Yeah, another attenuator recommendation thread…
I recently picked up a Fender ‘65 Princeton Reverb. I love it, the only issue being that I can’t really go past 2-3 on the volume without it being louder than I’d like at home. I’d like to get it to 4-5 as I’ve found that gives me the little bit of breakup I want, but I’d like it to be only as loud as 2-3 on the dial.
I understand that attenuation is going to affect the tone, but I’d like something that does so as little as possible. A bit of research has told me that reactive attenuators apparently yield the best results over resistive, but that it might not be so important on lower powered amps. Is this true?
I’m not really interested in any other features for silent recording or playing through headphones etc., I just need attenuation.
Budget wise I don’t want to be going too far over £200 (but may consider going further for something that will do what I want exceptionally). New or used is fine.
Comments
Stupidly I sold mine, but I'd have one again if I ever buy another valve amp.
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
I say that because I had to do some maintenance on my very expensive, hand-wired, point to point Carr amp that has an attenuator. When I opened it up I was surprised to find an l-pad - and it has always been superb.
https://www.instagram.com/insta.guitarstuff/
The Harley Benton attenuator is supposed to be great for the money, too.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Yeah I liked the look of the Palmer PDI-06 and also the Harley Benton PA-250. I’ll look their way again if the Weber doesn’t work out.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've used attenuator son all my valve amps sine the 90s. I have Weber and THD Hot Plate. They both do a very good job especially for recording. Live, they are very useful to get the right breakup at the audible volume you want. Great for highly controlled stages. Of course, you miss the sheet physics of unrestrained volume but, hey, that's the trade off.
Obviously that’s still twice what the Princeton puts out, but given that they’re known to be a bit flimsy will this 25w be any more likely to give me trouble?
Just want to check as I worry a lot about these details for some reason.
That said, there’s still that safety factor of two with the Princeton and the MiniMass even if the actual power input rating was 25W, so nothing to worry about. I would be wary with a 25W amp, and a 50-watter would almost certainly kill it.
You aren’t wrong to worry about it, because if you blow the attenuator there’s a good chance the amp’s output transformer will shortly follow.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Thanks for the info. So it sounds like I’ll still be ok, which has alleviated some anxiety.
Does anyone know why my fuzz would sound more muffled when an attenuator is in use? Or is it more of a byproduct of the amp being turned up more?
I’m not really surprised it sounds more muffled though, some fuzzes like having their hard edges smoothed out with a clipping amp but some definitely do not and the whole thing turns to mush.