Is there a reason my new Power Station PS-2A sounds and feels much better than the previous one I owned?

[Soundstorm]

I believe the previous unit I had was also a PS-2A, but I could be wrong on that. I bought this most recent one brand new from Zzounds. Immediately upon opening the packaging my first thought was that it felt heavier than I remember. The pots also have a firmer feel to them with more resistance, whereas my previous model's pots felt much looser, almost like they would shift if the wind blew in the wrong direction. When I first plugged everything in and started playing my jaw dropped. THIS is what I've been looking for in an attenuator. My old unit didn't sound nearly this good. I also couldn't get the volume whisper quiet on that one, but with this one I can. I finally sold the older unit after a frustrating couple of weeks with it (thinking the PS was all hype), and continued on with my attenuator search in the two years since.

After a lot of demo watching, I started to suspect that something may have been up with that older unit, and I decided to give the Fryette another shot, and boy I'm glad I did.

So now I'm wondering if my older unit was faulty, a previous gen, or if it possibly could have been a fake. Is China faking these yet? Either way, I'm very happy I gave these another shot and bought a new one. This opens up a lot of options for me to be able to play and record at home while keeping all of my tone and feel intact.

 

[napalmdeath]

Could be the tubes. They used to be all Chinese Ruby, maybe they've got JJ's in the power section and a better mix of 12AX7's.

 

[Soundstorm]

Could be the tubes. They used to be all Chinese Ruby, maybe they've got JJ's in the power section and a better mix of 12AX7's.

Yeah I considered that, but then there's also the loose almost cheap feel of the pots on the older unit. I might've imagined the newer one being heavier also, but that was the first thing I thought when I pulled it out the box. Oh well, at least I've got a good one now

 

[Greazygeo]

Does yours go silent with the volume on zero? Or is there still some volume from the speakers?

 

[John4021]

Does yours go silent with the volume on zero? Or is there still some volume from the speakers?

Is one better than the other.?

 

[Soundstorm]

Does yours go silent with the volume on zero? Or is there still some volume from the speakers?

My new one does, the old one didn't.

 

[Greazygeo]

Is one better than the other.?

I would rather it had the ability to go to zero. I can use it as is, but would be nice if it coukd be silent at times.

 

[Greazygeo]

My new one does, the old one didn't.

Great thanks. Kinda thought it shoukd be able to go silent.

 

[Chronic Narnia]

Just unplug the speaker cable from the PowerStation. I never even power mine on when using it as a loadbox.

 

[Greazygeo]

Just unplug the speaker cable from the PowerStation. I never even power mine on when using it as a loadbox.

Mine sounds different when the speaker is plugged in vs unplugged and using the loadbox part.