Jump to content
aberdeen-music

Quiet Racket


britheguy

Recommended Posts

Okay we all know that a valve amp sounds better cranked up a few notchs, but also know it can be too load at this sonic nirvana levels.

What is the best 'power brake' type thing to use. I have a Marshall Powerbrake already, but I feel it mucks up the tone a bit. Is this just me?

Also, do these contraptions bugger up the valves etc?

Cheers

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never used a Marshall Powerbrake myself but according to the reviews and bulletin boards on Harmony Central, the THD Hotplate and Weber Mass degrade the sound a lot less. All attenuators sound a bit artificial at high levels of attenuation, sounding a bit fuzzy. The THD has built in automatic EQ which adjusts the sound according to the degree of attenuation, with the goal of keeping it the same. The Mass has a switchable high frequency boost which I usually leave off to tame fizzy treble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was gonna say - before reading through and seeing that it has been mentioned already - that the THD Hotplate is far more highly regarded than the Marshall Powerbrake.

This Weber thing sounds good though, I'll have to look into that one as I definietly need an attenuator at the moment anyway! :up:

Thanks for all the info I didn't know about guys :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I have heard, the THD hotplate is one of the best out there at the moment

You will wear out the valves a bit quicker, as you are making them work harder (amplifying it more, then cutting the volume down, instead of letting the valves do less work and only amplify the signal a wee bit) but no more than running at volume anyway.

One thing that a attenuator dosen't take into account is speaker breakup, every bit of the chain adds in its own effects - preamp and poweramp, but also the speakers can distort at very high volumes, though that will depend on your speakers in particular (low wattage/efficiency versus high wattage/efficiency) but could be part of what you are missing out.

The new Orange is the Tiny Terror, there are a few other wee valve amps out there now - Hiwatt do one, the Zvex Nano, Epi Valve Jr to name a few, that gives you the overdriven amp sound at lower volumes, but is slightly limited if you wanted to play with a band or the like...

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TBH I was fancing the THD, but the set impedance is putting me off a little bit. I'd never heard of the Weber before, but this might be the one for me. I would really like to get my half stack going again, but it's just too bloody loud most of the time..

I know this is a little off the thread, but while talking about vavles etc. Has anyone found their head/combi start to lose, shall we say 'sparkle', over the period of an evening gigging? Or is just my hearing being blattered and not hearing what I thought I heard at the start of the gig?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...