Re Weber Mini Mass

surfguy13

Just bought this astonishingly good unit from Modernist last week and have been blown away.  I really didn't expect a great deal as I have had several attenuators over the last 20 odd years including a Power Brake and an Ultimate.  Most of the units I've owned or used have been used in conjunction with 50 or 100 watt heads and just haven't been impressed at all.  Could be down to me, I don't know, but I really did persevere and eventually gave up.

This Mini Mass is a 25 watt version so a smaller unit with less capacity which is what I was after as I wanted to use it with a '72 Marshall PA 20.  Now these aren't loud amps for a JMP but as I run them flat out and use the volume on the guitar I thought it would be nice to be able to take the top 10% off.  Spent a few hours with the unit today and it is absolutely brilliant.....it's almost impossible to tell that there's an attenuator in the circuit.  OK, so I wasn't winding it right down, maybe between 10 and 20% tops.  With the flick of a switch on the front of the unit you can flip between normal (on) and bypass so it's easy to A/B the attenuated sound and the 'real' sound. 

Also, there's a nice 3 or 6 DB treble boost located on the front of the unit which is also excellent.....shame they didn't have the boost on a dial in basis rather than switchable fixed settings but it's a really handy option for a little kick.  Shame it's not foot-switchable.

If the 50/100 watt Weber units are as good as this then I reckon I need to get another.  Anyone had/or have a 50 or 100 watt Weber attenuator?  If so be interested to know how it fares..... 

JohnPerry

yes, I have, and had the same experience. They are great. The Motherload Elemental is even truer to your original tone and does a lot more stuff but admittedly for a hell of a lot more money 

Aidanspaghetti

I have a mini mass also but I was sure it was a 50w model I had? (Black)

I use it on a 35-40w Matchless Chieftain and like yourself, find it fantastic.

I really only knock it back a few turns (Maybe about 8 on the dial) but it is very very cool.

Ive a 50w JMP incoming so think i'll have to move up the wattage ladder and buy another one

Also interested in hearing some of the responses

hywelg

JohnPerry said:

The Motherload Elemental is even truer to your original tone and does a lot more stuff but admittedly for a hell of a lot more money 

Been interested in those for a while. They only attenuate by 50% though don't they?

ICBM

I didn't like the Minimass I tried - but attenuators are quite a personal thing, and also very amp-sensitive... possibly quite 'sound sensitive' in that they seem to respond differently depending on how you set the amp.

I like the Marshall Powerbrake and Sequis Motherload Elemental best. I did like the Hotplate as well with my own amps, but it seemed more unpredictable with some others.

Be aware that some amps - including 50W Marshalls - put out a *lot* more that their rated power when they're fully cranked, and you may need an attenuator rated for 100W rather than 50 if you're going to really thrash it.

crunchman

Agree it's very amp dependent.  I've got a Minimass, and it works great with some amps, and really does not work with others.  To be honest I don't use it much now.  My main amp has the power scaling that drops the voltage to the power valves so I don't need the attenuator with that.

JohnPerry

hywelg said:

JohnPerry said:

The Motherload Elemental is even truer to your original tone and does a lot more stuff but admittedly for a hell of a lot more money 

Been interested in those for a while. They only attenuate by 50% though don't they?

No. I can completely silence my amp. The motherload is designed for you to record a cranked amp at zero volume, directly from its DI output. Must say i haven't had stellar results recording with it, well not yet, but that may be my own incompetence. It's a fabulous attenuator

ecc83

The general opinion seems to be that Power Brakes (as I prefer to call them) work best when they insert a relatively small level of attenuation. Obviously there are exceptions, the Mother Load is capable of a 100% power chop and still sound great it seems, but then so it should at that price! 

Also heed ICBM's warning about power levels, a good many valve amps can easily put out 50% above rated power and some 100% or more.

Dave.

surfguy13

Yup, I agree.  The MIni Mass works really well when knocking it back a notch or two but I wouldn't wind it right down, that's where you start loosing tone, sound quality etc.  I found that the Power Brake just sucked all the tone out of the amp....however, that was being used with an old early 60s Tremolux head so maybe the two weren't that compatible. 

The big advantage for me with this unit is that it offers a 3 or 6 db boost and that really does clean things up on the neck pickup.  These little PA20s kick out a reasonable volume when jumpered and running hot but as with many EL84 amps it can get a bit slushy on the neck, particularly with humbuckers and P90s.  I found that kicking in the 3db boost just took the edge off and the 6db gave it a bit of brightness. 

ICBM

surfguy13 said:

I found that the Power Brake just sucked all the tone out of the amp....however, that was being used with an old early 60s Tremolux head so maybe the two weren't that compatible.

Yes. I found the Hotplate worked much better with Fender-type (BF-type, anyway) amps. The Powerbrake works best with (not surprisingly) Marshall-style amps.

I think it must be to do with various complex factors in the power stages that make them less than 'perfect' (all valve amp output sections are very far from perfect) and which then react in slightly different ways with the change in damping and speaker feedback to the amp.

I also think that one of the big reasons attenuators seem to kill the tone below a certain setting is the effect they have on the *speaker*, rather than the amp - from the point of view of the amp, the load doesn't look much different at any setting below about -6dB, so it doesn't seem to make sense that the attenuator should sound OK at -6dB but not at -12dB for example. But the speaker is being far more heavily damped at -12dB than -6, and even more so at really low settings. (The Powerbrake seems to have a big 'step change' between the -18dB and -21dB settings for example.)

There's really just as much experimentation to do with attenuators as there is with speakers, to find the right one for a particular amp (or speakers).

Van_Hayden

Had a couple of 100w Mass attenuators. Not bad on fenders no good at all on Marshall amps. Bass was flabby.

fretmeister

Van_Hayden said:

Had a couple of 100w Mass attenuators. Not bad on fenders no good at all on Marshall amps. Bass was flabby.

+1. Great on fenders. Pants on Marshall's and Mesa.