Amps anybody use an attenuator?

PapaBear

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
CaptainMoto said:
@MikeS , @PapaBear ,
You guys got my head spinning on Quilter > Jettenuator > NACE speaker.

What does that do for you that you couldn't do Quilter > NACE Speaker?
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To be honest I haven't even hooked the Quilter up by itself to see what it is capable of and I don't have a separate speaker cabinet, but my long view would be to use the Rockcrusher's studio out to go into my computer for recording,
 
PapaBear

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
dvs said:
Why use an attenuator with a solid state amp like a Quilter Micro Block? Can't you just lower the master volume?
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To be honest Doug I haven't even played with it yet, so I don't know that answer, my goal in putting it through the Rock Crusher would be to use the Studio out for recording, using the speaker would be just to check out live and may not need the attenuator
 
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
PapaBear said:
To be honest Doug I haven't even played with it yet, so I don't know that answer, my goal in putting it through the Rock Crusher would be to use the Studio out for recording, using the speaker would be just to check out live and may not need the attenuator
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I gotcha! (y)
That micro block is a mini amp with no record out so you would use the RockCrusher to provide the line out.
Innovative idea....let us know how that works.

I think @MikeS is doing something different, going to the NACE speaker.
That one still has me thinking why not just go from the micro block to the speaker?
 
Iheartbacon

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
Crossroads said:
I've never been a fan of attenuators because they squash the amplitude and dynamics of your output signal.
So if your not getting the sound of the amp why bother?

With software, an interface and a PC or Ipad you can replicate your amp sound and much for $500 or less.

If for whatever reason, you really wanted to use a tube amp, you could use some type of reactive load box and impulse response. This would give the load the amp needs and emulate your cabinet.
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Reducing amplitude is exactly the point! As for dynamics, how is an attenuator any different than a load box in this regard? They both replace the speaker load with a load that does not generate sound. The attenuator partially, the load box completely. Seems like if an attenuator is bad, the load box is by definition worse.

IR’s are OK but still deeply flawed. A properly captured IR (basically 0% of commercially available options) can do a decent job with a single speaker cab, but an IR and FRFR can not possibly capture and reproduce a multi driver cab. Add in the need for quality playback, and the attenuator can be a cheaper and much better sounding solution.
 
D. R. Miller

D. R. Miller

Good News Blues
I recently acquired a Peavey Bandit (Red Stripe version w/Sheffield speaker) to try to use in place of my tube amps. It works great but is louder than anticipated and the t-dynamics don’t really reduce output volume as much as increasing tube like compression to the output signal. I decided to try a passive volume pedal between the preamp out and the power amp in which does the trick of controlling overall volume but I’m concerned as to weather the added impedance is a problem that might damage the amp. Any thoughts or experiences with this?
 
MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
dvs said:
Why use an attenuator with a solid state amp like a Quilter Micro Block? Can't you just lower the master volume?
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To get the time that you want you need to have the gain & volume set to: master @ Max & vol @75%. With those settings, it's WAY too loud
 
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
MikeS said:
Get the quilter set the way you like the sound, then just adjust the attenuator dial for the room.
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Got it!
Question though...........what's the difference between managing room volume on the Quilter vs adding the Attenuator?
 
dvs

dvs

Green Mountain Blues
MikeS said:
To get the time that you want you need to have the gain & volume set to: master @ Max & vol @75%. With those settings, it's WAY too loud
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Ok, that's interesting. I didn't know the power amp stage of a solid state amp like this one would do very much to color the tone.
 
Iheartbacon

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
dvs said:
Ok, that's interesting. I didn't know the power amp stage of a solid state amp like this one would do very much to color the tone.
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It shouldn’t impact the tone at all until near clipping and using the attenuator WILL impact the tone.

Unless Quilter is doing something unique with their SS amps to mimic the behavior of a master volume tube amp which would seem quite odd.
 
Crossroads

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
Iheartbacon said:
Reducing amplitude is exactly the point! As for dynamics, how is an attenuator any different than a load bo8x in this regard? They both replace the speaker load with a load that does not generate sound. The attenuator partially, the load box completely. Seems like if an attenuator is bad, the load box is by definition worse.

IR’s are OK but still deeply flawed. A properly captured IR (basically 0% of commercially available options) can do a decent job with a single speaker cab, but an IR and FRFR can not possibly capture and reproduce a multi driver cab. Add in the need for quality playback, and the attenuator can be a cheaper and much better sounding solution.
Click to expand...

I don't want to hijack the OPs thread on attenuators into a discussion of IRs. From what I see most in the industry do not share your opinion on IRs, including Marshall, who published on their website that IRs are sonically indistinguishable, whlie listing just a few of the advantages of using IRs.
https://marshall.com/live-for-music/announcements-and-one-offs/using-irs-to-raise-the-bar

That said will it sound exactly the same no, neither will an attenuated signal sent into a cabinet. What sounds best is ultimately up to the user.

Also if attenuators were considered a good solution it's unlikely you would see so much R&D into hybrids.

For the OP here's an article on different type of attenuators.

https://reverb.com/c/buying-guide-attenuators
 
Crossroads

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
Dennis(Slughand)Miller said:
I recently acquired a Peavey Bandit (Red Stripe version w/Sheffield speaker) to try to use in place of my tube amps. It works great but is louder than anticipated and the t-dynamics don’t really reduce output volume as much as increasing tube like compression to the output signal. I decided to try a passive volume pedal between the preamp out and the power amp in which does the trick of controlling overall volume but I’m concerned as to weather the added impedance is a problem that might damage the amp. Any thoughts or experiences with this?
Click to expand...
That's an interesting solution.
A parallel Loop would be pretty cool as you would be able to adjust the mix between the hot signal and the reduced signal
 
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MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
dvs said:
Ok, that's interesting. I didn't know the power amp stage of a solid state amp like this one would do very much to color the tone.
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Seems like it does to me, but I'm just getting started with the Quilter so things may change.
 
Crossroads

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
dvs said:
Ok, that's interesting. I didn't know the power amp stage of a solid state amp like this one would do very much to color the tone.
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So a plian ole solid-state amp wouldn't color it. But pretty sure that quilter is producing tube amp like sound which means it's using software and or firmware to modify it. So unless there is a master volume on the other side of the amp simulation it's going to affect the tone.
 
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