Best attenuator for attenuation only?

  • Thread starter Thread starter midgod07
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PLX said:
The price point his company gets from China ?

Yeah, bro.. $67.89

? :ROFLMAO:
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The suhr reactive load was heavily based on the Aiken design. https://www.aikenamps.com/index.php/designing-a-reactive-speaker-load-emulator

Its fine to not like Suhr and their products, but I think Aiken did a good job in his design as designing to the speaker curve. I have also ran a cranked Ampeg V4 into the suhr RL without issue and been inside to see how it was built. They did a good job on the implementation.

And I totally get you hate Suhr and got rubbed the wrong way by the Suhr love on TGP, but you are hardly being objective here.
 
Is the thing made in China entirely ? In that case, maybe. A friend of mine is building audio gear locally, not in China. I've seen the real costs for small batches like these. Very hard to sell anything below $400 when built locally, even the simplest electronic item with only a few components. If you're goal is to make a living, that is. Selling at cost, it might be more around $200.
 
blackba said:
And I totally get you hate Suhr and got rubbed the wrong way by the Suhr love on TGP, but you are hardly being objective here.
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You're off on a tangent here, bro. :ROFLMAO:

I could have posted gut-shots of any number of other reactive loads to demonstrate the point.

Also, your own personal experience with the device is completely anecdotal.

That device is based directly off Aiken's design, but the components are severely under-sized for the task.

You've been lucky so far.. that's a much more accurate description.
 
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I had the Iron Man II but I missed having the effects loop of the Fryette. I got the PS100 on my PRS, and the 50 watt one on my 1987X.
This is w/ a Strat at Can-Opener volume

 
First attenuator I bought was an Altair, then came Tom Sholz neither was really better than the other but for gigging knockn down a marshall they were great. Mind you these were not cheap in the late 70`s new. Then came the THD in 94 and a friend bought one new. It wasnt any better but the funny thing was most guys didnt know that and thought it was great. I was like this thing is no better than the Altair/ which I still have. I will say I think the UA attenuator is the same or better than the Bad Cat, then ole Stevie goes I will make one but with tubes etc etc etc See the shit never ends and 75% is hype just like there is 100 different TS pedals. Theyre all same minus the 2%. :yes: Anyways the best att. I found is Allessandro Muzzle that i got in mid 90`s which is same idea as Komet and Dr. Z attenuators etc etc and goes on on like my ramblings , sorry
 
panhead said:
First attenuator I bought was an Altair, then came Tom Sholz neither was really better than the other but for gigging knockn down a marshall they were great. Mind you these were not cheap in the late 70`s new. Then came the THD in 94 and a friend bought one new. It wasnt any better but the funny thing was most guys didnt know that and thought it was great. I was like this thing is no better than the Altair/ which I still have. I will say I think the UA attenuator is the same or better than the Bad Cat, then ole Stevie goes I will make one but with tubes etc etc etc See the shit never ends and 75% is hype just like there is 100 different TS pedals. Theyre all same minus the 2%. :yes: Anyways the best att. I found is Allessandro Muzzle that i got in mid 90`s which is same idea as Komet and Dr. Z attenuators etc etc and goes on on like my ramblings , sorry
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The Altair was a purely resistive load based on the same design as a toaster.

:cool:

It used stretched coils of wire to dissipate energy in the form of heat.
 
PLX said:
The Altair was a purely resistive load based on the same design as a toaster.

:cool:

It used stretched coils of wire to dissipate energy in the form of heat.
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What ever it is it worked and still works LOL
 
panhead said:
What ever it is it worked and still works LOL
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It can toast a bagel while you work on your VH licks.

:ROFLMAO:

The Scholtz Power Soak was also a purely resistive load, but it used ceramic resistors.

These are going to produce a flat frequency response, and sound nothing like an actual speaker( or cabinet of speakers).
 
Im reading that everything after Sholtz up until the Ultimate att is based on Sholtz more or less. I know the altair has different taps soldered onto a heater wire of some sort/primitive
 
A little while ago I was searching for something better than my hot plate, and this Aracom thing blew it away,
I guess the hot plate is now just an outdated resistive design.

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I have a power station PS100, but it’s a re amp. My favorite for attenuation only is my Alex Attenuator. The Captor X sounds good too, but the 2 levels of attenuation are extreme.
 
I use a Palmer Pad for attenuation with Herbert Diezel Head. Its a passive device; Just plug it in and forget its there. Doesn't colour or alter the tone.
A Herbert will play a bedroom volumes, but if you want that amp to sing good and proper put a Palmer in the loop with a Nik Huber Orca on the end of a cable. Its like they were made for one another.
 
I use a Fryette PS2 with my Marshall/Metro build.
I've also owned the Captor Torpedo X, Mesa Powerhouse and just last night had a Swart Nightlight Jr delivered for my Princeton build.

The Fryette IMO is the best.
The Torpedo had two set levels of attenuation, I think this unit is better used in recording.
The Mesa worked great.
Only used the Swart for about a minute, but it does lower volume.

Also, a volume box (JHS Blackbox for example) in the loop of an amp (easy to make) works pretty well from my experience as well.
 
Ratou said:
I've tried a few high end attenuators and Fryette PS2 is by a long shot the best one I've tried (all the other ones only sounded good when knocking off a few db, still too loud for home use). However, for the amps you have it will not help IMHO. I would only recommend it for amps where you need power tube distortion, otherwise the integrated MV of the amp will be better overall for tone and feel. Playing 100W tube amps at low volume is always a compromise (but can still sound good). Speakers not pushing enough air is a big part of it as well, and no attenuator/MV can compensate for that.
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Seems to me, that if using pre amp gain, a MV or volume box in amp loop will work just fine.
 
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