Hot Plate attenuator alternative?

How about this as an inexpensive way of taming your Bassman or other amp thats TOO LOUD. Its £250 cheaper than a THD Hotplate and seems like it does the same thing. Its almost too good to be true - or is their a catch?
http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/electro-harmonix-signal-pad-guitar-effects-pedal-passive-attenuator--61325

unfortunately, that goes in before your amp, so is nothing more than another guitar volume control.
You are trying to get something that will go between your amp and the speaker, i sure someone on here posted an address for weber attenuators they seem to be the cheapest way to do what you are thinking

I just got one of these, just waiting for it to arrive.......http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130422160716

dont those only work if you have an effects loop? as it gets patched in to an effects loop

chunkymac wrote:

dont those only work if you have an effects loop? as it gets patched in to an effects loop

Hey Mac! Yep, so with the Hot Rod Blues DeVille and Deluxe it should work a treat for the swampy/bluesy/rock stuff I love to play as well. The rockabilly stuff, that only the sweet soul of the Nocturne+Blondeshell that should be ready any day now for me, will be a different kettle of fish!

Suppose it depends on what sort of overdrive you are getting out of your deville?? If its preamp than all should be fine, but if you are cranking won't it affect your overdrive level.
But am thinking will be useless for capturing a cranked bassman at reasonable levels as its gonna be cutting the input going into the amp, which it needs to get that growl.
Really need an attenuator to cut the bassmans output.

Pete I bet you can't wait to get that blondshell, those videos that tavo has done of them have really made me question if I should be upscaling my rig instead of my current back friendly rig

chunkymac wrote:

Suppose it depends on what sort of overdrive you are getting out of your deville?? If its preamp than all should be fine, but if you are cranking won't it affect your overdrive level.
But am thinking will be useless for capturing a cranked bassman at reasonable levels as its gonna be cutting the input going into the amp, which it needs to get that growl.
Really need an attenuator to cut the bassmans output.

Pete I bet you can't wait to get that blondshell, those videos that tavo has done of them have really made me question if I should be upscaling my rig instead of my current back friendly rig

Dude...do yourself a favour and GET ONE!!!!! Best bang for your buck....EVER!!!!!!!

Is the blondeshell as loud as a 6g6b bassman ?
Ive got a marsh 6g6b bassman and a 2x12 vibrolux 4 ohm cab thru which goes my gretsch hotrod, nocturne pedal and maxon ad999 delay. The sound is beautiful but way too loud when the basssman volume is anywhere from 2 and a half onwards. It completely drowns everyone out and im finding it unusable and ive gone back to using a miced up blues junior instead. Ive tried a hot plate attenuator but it sucks the nicest parts of the tone out of the sound. The nocturne pedal, apart from destroying the gretsch vol pot taper, is fantastic and makes the gretsch sound fantastic thru any amp but unfortunatley the marsh bassman head and cab are gathering dust until eventually I find a solution. What I dont get is that on youtube there is a clip of Brian Setzer singing Rumble in Brighton on his own with just his guitar and rig. The sound is big and fat and the distortion is smooth and beautiful, yet he is standing only a few feet away from the amp and the sound, altho massive ,is obviously not blisteringly way too loud. I can get my rig to sound similar ( thats the rig, not my fingers) but it would take the windows out of the building. The only time ive had my rig with the bassman volume on 4 - 5 ( setzers settings) was in a basement studio whilst recording and we ended up getting complaints from people about 4 streets away!
There are, though, lots of players e.g Buzz Campbell, who are making the transition from low wattage open back fender combos like the 22 watt deluxe reverb, over to Bassman heads and Blondeshell heads with no problems.

booty wrote:

Is the blondeshell as loud as a 6g6b bassman ?
Ive got a marsh 6g6b bassman and a 2x12 vibrolux 4 ohm cab thru which goes my gretsch hotrod, nocturne pedal and maxon ad999 delay. The sound is beautiful but way too loud when the basssman volume is anywhere from 2 and a half onwards. It completely drowns everyone out and im finding it unusable and ive gone back to using a miced up blues junior instead. Ive tried a hot plate attenuator but it sucks the nicest parts of the tone out of the sound. The nocturne pedal, apart from destroying the gretsch vol pot taper, is fantastic and makes the gretsch sound fantastic thru any amp but unfortunatley the marsh bassman head and cab are gathering dust until eventually I find a solution. What I dont get is that on youtube there is a clip of Brian Setzer singing Rumble in Brighton on his own with just his guitar and rig. The sound is big and fat and the distortion is smooth and beautiful, yet he is standing only a few feet away from the amp and the sound, altho massive ,is obviously not blisteringly way too loud. I can get my rig to sound similar ( thats the rig, not my fingers) but it would take the windows out of the building. The only time ive had my rig with the bassman volume on 4 - 5 ( setzers settings) was in a basement studio whilst recording and we ended up getting complaints from people about 4 streets away!
There are, though, lots of players e.g Buzz Campbell, who are making the transition from low wattage open back fender combos like the 22 watt deluxe reverb, over to Bassman heads and Blondeshell heads with no problems.

I've used Rene's '62 Bassman, Nocturne, Tube Screamer, MXR Micro Amp and Ibanez AD80 delay in the same chain and at the same time with no probs in the volume dept @ 4 With the Blondeshell I'm going to run twin Celestian Vintage 30 8ohm speakers. Just a matter of trial by error. Talk to Tavo, he can help you dial in a great tone at a great volume.

First off, I dont care what the claims are about attenuators not harming your tubes or amp, youre gonna pay for your sins one way or the other. Extreme tube wear or frying a transformer its seems like the stories of sorry outway the glory. I enjoyed my attenuator fascinations but I was buying power tubes every 6 months and NOS tubes arent cheap.
(Pete, promise me you wont use that on the Blondeshell, the Mercury Mag transformers
have a 10yr warranty but if they find out attenuators were used on em...zippo man)

There just is no way to play a big iron amp quietly straight away without an attenuator or
isolation cab.. I mean I have found my way of performing as isolated as possible without
compromising feel or tone but that doesnt work for everyone.

You mentioned Buzz campbell transitioning between venues and rigs.. he has his madness too about gear. Definitely not content with the stock pickups in his guitars. Powertrons
in his Falcon, and right now in his red hotrod we've got a classic in the neck and a supertron in the bridge (just had a classic + in there).
For small venues he doesnt even use an amp..plugs straight into the nocturne, then helicon or PodXt.. In more open stage areas like casino stages he'll use the Deluxe but its fitted with a large mag speaker(weber ferromax) and solid state rectifier plug using the nocturne into input #2 trem channel. That lets you dig into your amp at a much lower SPL than a big iron monster and get good tone, its different though bluesier but
close.


side note.. that video you are hearing from setzer involves mic preamps and compressors at the mix desk I mean I'm sure you understand that but something
inside me had to blurt it out anyway. sorry

ps. I'm am toying with an adjustable output impedance selector on the nocturne so guys that find a master volume necessary on a guitar, will not go insane
btw.. if you have a treble bleed on your guitar..hows it working with the Dyno Brain?
you got it right?

Nothing but Nocturne, Analog Delay and maybe my tried and trusted MXR Micro Amp into the Blondeshell....I PROMISE!!!

Pistol Pete wrote:

Nothing but Nocturne, Analog Delay and maybe my tried and trusted MXR Micro Amp into the Blondeshell....I PROMISE!!!

send that nocturne back for the Dyno and then you dont need the micro cramp

When you are saying about the attenuators damaging output trannies and tubes, it that when the amp is opened right up??
I personally wanna get the sound of my amp at 3-4 on the volume control, but at a level that doesnt shake stuff from the shelves. so have been seriously considering a hot plate or similar product. But if the damage will be occuring even at those sort of levels i may be having to rethink my rig

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

send that nocturne back for the Dyno and then you dont need the micro cramp

I'm going to pretend that I didn't read that! BTW a range master type boost with a control over the frequency range into the Nocturne classic is killer it takes a few db's off but retains the awesomeness of the rangemaster fat punch and sparkle!

I used to play my Twin Reverb at 3-5...granted it's not a 6G6-B, but I never really found it to be that loud unless I played in my living room with wood floors and higher ceilings (no reverb needed then). I didn't like having to crank my old AC15 in my old band rehearsals, but the Twin didn't have that killer breakup even when goosed by the FD2 I had back then. I did crank the twin a couple times, that was fun!

I'm Incinerator wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

send that nocturne back for the Dyno and then you dont need the micro cramp

I'm going to pretend that I didn't read that! BTW a range master type boost with a control over the frequency range into the Nocturne classic is killer it takes a few db's off but retains the awesomeness of the rangemaster fat punch and sparkle!

I used to play my Twin Reverb at 3-5...granted it's not a 6G6-B, but I never really found it to be that loud unless I played in my living room with wood floors and higher ceilings (no reverb needed then). I didn't like having to crank my old AC15 in my old band rehearsals, but the Twin didn't have that killer breakup even when goosed by the FD2 I had back then. I did crank the twin a couple times, that was fun!

I was in a hard rock band for a while and I used "the Evil Twin" atop a 412 running all
6 twelves at the same time, fed by a modded Boss metal zone and customized Big muff.
That twin NEVER broke up, just hurt people so good. When I moved to Mesa boogie
tremoverbs and heartbreakers, I could still move air and not harm humans. ..plus I got rid of the horrible pedals I mentioned above.
Tophat amps followed shortly there after. I mean I never got rid of my vintage fender amps but you know.. you got to have modern toys too

I had a Mesa Rect-o-verb 50 watt combo for a while. I never fiddled with it too much until the end when the "pushed" switch on the clean channel gave me a great overdrive sound. Loud as heck. I don't think I used or could have used the amp to it's full potential, plus I started to gravitate towards a Vox sound anyway, and I was getting out of that whole pop punk scene in which I got the Mesa for was because all of those guys were using Dual Rectifiers and such. I tell you, that rect-o-verb and Korg AC15 were two of the heaviest amps ever to carry around, the Twin Reverb was killer too. I never left my amps anywhere that was my house either so after a rehearsal or jam/whatever I would lug that stuff back into my car and motor away.

this weighs a comfortable 35lbs

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

this weighs a comfortable 35lbs

nice! Nice logo too...going away from the Stardust look and into the more "Von Dutch" thang??

The amp might be a comfy 35 lbs, but what about that there Bassman cab loaded up with 2 V30's and some 12 gauge speaker wire!?

I'm Incinerator wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

this weighs a comfortable 35lbs

nice! Nice logo too...going away from the Stardust look and into the more "Von Dutch" thang??

The amp might be a comfy 35 lbs, but what about that there Bassman cab loaded up with 2 V30's and some 12 gauge speaker wire!?

a Closeback 1x10 with 16gauge speaker wire?

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

this weighs a comfortable 35lbs

nice! Nice logo too...going away from the Stardust look and into the more "Von Dutch" thang??

The amp might be a comfy 35 lbs, but what about that there Bassman cab loaded up with 2 V30's and some 12 gauge speaker wire!?

a Closeback 1x10 with 16gauge speaker wire?

wouldn't a 6G6-B rip a 10in speaker to ribbons?

Not my Blondeshell man... I can play through my 1x8 (jensen P-8n alnico)

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

this weighs a comfortable 35lbs

MAN THAT PLAQUE BETTER BE ON MY AMP!!!

Pistol Pete wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

this weighs a comfortable 35lbs

MAN THAT PLAQUE BETTER BE ON MY AMP!!!

there you are!! hey mate.. if you wanna see that plaque you better update your
shipping address! It will be completely done tomorrow, and ready to ship out to Oz
come monday morning!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

Not my Blondeshell man... I can play through my 1x8 (jensen P-8n alnico)

Running a blondeshell into different speakers other than a 2x12 setup raises questions about ohmage that confuse me.

The marsh bassman has an extra speaker jack output so therefore if an extra speaker was plugged in then that would change the ohmage wouldnt it ? and so there would be a mismatch?

Ive put a fender blues junior ( 8 ohm), with its internal speaker disengaged, into my fender 2x12 vibrolux cab (4 ohm) and it sounds great. I felt it was ok to do this cos fender hot rod deluxes have their own 8 ohm extension cab available to run with its own internal 8 ohm speaker which means its running at 4 ohms. So it seems that its ok to run 8ohm amp into 4 ohm cab


If its ok to mismatch the ohmages, does that mean that you could mismatch the other way around e.g run a 4ohm bassman head into a 16 ohm cab, thus making it quieter?

I aplogize if these questions seem dumb but this forum is the way I learn.

ALSO... Cheers Tavo, the Dyno brain has arrived! Im giggin with it tonight. Its an intimate little gig so im gonna put it thru my fender blues junior and maxon ad999..AND ... im delighted to say that my gretsch volume is useable so now I can rolll back the vol a little without the sound just disappearing. Nice one man!

booty wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

Not my Blondeshell man... I can play through my 1x8 (jensen P-8n alnico)

Running a blondeshell into different speakers other than a 2x12 setup raises questions about ohmage that confuse me.

The marsh bassman has an extra speaker jack output so therefore if an extra speaker was plugged in then that would change the ohmage wouldnt it ? and so there would be a mismatch?

Ive put a fender blues junior ( 8 ohm), with its internal speaker disengaged, into my fender 2x12 vibrolux cab (4 ohm) and it sounds great. I felt it was ok to do this cos fender hot rod deluxes have their own 8 ohm extension cab available to run with its own internal 8 ohm speaker which means its running at 4 ohms. So it seems that its ok to run 8ohm amp into 4 ohm cab


If its ok to mismatch the ohmages, does that mean that you could mismatch the other way around e.g run a 4ohm bassman head into a 16 ohm cab, thus making it quieter?

I aplogize if these questions seem dumb but this forum is the way I learn.

ALSO... Cheers Tavo, the Dyno brain has arrived! Im giggin with it tonight. Its an intimate little gig so im gonna put it thru my fender blues junior and maxon ad999..AND ... im delighted to say that my gretsch volume is useable so now I can rolll back the vol a little without the sound just disappearing. Nice one man!

In a blonde fender 63 bassman or any repro amp meant to clone a 63' 6G6-B the transformer OEM is 4ohms. They have an extra speaker jack yes...BUT your only choices for total ohms is 4ohm.
So You can plug the following:
1 4ohm mono cab in speaker jack 1 = 4ohms total
or
2 8ohm mono cabs into speaker jacks 1 and 2 = 4ohms total
or
1 stereo cab that equals 8ohms a side into jacks 1 and 2 = 4ohms total

Most fender techs will warn that while you may mismatch a 4ohm transformer with up to an 8ohm total load, it is harmful to the OT mismatch beyond that and most would rather see the 4ohm OT using a 2 ohm load than the other way around (ie 16ohm)

having said all that, plugging an 8ohm load into the blonde 6G6-B with greatly reduce headroom and thus bring in overdrive much early with a big loss of tight low mids, ala
farting bass syndrome.

regarding that Blues Junior, it has "Stock" what is called a "tapped" output transformer and thus both 4ohm and 8ohm taps( a bassman is not a tapped output transformer stock, PERIOD) ... BUT the stock speaker output wiring it 8ohms on the Blues Junior.
In order to active the 4ohm tap on the Blues junior you must have a 1/4" plugged into the first/primary speaker output jack. So either you have one 8ohm load plugged into both jacks 1 and 2 to have the 4ohm tap OR you plug a dummy 1/4" jack into the amps output jack #1 and then use the amps output jack #2 for a 4ohm cab/speaker load. (( everything I wrote is pointless if fender has revised its speaker jack arrangement, I try to avoid looking at any modern amp fender makes unless I am asked to


side note... While most Pro Series or vintage Fender amps are overbuilt and overspec'd on their transformers... THIS IS NOT THE CASE on the budget series "blues or hotrod" amps.

So... did I confuse or answer to the situation?