has anyone ever made an attenuator before?

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:12 pm

been talking to a guy on another forum who recommended using an LPad to attenuate my amp. he's leant me his and it works great.

it looks like a huge pot (think this is the LPad?) with two jacks on a board. THATS IT! now its sounds fucking epic but i worry whether long term its doing any good? i treat valve amps with the same sort of severity as a chainsaw swinging two inch in front of my face, they scare the living shit outta me!

i trust myself to make an "LPad" but worry about seriously gigging it and running into issues. worst case electrocution problems: best case blowing a valve or something.

has anyone made/used them? can anyone recommend any decent attenuators at a nice price. my amp is a 5E3 clone so i think its 20w?

cheers guys

aen · Post by **aen** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:36 am

It's a volume pot. As long as it's going in the effects loop of an amp you're a-OK. That's also the secret of making those Fender Hot Rod amps usable. (Tadaaaa now there's a setting between too quiet and too loud!)

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:54 am

Doesn't EHX make one for like 25 bucks?

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:43 am

aen wrote:It's a volume pot. As long as it's going in the effects loop of an amp you're a-OK. That's also the secret of making those Fender Hot Rod amps usable. (Tadaaaa now there's a setting between too quiet and too loud!)

see that's what I need. that would help it out immensely. prolly gonna end up upgrading my amp sometime this year though.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:19 am

aen wrote:It's a volume pot. As long as it's going in the effects loop of an amp you're a-OK. That's also the secret of making those Fender Hot Rod amps usable. (Tadaaaa now there's a setting between too quiet and too loud!)

i think he's talking about a proper attenuator that goes between the power stage and the speaker. they lower volume (sort of like a master volume) while still allowing the output tubes to be driven hard. like this:

http://guitarprojects.weebly.com/diy-attenuator.html

in response to the op, as far as i am aware there is no issue using an attenuator for any length of time provided the ohmage is the same as the output transformer and speaker config, and the L-pad has max wattage that meets or ideally exceeds the amps max wattage slightly. if you have too high a wattage on the L-pad apparently this can darken the overall sound, but a lot of attenuator circuits have a bright/neutral/dark switch to help keep or remove some highs

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:22 am

Yeah George is right. Also my tweed clone doesn't have an fx loop. So it has to go inbetween the speaker and the amp.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:26 am

you've reminded me that i've wanted to build one of these for bloody ages too. gonna get on the case! weekend project possibly

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:29 am

In all seriousness with the LPad it's THE best amp I've ever played. I couldn't get it to crunch up at home levels and put it up for sale. This guy spotted the ad and sent me his attenuator and now there's no way it's going anywhere. It's made me want to start gigging again.

If you wanna try it out anytime I think you are reasonably local to me? I'm in East Lancashire. You are more than welcome to come and have a thrash on it pal.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:46 am

i'm in oxford so a bit too far to drive but thanks for the offer! for the price of parts i'm gonna just have a punt and follow that guide i linked. it's about time i made one of these.

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:48 am

Ah haha ok. There's another guy on here he's Manchester based and I always get you mixed up! Hahaha

Yeah I believe they are cheap and easy to put together. I wouldn't trust myself to build an amp!

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:53 am

getting the parts in now and just wondering if it's worth building one with a bypass switch or not. if you accidentally knock it to the off position you could really piss the neighbours off

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 12:13 pm

Really excited to see this happen George. I'd definitely build one too if yous works out great!

Post by **Doog** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 12:15 pm

aen wrote:It's a volume pot. As long as it's going in the effects loop of an amp you're a-OK. That's also the secret of making those Fender Hot Rod amps usable. (Tadaaaa now there's a setting between too quiet and too loud!)

Those are BS, literally just a volume pot in the FX loop.

These go between the speakers and the amp, properly allowing the power section to be driven (the volume-pot-in-fx-loop will not), but at sane volumes.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 1:11 pm

oof, bottom line looks to be about Â£37 including delivery cost. hope this is worth it

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 1:39 pm

True enough but even the cheapest commercial Attenuators are over 100 quid and usually more than double that. If this does that job well then it's a bargain for the money and a bit of effort.

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:34 pm

if you're gonna build one id definitely recommend the mod you can do to make sure it doesn't cut your top end. i really don't have much of a clue but i think it involves a capacitor!

I've not noticed THAT much but it definitely chops a bit at extreme attenuation levels. the difference between blisteringly loud and slightly attenuated (i.e. to loud home use or small gig levels) isn't that noticeable.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:37 pm

i've gone for a swanky 3 way switch to add 3 levels of brightness (stock, 4.7uf and 10uf). i think that would be okay?

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:52 pm

George wrote:i've gone for a swanky 3 way switch to add 3 levels of brightness (stock, 4.7uf and 10uf). i think that would be okay?

Ah cool. Please keep me informed as to how it sounds. I'm definateky just gonna build my own then I think.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:01 pm

if it works and i don't die i'll post the parts list. you can probably get them cheaper elsewhere but i'm not savvy with this stuff really.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:10 pm

Interested to see how this goes George. Always wondered why more amps don't have built in attenuators.