michael c Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Anyone own a Weber Mass, Air Brake or Richter? Any thoughts or opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPCustom Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 I had a Dr Z Air Brake until about two months ago. I was trying to find a way to get the same sound quality of an overdriven tube amp but at lower (tolerable) volumes. The Air Brake works fine. But the sound is just not the same at lower volumes. It lacked a little "gut" and both the bass and high end fall a bit a lower volumes. I think that's partly because of the way our ears work and party because you're not getting the speaker cone distortion that you normally only get at higher volumes. Since the Air Brake wouldn't do exactly what I wanted (and I'm not sure anything can), I sold mine. I probably only used it about 4 hours total. Born on the Bayou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tone Taster Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Why are you counting out the THD hotplate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael c Posted July 15, 2006 Author Share Posted July 15, 2006 Originally posted by yZeCounsel: Why are you counting out the THD hotplate? Seems like quite a few folks are unhappy with the THD. So I am looking at alternatives........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg B. Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 I just got a used Weber MiniMass this past week for my Epi Valve Jr head. It's the 15 watt version with treble boost switch, probably about 2-3 years old. I know that not everyone likes attenuators, but I am pretty happy with it. When you have it turned down pretty low, it does lose some tone, but not very much IMHO, definitely not enough to bother me. I got mine used on ebay, but I would have not thought twice about buying a new one. As I said before, I'm very happy with it. Good luck in your quest Avoid playing the amplifier at a volume setting high enough to produce a distorted sound through the speaker-Fender Guitar Course-1966 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miroslav Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Originally posted by michael c: Originally posted by yZeCounsel: Why are you counting out the THD hotplate? Seems like quite a few folks are unhappy with the THD. So I am looking at alternatives........... Unhappy in what way exactly...? I have a THD HotPlate...and there's nothing about it the makes me unhappy. It's a device...like many others... ...and you can get about a gazzilion different tones out of it...so it's hard not to be able to find a few to like. Hell...it sure beats any modeller for getting lots of nice crunchy tones out of your amp without taking you head off. miroslav - miroslavmusic.com "Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorx Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Originally posted by LPCustom: I had a Dr Z Air Brake until about two months ago. I was trying to find a way to get the same sound quality of an overdriven tube amp but at lower (tolerable) volumes. The Air Brake works fine. But the sound is just not the same at lower volumes. It lacked a little "gut" and both the bass and high end fall a bit a lower volumes. I think that's partly because of the way our ears work and party because you're not getting the speaker cone distortion that you normally only get at higher volumes. Since the Air Brake wouldn't do exactly what I wanted (and I'm not sure anything can), I sold mine. I probably only used it about 4 hours total. You've pretty much nailed what the deal is with attenuators. I use two of the Sholtz Power Soaks in my rig and when you get past a couple of clicks the tone is just not the same. You lose upper and loser frequencies and the thing most people don't realize is that you are removing the speaker from the tone equation, because it's not being pushed hard. It becomes a transducer for the tone like a hifi speaker rather than a part of the tone itself. I haven't used any of the modern attenuators like the THD, although I did try out a friends Marshall Power Brake once and it didn't sound any different than my Power Soaks. I rant about this and more on a webpage I did here. "A man's got to do something for a livin'." "Dyin's not much of a livin', boy." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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