need some 2025 intel on non-crap attenuation.

[newholland]

dumb question:

would like non craptastic semi organic feeling attenuation for my mesa mark ii. its a master volume 60 watter, and my practice room isnt huge. i run two 112s.

honestly, i need to shave enough off to get it past the bump where the amp works right- which id guaranteed is MAYBE a coupla watts max. i need to spend some time voicing this amp for louder sitches and my band plays for a week at a clip like months and months apart- so its like relearning the damn thing, and a decent load box would help me get there, as well as be great for using in less stupid loud sitches.

i know theres been decent advances past few years like the captor stuff, and im wondering if just a straight off the shelf captor would do the jerb with a y cable. the direct out is a super bonus... but an attenuated speaker out is really the main goal.

im figuring if i got a 4 ohm box, wire up a y cable, i could use it either with the combo (mesas dont mind a small mismatch, particularly not at giant volumes) or the combo and thiele, and call it done?

i could also just put in a dr z brake lite.

halp!

 

[AutomationBias]

Fryette Power Station. It's amazing.

 

[laxu]

Fryette Power Station. It's amazing.

With potentially terrible support.

But it's basically "Buy a Power Station if you want a proper attenuator" as most other things on the market aren't much cheaper, and aren't really better either. St Rock React:IR II is probably the only other product I'd consider.

Suhr Reactive Load if you just want to run into e.g cab sims, it has no attenuation capabilities. No, putting it in parallel for -3 dB doesn't count, that's nothing.

Fryette PS can also double as a poweramp if you'd like to do a stereo or wet/dry rig using the Slave out on the Mesa.

If the Mesa has a series fx loop, you can try putting a pot in a box ala JHS Little Amp Box into it to act as an additional volume control. This way you could turn the amp knobs to where they do something, but reduce the volume in the fx loop. Dirt cheap thing to try first.

 

[newholland]

With potentially terrible support.

But it's basically "Buy a Power Station if you want a proper attenuator" as most other things on the market aren't much cheaper, and aren't really better either. St Rock React:IR II is probably the only other product I'd consider.

Suhr Reactive Load if you just want to run into e.g cab sims, it has no attenuation capabilities. No, putting it in parallel for -3 dB doesn't count, that's nothing.

It can also double as a poweramp if you'd like to do a stereo or wet/dry rig using the Slave out on the Mesa.

If the Mesa has a series fx loop, you can try putting a pot in a box ala JHS Little Amp Box into it to act as an additional volume control. This way you could turn the amp knobs to where they do something, but reduce the volume in the fx loop. Dirt cheap thing to try first.

haha.. way ahead of ya laxu.. i just stuck a geq in the loop with all the sliders down- voila! its quiet, clean, and lets me get away witth mebbe -10 or -15 db, which is just enough to have stable full power on the power section. i can get away with playing it low, but hell if it translates to louder settings on the volume knob. this is quieter, but sounds like a better read on the interaction of the amp and preamp, and the transitions better to what happens when i turn up. besides, mesas are basically all preamp anyhow with a big cleanish amp behind em.

that jhs pedal may be exactly what i need and ill just mount it in the combo chassis. bam! no hi dolla solution necessary.

thank you!

 

[spawnofthesith]

I bought a captor for the purpose of using it with IRs and doing stuff direct... and I still use it for that from tiem to time, but never with a smile on my face....

HOWEVER

the -20db thru attenuator it has works pretty great for me. I wouldn't be able to play my III or especially IV with any joy in my apartment without it


Power station is probably the ultimate option if willing to drop the coin though

 

[newholland]

I bought a captor for the purpose of using it with IRs and doing stuff direct... and I still use it for that from tiem to time, but never with a smile on my face....

HOWEVER

the -20db thru attenuator it has works pretty great for me. I wouldn't be able to play my III or especially IV with any joy in my apartment without it


Power station is probably the ultimate option if willing to drop the coin though

i am not

in all reality, an eq in the loop does exactly what i need, which is to get to the operating point where the amp goes from bedroom to stadium volume in 1/64".

now that i can safely get the master to 3 without damaging the structure of my house, i can gauge the interaction a little more accurately, even if evms arent even lit up yet.. but electrically im closer

 

[newholland]

I bought a captor for the purpose of using it with IRs and doing stuff direct... and I still use it for that from tiem to time, but never with a smile on my face....

HOWEVER

the -20db thru attenuator it has works pretty great for me. I wouldn't be able to play my III or especially IV with any joy in my apartment without it


Power station is probably the ultimate option if willing to drop the coin though

BUT thats pretty much what my take was on thw captor too... 20db is pretty much perfect!

 

[newholland]

meantime, building a passive attenuator for the loop requires a 100k pot, a box, two jacks, and some wire. project incoming!

 

[0XI0]

the boss big waza version has resonance and presence controls, I assume those are actual analog hardware adjustment of the reactive load. I'm thinking that would be ideal for compensating for tonal loss. went through about 10 videos of it but nobody ever touched the load knobs. idk any other load that gives adjustment. but maybe they are "simulated", dsp after the load, with the rest of the effects. that's how katana artist "cab res" is. even so, having boss dsp eqs and comp in the loop after real reactive load seems like a ideal functionality

 

[GreatGreen]

best sounding all-in-one reamper = Fryette Power Station

best sounding attenuator = Rivera Rockcrusher

alternative solution for attenuating a Mesa Mark II = a simple volume pedal in the effects loop. It's a Mark II, the poweramp is supposed to run clean. If engaging the loop doesn't hurt the tone, then just do that and put a simple extra volume control in there.

 

[0XI0]

a simple volume pedal in the effects loop

does this create noise issues at high attenuation? for high gain chugging u couldn't tell but for clean or low gain i can imagine a lot of hiss being added

 

[newholland]

best sounding all-in-one reamper = Fryette Power Station

best sounding attenuator = Rivera Rockcrusher

alternative solution for attenuating a Mesa Mark II = a simple volume pedal in the effects loop. It's a Mark II, the poweramp is supposed to run clean. If engaging the loop doesn't hurt the tone, then just do that and put a simple extra volume control in there.

exactly- works great, and gonna do the passive loop control. all the other stuff would be awesome for a marshall or something, but i figger the logics sound... its a preamp attached to a clean amp!

 

[newholland]

does this create noise issues at high attenuation? for high gain chugging u couldn't tell but for clean or low gain i can imagine a lot of hiss being added

i just did it, more or less with a buffered eq pulled all the way down, and really, not a giant penalty. a passive device might have a little noise... but i doubt it, tbh. the preamp is just dumping 12v output to ground, and lord knows, a 60w mesa has room to spare for volume to bring it back up feel wise, it may be less responsive with less voltage though- i can see that. meantine, though, im justgetting enough shaved off to practice at low volume more or less, and the amp does the marshall 0 to 1000 volume launch at 1.. i just need to get just beyond that.

 

[Snave]

I liked Bad Cat's The Leash attenuator. It's pretty transparent.

Alex's Attenuator (later sold as the Scumback DBL) was reputed to be the best attenuator around, but the one I tried had huge tone suck. Might have been broken.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

The Power Station is awesome. Definitely recommended. But it's literally buying another amp in terms of price, tubes, maintenance etc

For a simple, passive attenuator, I still like the good old THD Hot Plate. It sounds good on all but the most extreme attenuation settings and it's bullet proof and easy to use.

 

[newholland]

The Power Station is awesome. Definitely recommended. But it's literally buying another amp in terms of price, tubes, maintenance etc

For a simple, passive attenuator, I still like the good old THD Hot Plate. It sounds good on all but the most extreme attenuation settings and it's bullet proof and easy to use.

yeah- that one seems smart, but the upkeep is probably more than i need for my application. i also thought the dr. z brake lite would potentially be cool because the form factor is totally install and forget about it unless you know youre gonna seriously turn up.. but i figure ill seldom need all 60 watts anyhow.

cool- thanks!

 

[laxu]

yeah- that one seems smart, but the upkeep is probably more than i need for my application. i also thought the dr. z brake lite would potentially be cool because the form factor is totally install and forget about it unless you know youre gonna seriously turn up.. but i figure ill seldom need all 60 watts anyhow.

cool- thanks!

Personally I can't be bothered with any of these resistive loads. I think they suck the life and feel out of any tube amp.

 

[newholland]

Personally I can't be bothered with any of these resistive loads. I think they suck the life and feel out of any tube amp.

i think i lucked out with the series loop accommodating my needs anyhow!

its definitely been great to have full bass and treble dialable and in scale even close to where itd be if i turned up!

 

[laxu]

i think i lucked out with the series loop accommodating my needs anyhow!

its definitely been great to have full bass and treble dialable and in scale even close to where itd be if i turned up!

Yeah that's basically what I do on my Mark V:90. The fx loop active and output knob for overall volume control is about the same thing as a pedal in the loop.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Personally I can't be bothered with any of these resistive loads. I think they suck the life and feel out of any tube amp.

The Hot Plate is not a resistive load. Andy Marshall addressed that question a while ago on their FB page:

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.

www.facebook.com

I think it sounds fine on the -4 and -8db settings. Even the -12db is usable with some EQ and the deep and bright switches.
More than that, it starts to have too much of an effect on the tone/feel.