model so interested to hear what you think about passive or active with this particular amp and any other input you may have 

Sassafras

I've never really found attenuators suck tone. Amp EQ can compensate for lost frequencies.
The main problem with attenuators is they suck volume.
Nothing makes up for a loud amp.

ICBM

The Marshall Powerbrake is still the one I would go for with any Marshall amp. I haven’t tried most of the new ones but the Marshall works on a different principle to any of the others, including all the new ones as far as I know.

It’s very frustrating that they stopped making it - apparently it was too expensive to produce, but given that there’s nothing else like it on the market they could have just put the price up. Luckily they’re not too rare or expensive second hand.

It doesn’t have any other features that more modern ones do, it’s just a straight attenuator - although it can actually be used as a dummy load with a line out, if you need that... set it to one click above zero and use the speaker output.

Fortheloveofguitar

ICBM said:

The Marshall Powerbrake is still the one I would go for with any Marshall amp. I haven’t tried most of the new ones but the Marshall works on a different principle to any of the others, including all the new ones as far as I know.

It’s very frustrating that they stopped making it - apparently it was too expensive to produce, but given that there’s nothing else like it on the market they could have just put the price up. Luckily they’re not too rare or expensive second hand.

It doesn’t have any other features that more modern ones do, it’s just a straight attenuator - although it can actually be used as a dummy load with a line out, if you need that... set it to one click above zero and use the speaker output.

Thanks for that much appreciated 

Typical that I can’t find a Power brake for love nor money at the moment though 

rze99

Sassafras said:

I've never really found attenuators suck tone. Amp EQ can compensate for lost frequencies.
The main problem with attenuators is they suck volume.
Nothing makes up for a loud amp.

This is my experience too. 

If you are using attenuators with a band to get the right level of breakup at band volume with the kit you have. I use Hotplates and Weber. Noel Gallagher I see still uses them with his HiWatts live. They work well.  

If you expect to capture that whole experience of sound pressure and the speaker feedback you are not going to get it because the physics are different. 

I’ve used them for recording and they sound great you just need an EQ compensation where needed. 

You have to set your expectations differently to the loud amp experience.

Danny1969

ICBM said:

The Marshall Powerbrake is still the one I would go for with any Marshall amp. I haven’t tried most of the new ones but the Marshall works on a different principle to any of the others, including all the new ones as far as I know.

It’s very frustrating that they stopped making it - apparently it was too expensive to produce, but given that there’s nothing else like it on the market they could have just put the price up. Luckily they’re not too rare or expensive second hand.

It doesn’t have any other features that more modern ones do, it’s just a straight attenuator - although it can actually be used as a dummy load with a line out, if you need that... set it to one click above zero and use the speaker output.

What's inside one. I've repaired a couple of the Fryette load box's with all the outs and switchs but never seen the inside of a Powerbrake. In the very early nineties I used my own attenuator but that was just a load of 25 watt wirewound resistors bolted to a piece of alloy. I'm guessing the Powerbrake gives a reactive load comparable to a real speaker ?

adamino

ICBM said:

The Marshall Powerbrake is still the one I would go for with any Marshall amp. I haven’t tried most of the new ones but the Marshall works on a different principle to any of the others, including all the new ones as far as I know.

It’s very frustrating that they stopped making it - apparently it was too expensive to produce, but given that there’s nothing else like it on the market they could have just put the price up. Luckily they’re not too rare or expensive second hand.

It doesn’t have any other features that more modern ones do, it’s just a straight attenuator - although it can actually be used as a dummy load with a line out, if you need that... set it to one click above zero and use the speaker output.

Have you recorded using the power breaks speaker out into an audio interface using IR's?

fretmeister

Weber.

I used one with a mini JCM800 and it was ace.

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

What's inside one. I've repaired a couple of the Fryette load box's with all the outs and switchs but never seen the inside of a Powerbrake. In the very early nineties I used my own attenuator but that was just a load of 25 watt wirewound resistors bolted to a piece of alloy. I'm guessing the Powerbrake gives a reactive load comparable to a real speaker ?

It's a large multi-tap auto-transformer which distributes the power between the speaker and a load resistor. The key is the transformer - it gives it the same sort of impedance curve as a real speaker, unlike any other attenuator I know of, even the 'reactive' ones. If anything the Powerbrake is slightly exaggerated - the curve rises a bit too steeply at the upper frequency end, which is the opposite of any other as far as I know.

adamino said:

Have you recorded using the power breaks speaker out into an audio interface using IR's?

No, but I have used one with analogue EQ into a recording desk, which sounded very good.

NB - it's PowerBRAKE, not Power "break" . As in slowing something down, not wrecking it .

adamino

Thanks Mate
Have a brake have a Kit-Kat for the valuable information 

russpm

I’ve got a Fayetteville Power Station V2 arriving tomorrow so will let you know how it sounds 

newi123

I have a Boss TAE I used with a 1987x and it works well - but I`m only using it as its a non master amp. Doesn`t the Slash head have a decent master on there? If it does you may find that works just aswell as a decent attenuator route. 

Fortheloveofguitar

newi123 said:

I have a Boss TAE I used with a 1987x and it works well - but I`m only using it as its a non master amp. Doesn`t the Slash head have a decent master on there? If it does you may find that works just aswell as a decent attenuator route. 

The more recent AFD has adjustable power reduction on it

This one is the 1996 Slash Sig head. It does have an output master but needs to be wound up to 6-7 to get it sounding good. So that’s blow the windows out loud lol 

Fortheloveofguitar

It’s looking like I may pull the trigger on the Two Notes Torpedo reload 

Finding a lot in threads online from Marshall users saying it works well with them 

russpm

The Fryette Power Station arrived this morning. Just had an hour messing with it on a couple of amps and it sounds superb and transparent to my ear. Very impressed so far. 

Fortheloveofguitar

russpm said:

The Fryette Power Station arrived this morning. Just had an hour messing with it on a couple of amps and it sounds superb and transparent to my ear. Very impressed so far. 

I had the Power station version one but unfortunately it didn’t work for my rig 

I’ve gone for the Torpedo reload. Bought online so I can send it back if it’s no good. Got everything crossed it’ll do the job 

russpm

Fortheloveofguitar said:

russpm said:

The Fryette Power Station arrived this morning. Just had an hour messing with it on a couple of amps and it sounds superb and transparent to my ear. Very impressed so far. 

I had the Power station version one but unfortunately it didn’t work for my rig 

I’ve gone for the Torpedo reload. Bought online so I can send it back if it’s no good. Got everything crossed it’ll do the job 

Hope it works out for you mate, let us know!!