el-guapo
Where to start, guys?
What experience has anyone had with any of them? I know there are quite a few local builds around. Which ones are good and is there any reason to go a THD or other international brand?
I am primarily looking at attenuation, but I am also aware that some combine it with a high quality speaker simulator, which might be worthwhile too if they are any good.
ezietsman
They come in 2 varieties. Resistive and Reactive.
Resistive: Eats a lot of your treble at high attenuation
Reactive: Eats less of it and the response is different.
Most people agree the Reactive variety gives the truest result.
My experience:
Mine is a Weber MASS 100 watt (because I have a ±40 watt amp that must be silenced), it uses a speaker motor for the reactive element. It affects the amp at very high attenuation levels. Don't expect quiet bedroom tones to be nice. Real speakers need to move else they suck ?
Absolutely get one that you can turn all the way down and use as a dummy load and that has a line out. The line out can go into your computer on which you run speaker / microphone impulse response. That way you can get cranked amplifier sound in your headphones. This works a lot better than very low volume. Example of my plexi cranked, 335 - impulse responses in garageband.
What amp do you want to attenuate? I could bring my Weber and you can try it on your amp, you're in Cape Town too mos ?
el-guapo
Thanks Ewald! Good solid advice.
I might take you up on the kind offer but up to my eyeballs at the moment so will let you know.
