I'm thinking about getting an attenuator so I can get a nice sound out of this here Deluxe Reverb in my apartment. Is this going to work? Will it be possible to get power section crunchies without getting the authorities involved? Hell, even if I could just turn the thing up past 2 I'd be happy. The amp sounds so choked at the low volumes, you know.

I UTSF, but only a C/NC came up. Sorry if this is a repeat.

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw9_thd_hot_pl ... dinfo.html
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw9_tube_amp_d ... dinfo.html
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw9_thd_hot_pl ... dinfo.html

Yes it might work!

Thanks for the links, but what I really want to know is how useful these things are. Does someone with experience using an attenuator have any thoughts to share? Please?

I would try yanking a power tube first. It always worked for me...I love power tube distortion. It isn't exactly the same sound, though.

rayj wrote:I would try yanking a power tube first. It always worked for me...I love power tube distortion. It isn't exactly the same sound, though.

You're suggesting to pull one output tube, from a 2-output-tube amp? A push-pull amp?

Doesn't that mean you're effectively making your amp only play either the positive or negative half of the wave?

Shouldn't that make it sound like ass?

Isn't that ugly to do that to your output transformer?

I've heard of yanking two tubes from a 4-output-tube amp, pulling one of the tubes from the push half and one from the pull half.

But with a 2 output tube push-pull amp, I believe this is not a good idea at all.

Anyone?

There's only 2 6V6 tubes in there. My understanding is that pulling one of them would be a bad thing. I don't want to hurt my amp, I want to help it. Help it to help me. Help!

it may or may not hurt the amp, but it definitely sounds crappy

i dunno... something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOGEN-COMMUNICATION ... dZViewItem

Saw a post by a guy in this forum who calls himself Maurice that said something about adding a rheostat to a small tube amp to control level after full saturation... I'm just learning about this stuff, not sure where it goes in the chain, but you might want to find him and PM.

Let me know if you find out...

I've tried the THD hotplate and the Weber mass (well, the minimass, actually). At some point a long time ago, I tried to Marshall power brake, too. I wouldn't say that they all sound the same, but after the novelty of "getting your amp into full distortion at any level" wore off, I wasn't really sold on any of them.

That said, I bought the minimass sight unseen, so I still have it around to try out once in a while. When I have the volume attentuated to apartment levels (at least in my neighborhood), the sound is significantly different--darker and kinda fuzzier. I'd rather use an overdrive pedal at that point. The hotplate has eq switches to compensate for these changes, which may also be a matter of the difference in how the speaker, the cabinet, the room, etc., are contributing to the sound.

I guess it depends on what you're looking to do. I was hoping to get the sound of the amp on the edge of distortion, where you can control the amount of break-up from how hard you play. At high attenuation, the attenuator didn't help me get a satisfying version of that sound, but it has worked fine to bring the volume down just a bit with a full band. If you're using a 100 watt, non-master-volume amp, an attenuator on stage would probably help, too. With a deluxe, you're probably getting a good sound live without a need for attenuation.

-Tom

Well, I ran a Fender Proreverb for quite some time on just one tube. Check the schematic; I'm not sure, but I don't think the tubes are strictly push on the one and pull on the other. I ran a new Ampeg the same way for over a year...it was the only way to get the power tube distortion I wanted and not blow everyone's head off. You cook tubes quicker, but it worked for me. Try it if you dare.