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Hi, I really enjoy my new traynor YCV40WR and my Gibson Jr 2016 . The clean sound is beautiful and the channel 1 offers a really good vintage overdrive. But since I mostly use it in my studio, I can’t hardly crank the volume higher than 1 since it’s too loud. I’ve made some researches on the web about power attenuators and I’ve found that Dr Z Lite seems quite usefull and gets good reviews.

But since I don’t want it to be harmfull to my new amp, I would be very gratefull to get your professional opinion about this attenuator and attenuators in general.

 

http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/dr-z-brake-lite/11823

 

 

http://traynoramps.com/guitar/ycv/product/ycv40wr/

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I can share my limited amount of experience with you - I don't own a Dr. Z Lite and have never tried one, but your link there leads me to believe it's a pretty simple passive attenuator, probably an L-pad. I DID have one very similar to that, a 'Little Sucker', by Boutique Guitar Products. I picked it up for my Stromberg-Carlson AU-63 amps, which are very basic PA tube amps from the fifties. I've wired mine for 1/4" jacks, and they sound great to my ears opened up through a Jensen P15N; they're only about 15 watts, but that's still going to disturb someone in the house depending on what time of day it is. I thought passive attenuation would be a good solution -

 

Here's what I found:

 

1) The attenuator DID reduce power level (volume) at the speaker, and

2) It most definitely altered the perceived sound of the amp/speaker.

 

HOW did it alter the amp's sound? I'd describe it as a loss of some high frequencies, an overall muddier sound. The more attenuation, the worse it got.

 

It was a deal-breaker for me. You'll probably get some different opinions, but in the end it all comes down to what YOU can live with.

 

BTW, you wouldn't be putting your 40W Traynor in any danger by using that Dr. Z.

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Thanks for these info...I've already found one on Kiijii. It will be useful only when I'll be using channel one since this channel has a gain and volume controls and give an OD sound.

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