Passive vs. Reactive Attenuators

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Yeah but you said it's "in a league of it's own". Tough to have such a strong opinion on something you have no experience with.

Fryette tends to attract a cult like following on geek boards. Unwarranted I believe. The Power Station is 8 year old tech and brings nothing new to the table.
Are you talking Fryette in general or the power station? I’ve seen many people slag off Fryette on boards. Those of us that like what they do, love them. So those people might seem “cult like”. We get that way because there aren’t others similar to Fryette. Love my D120 for specifically what Fryette does and no one else seems to. Definitely not unwarranted.
 
The TAE isn't a Two Notes product, it's Boss/Roland. I did own the Torpedo back in 2018 I think. Same tech as the PS, just not with tubes which is my preference as tubes add color which is not what I want. The TAE does so much more.

Like fry your tubes and your output transformer.

Anyone using a Boss TAE with any model of my amplifiers will void any and all warranties and any repairs from damage will be from the owners expense.

It’s been stated many times the TAE impedance curve when using the onboard resonance settings on high reflect a non realistic impedance back to the OT secondaries which then cause flyback voltages to damage the primary of OTs as well as cause power tube damage due to excessive screen grid current.

Some amps can get by with it and others can’t because the reflection is amplified or reduced based on OT turns ratios. Boss refuses to acknowledge the design flaw.

Here’s John Suhr’s take on it himself on post #12 and post #23

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...-expander-damaging-amps.2579752/post-39320524
 
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Fryette PS2a was/is a game changer for me.
And even if I'm really crushing down the volume early on a Sunday morn, I just roll the tone knob up on my guitar...
 
When a cabinet is connected the Fryette PS100 is using the cabinet for reaction.

I wouldn't use it without. It sounds perfect this way.

The TAE does more but not better than the PS. It can sound great though.

I prefer both to the Ox Box.
 
Like fry your tubes and your output transformer.

Anyone using a Boss TAE with any model of my amplifiers will void any and all warranties and any repairs from damage will be from the owners expense.

It’s been stated many times the TAE impedance curve when using the onboard resonance settings on high reflect a non realistic impedance back to the OT secondaries which then cause flyback voltages to damage the primary of OTs as well as cause power tube damage due to excessive screen grid current.

Some amps can get by with it and others can’t because the reflection is amplified or reduced based on OT turns ratios. Boss refuses to acknowledge the design flaw.

Here’s John Suhr’s take on it himself on post #12 and post #23

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...-expander-damaging-amps.2579752/post-39320524

The whole thing with Boss, is all they had to do was acknowledge this might be an issue with some amps, and then give a list of transformer types that you should be careful with the resonance with. Like all they had to do was acknowledge it, and a bunch of people (including me) would have given them the benefit of the doubt because its Boss/Roland.

They did the OPPOSITE, where because they are Boss/Roland, they think they can get away with anything without any explanation whatsoever.

Even without the resonance issue, the TAE, Ox, and PS are all different devices with slightly different feature sets.

I prefer the power station, even though I am not a Fryette guy at all, and think he's a giant douchebag.
 
John Suhr’s take
Used it pretty much daily for over 6 years through all the amps in my sig and plenty more. Incredible box—nothing available today does what the TAE does. Thousands of units sold worldwide and one guy on TGP claims he had an issue. John Suhr sells a competing product and made boogie man accusations about the much more capable Boss unit that his product competes with. His own endorsee Pete Thorn chooses to tour with the TAE even while publicly backing Suhr’s story. They both admit that unless you have the resonance all the way up it’s a nothing burger so if the scary stories bother you just don’t do that.
 
I prefer the power station, even though I am not a Fryette guy at all, and think he's a giant douchebag
We have discussed this and I get where you are coming from but have you actually owned the TAE?
 
His own endorsee Pete Thorn chooses to tour with the TAE even while publicly backing Suhr’s story. They both admit that unless you have the resonance all the way up it’s a nothing burger so if the scary stories bother you just don’t do that.
I did find that interesting.
 
We have discussed this and I get where you are coming from but have you actually owned the TAE?

No, I would never spend money on something where by turning the resonance knob it's a lottery ticket for frying transformers :hys:

But, i've played around with one at a local music store. It sounds good (especially compared to a non-reactive powerbrake, etc) but I don't personally think it sounds as good as the PS for in the room, attenuating a tube amp with a cabinet. TBH it's simply not as transparent sounding to my ears, and especially at higher attenuation levels flattens out the eq response of the attenuated amp.

If you want to load IRs, the TAE im sure is great - and it also is the best at headphone playing - it killed the OX and PS for that from what I can tell.

I just think all of the attenuators are on a venn diagram with some overlap, and pretending they are all the exact same thing for the exact same purpose is a little silly, because they clearly excel and stumble at different things. Non-overlapping magisteria.
 
Used it pretty much daily for over 6 years through all the amps in my sig and plenty more. Incredible box—nothing available today does what the TAE does. Thousands of units sold worldwide and one guy on TGP claims he had an issue. John Suhr sells a competing product and made boogie man accusations about the much more capable Boss unit that his product competes with. His own endorsee Pete Thorn chooses to tour with the TAE even while publicly backing Suhr’s story. They both admit that unless you have the resonance all the way up it’s a nothing burger so if the scary stories bother you just don’t do that.
Wait, are you BennyHillFranklin from that TGP thread linked above?
 
Are you talking Fryette in general or the power station? I’ve seen many people slag off Fryette on boards. Those of us that like what they do, love them. So those people might seem “cult like”. We get that way because there aren’t others similar to Fryette. Love my D120 for specifically what Fryette does and no one else seems to. Definitely not unwarranted.
Fryette in general. Mostly on TGP but it leaks here as well. The PS is a sensitive topic b/c it resurrects the old tube vs no tube arguments.

I don’t care who makes the damn box, it just needs to sound great and make my playing experience better and more convenient.
 
I did find that interesting.
Yeah, but where does Boss tell us this risk? That’s the point. Not everyone is on forums. In fact most aren’t. So if I buy a TAE and wind up the resonance and have a disaster, how is that cool or fair or reasonable. Yet Pete Thorn and John Suhr are in a conspiracy to discredit only your one particular device, not others?

Glad you enjoy your product, but you sound like you are in denial.
 
No, I would never spend money on something where by turning the resonance knob it's a lottery ticket for frying transformers :hys:

But, i've played around with one at a local music store. It sounds good (especially compared to a non-reactive powerbrake, etc) but I don't personally think it sounds as good as the PS for in the room, attenuating a tube amp with a cabinet. TBH it's simply not as transparent sounding to my ears, and especially at higher attenuation levels flattens out the eq response of the attenuated amp.

If you want to load IRs, the TAE im sure is great - and it also is the best at headphone playing - it killed the OX and PS for that from what I can tell.

I just think all of the attenuators are on a venn diagram with some overlap, and pretending they are all the exact same thing for the exact same purpose is a little silly, because they clearly excel and stumble at different things. Non-overlapping magisteria.
Lottery ticket, Russian roulette, rolling the dice…I’ve read all the dramatic verbiage lol. Again, one story on a geek board when who knows how many thousands are out there in rigs around the world.

I’ve fried transformers before—not with the TAE—and it cost me a few hundred dollars. If I ever do it with the TAE I’ll let u guys know.
 
I used a Juice Extractor (still have it) which sounded great. Used a Hotplate (still have it) like I used the Juice Extractor (as a load) which sounds great. Now have a PS2a which also sounds great.
Do they sound like the amp direct to a cabinet? If I wanted that, I would run it that way. If all you are gonna do is record and have an iso-room and that gets your results, just do that. Mic your cab shut the door and have at it.

I worked on a Fireball 25 yesterday with built in power soak. The whole back panel was lined with big white resistors. Looked like an old power soak….
 
Yeah, but where does Boss tell us this risk? That’s the point. Not everyone is on forums. In fact most aren’t. So if I buy a TAE and wind up the resonance and have a disaster, how is that cool or fair or reasonable. Yet Pete Thorn and John Suhr are in a conspiracy to discredit only your one particular device, not others?

Glad you enjoy your product, but you sound like you are in denial.
Well the only person coming out against the thing sells a competing product. And his biggest endorsee uses the TAE on tour.

From what I can tell, your risk of having a disaster (aka having to spend a few hundred dollars) is very very low. For me, the features and benefits outweigh the alleged risks.
 
Well the only person coming out against the thing sells a competing product. And his biggest endorsee uses the TAE on tour.

From what I can tell, your risk of having a disaster (aka having to spend a few hundred dollars) is very very low. For me, the features and benefits outweigh the alleged risks.
We won’t go around on circles on it, but I still don’t get that first sentence. There are many other competing products, why does he choose this one?
 
We won’t go around on circles on it, but I still don’t get that first sentence. There are many other competing products, why does he choose this one?

Obviously notorious shitlib Fryette is secretly the president of anti-japenese racism, and it's literally for no other reason, and everyone is just being a big meany to tallcoolone and kicked his puppy because they prefer other products to the TAE
 
I just think all of the attenuators are on a venn diagram with some overlap, and pretending they are all the exact same thing for the exact same purpose is a little silly, because they clearly excel and stumble at different things
There are plenty of devices that can sit between your amp and cab and let you enjoy your cranked amp at lower volumes. They mostly all do a fine job of this. Several allow for 3rd party IRs. But only one has on board effects, amp control and full MIDI. Absolute game changer for a gigging guitarist.
We won’t go around on circles on it, but I still don’t get that first sentence. There are many other competing products, why does he choose this one?
See above—one of these boxes clearly has more capabilities than the others.
 
See above—one of these boxes clearly has more capabilities than the others.

Sounding completely transparent in the room with a tube amp is not one of them.

Loading IRs and sounding good with headphones is.

You are just pretending that because the features you value are in one unit, that it's objectively better that the others with some overlapping features.
 
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