Attenuator

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:26 am

Anyone have experience with them ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %26otn%3D2

Could Mike make one of these ??

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:32 am

bet you could use a saltbooster set to low volume.
i think EHX have that signal pad pedal too, which you could use in the FX loop

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:42 am

C'mon, guys, that's a volume pot and two sockets. Hardly rocket science. I've built one before - I use one with a footswitch to preset my lead/rhythm volume witout changing the drive level into the preamp.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:42 am

Patent pending FFS. Lolwut.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:01 am

It's a con. Not an attenuator, it's an extra volume control - does exactly the same thing as your master volume does.

Tubes are not being pushed harder at all. Complete bollocks - these people make me sick, it's against what I believe in to try to use Hokey Science to fool customers.

Post by **Doog** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:11 am

Yeah, total BS.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:51 am

who needs to turn down anyway, loudness = man sweat = proper rock

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:00 am

Thinks:

ATTENUATOR FOR PEAVEY CLASSIC/DELTA BLUES 30/50/100/212

The Peavey Classic 30 uses a PNP emitter follower in the effects loop send driver. Therefore, what this device allows you to do is include the effects send transistor buffer in your signal chain, to add some of that silicon sound.
Schematic: Here at blueguitar.com.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:02 am

The true tone lies in transistor buffers.

vivadeluxxe · Post by **vivadeluxxe** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 12:29 pm

Progrockabuse wrote:bet you could use a saltbooster set to low volume.

I'd not considered doing that...
I've never been able to use my twin at home because of it's monsterous volume, but the saltbooster might be able to make it a bit more manageable....

yeepers · Post by **yeepers** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:13 pm

Well everyone says they are very easy to build but they sell for $300! Could someone explain this to me?

Found some guy on the internet that builds his own attenuators at very reasonable prices in comparison to other attenuators on the retail market. I'm thinking of getting one for my Hot Rod.

http://www.tubejuiceattenuators.com/buy2.html#max50

filtercap · Post by **filtercap** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:43 pm

yeepers wrote:Well everyone says they are very easy to build but they sell for $300! Could someone explain this to me?

Found some guy on the internet that builds his own attenuators at very reasonable prices in comparison to other attenuators on the retail market. I'm thinking of getting one for my Hot Rod.

http://www.tubejuiceattenuators.com/buy2.html#max50

Well, there are attenuators and then there are attenuators. Basically anything that diminishes the amplitude (power) of an electrical signal is an attenuator, so a simple volume knob like the one on your guitar counts; same with an amp volume knob.

That's what the knob at the top of this thread does; it =is= an attenuator, but it's just a simple volume control that you splice into a non-master-volume amp by putting it the fx loop between the preamp and power amp. It's taking a low-power signal and turning it down. If your amp has a master volume knob, it's exactly this kind of attenuator. Very cheap to make, but while you can drive the preamp tubes harder by turning up the preamp gain or using a booster, you can't drive the power amp any harder.

The confusion (which may be what the ebay seller is hoping to bank on) is that lots of people are thinking of a special kind of attenuator: a speaker (or power) attenuator. This kind of attenuator connects to the amp's high-wattage speaker output. It has to be able to soak up a lot of power (by converting it to heat) and it also needs to "show" the correct impedance to the amp to keep the power tubes in their correct performance range and safeguard the output transformer. This takes careful design and a bunch of components = expense, but it lets you push the power amp hard, and that's what people are after.

The two kinds are not interchangeable.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:32 am

Google for L-Pad if you're interested in a constant-impedance speaker attenuator. I'm sure I've got a wire-wound one in my junk box in the roof, but probably only 15W.
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