Anyone using a power attenuator?

[Adelbatross]

Let me start off by saying that I know power attenuators are the least interesting thing I could probably write a post about (except maybe the new pedals from Walrus Audio). Anyway, I thought I'd ask here because I've seen lots of people post pics with massive rigs, and just wondering how people might be running them at home.

I've got a Verellen Loucks which I've got running great at the moment, and delivers a massive sound. The problem is getting that 100 watt beast to be useable at home. Anyone using an attenuator? Which one? Something else I'm missing? I've seen reviews of the Fryette Power Station which looks promising, but seems a bit pricey.

Anyway, if anyone out there has got some suggestions or opinions on the Fryette I'm all ears.

Ok, back to talking about more interesting things...(sorry again for a very TGP type thread).

[gaussgunn]

then you can try weber mass 200w

[frigid midget]

I ised to be in the anti-attenuaor camp. But they get snuffed at too often imo. Ofcourse an attenuated amp doesn't sound as good as an un-attenuated amp, and yeah there's a bit of extra strain involved on your power tubes...

But if you've got a loud amp you're in love with and you insist on uisng it at home, a good attenuator makes a lot of sense imo.

Bringing down 100Watt to living room volume levels though...That'll probably hurt your tubes a bit TOO much, and won't give you a tone that's a lot better than what you'd get from a small plractice amp. Just mpo ofcourse, ymmv, etc...

Thre thing is, a good attenuator costs almost as much as an okay used little amp...

[rfurtkamp]

The Webers aren't bad if the treble boost matches your amp well. Not sure on the Doom(TM) stuff, and the question is will the speaker be moving *any* real air at that point.

I have a 50w one for my Hot Rod Deluxe, and I can get very close to the sound in the room with the DI on the Weber, which is what I have it for, providing I use the +3 db treble boost on the output.

I'm not going for power tube saturation though either, just getting it to be more than choked at home level and compensating a bit for a touchy volume knob.

[univalve]

I use thd hot plates. Power tube distortion at recording level.

[bigchiefbc]

I use an old Tom Scholz Power Soak on my Bugera 1960 (Marshall Super Lead clone). It sounds great if you're just taking it down 3 or 6 db. When you start getting up to a lot of attentuation, it definitely loses some sparkle. The 3db setting is perfect, just to take the 100 watts down to 50. Perfect for my band's small practice room.

[KaosCill8r]

I use thd hot plates. Power tube distortion at recording level.

This^
They are a bit pricey but they are worth it for recording and when having shity police calling neighbours. I don't really need it these days. No close neighbors anymore thank fuck. Can crank my amp at 3am if I like and I do.

[waltdogg]

My Hellhawk has some sort of built attenuation going on in the power section to always get sweet power tube overdrive. I like it a lot. Sometime I forget this and start looking at attenuators before I remember I don't need one. Last one that caught my eye was the one from Badcat.