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Basics of Attentuators


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Hey everyone, I have been looking into attentuators lately for my VJR, And I realized I really dont know much about them. I know what they do, it lets your turn down the volume while you play with full tube distortion, and I know I want a Weber Mini Mass 25 (any input on this choice would be appreciated). I dont however know how they work, why it would need a treble boost, or what else it might do to my sound, as I have heard some people dont like them because of there changing the tone. Thanks in advance!

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They do affect tone. There's a reason why there are attenuators with treble and bass controls. The MASS will add the compression effect that a heavily overdriven speaker will create. If you like speaker distortion, you'll love it. If you prefer unadulterated overdriven amp tone, you'll probably not prefer it. Purely resistive attenuator devices are a bit more transparent, but still affect tone.

 

How they work? I don't honestly know. They "knock the volume down" by "soaking up much of it with magic." But, they don't work this "magic" without a tradeoff. The tradeoff is tone loss. The question is: "How much tone loss are you willing to accept?"

 

Fortunately, in the case of a 5 watt amp, the tone loss isn't all that preceptible. Personally, I prefer no attenuation, but in the case of the inevitable, my preference is resistive attenuation/.

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I agree with the resistive attenuation for low wattage amps, in thats why an L-pad will do just fine

in a previous thread, some talk of sucking the tone out, well, does it really matter if your just noodling at home

and don't want to bother the significant other(s). My peavey windsor studio sounds damn good at low volumes for at home practice, and small amps that are used for gigs don't usually get any attenuation, if your looking for a small change attenuator, go with an L-pad.

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