Have been toying with the idea of an attenuator for a little while but there are so many different options i'm getting a little snowblind.
The main feature that I think I need is variable impedance (does this exist?) as the amps/cabs I use range from 4ohms to 16ohms and various combinations thereof.
I have noticed some attenuators are also offering load box/speaker emulation which would be very handy for home recording, however my question is does this compromise the attenuator's functionality/quality?
I'm completely green to this. Last time I tried an attenuator was when the Marshall power brakers first came out and honestly I thought that they sounded awful at the time. To be fair this was reduced down to bedroom volumes. I'm looking mainly to tame a 100watt plexi or bluesbreaker down to a useable stage level at the point of breakup.
so have any of you guys used anything that you think ticks the boxes? what would you consider the industry standard to be and why?
Any help or advice gratefully received.
thanks all
Mark
Comments
Would you recommend one?
"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
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I've also had a THD and it was just OK, really. I never thought it was particularly great, and it really did not like my old Oranges...but then I'm not sure Oranges really like attenuators. Same with Matamps.
Have you considered some form of removable PPIMV?
It seems that the sequis is leading the way at the moment. As long as the attenuator side is high enough quality & will sound great live. The emulator side would be very handy for home recording as I have several amps that never get turned on at home as they will nuke the neighbours.
Thank you all for your input
Well so far I've used it on a Budda SuperDrive 80 and a Matchless Independence, Marshall JVM210H and a 100w Genz Benz. I've found it worked well with them all, although it only has 8 or 16 ohm inputs.
It's tamed all of them, makes the master volume pot sweep a bit less severe. It lets me play them in the house and get quite close to gig tone for practice purposes. It also it built like a tank, everything feels really solid on it.
Nowt has blown up or melted either when using it. :-)