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Dr. Z Air Brake


myles_rose

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Just a quick bit of info on the Dr. Z Air Brake.

 

I am in the process of playing with one of these units.

 

They retail for $275.00 ... I am not sure what the street price is, but at $275.00 if you rip one open and look inside, there is at least one $19.00 piece (the rheostat), which when you look at standard BOM (bill of materials cost to retail cost) would be a VERY pricy part to use ... yet, Dr. Z choose to do this.

 

The chassis, box, powder coat, and the rest is right up to Dr. Z very high standards.

 

What I like about this unit ....

 

It is simple. It does what it is intended or advertised to do. It is well thought out. The feet are big enough that it sits nicely over a amp handle. The commectors are first rate.

 

Simply, this unit allows you to make an amp that is too loud for many places, more quiet. No fancy EQ or emulation, or other factors, just take care some of those things with your amps EQ.

 

At maximum attenuation levels, sure, there is a change in tone a bit. There is no way around this, even with the most sophisticated units on the planet. A speaker will sound different when pushed hard versus pushed softly. The Air Brake is sonically very transparent, and may be just the ticket for a lot of folks that get yelled at in apartments, or in "houses with spouses".

 

In a smaller venue live, where it can be a bit sparse on crowd at the start of an evening, with few folks around, just turn this up (the level down). As the room fills up and the background level increases, just reduce the level of attenuation without changing your amp's settings. Because the unit sits so nicely on the amp or head, and has such easy controls, this is as easy as changing the volume on your amp, actually easier, as the main level control has detents.

 

You can set the levels of attenuation of the detent control by simple adjustments inside the unit. This is pretty cool, as you can set it to drop in steps to your personal taste.

 

The unit works great with 4-8-16 ohm cabs. There is no selector, or need for one. It worked just as nicely with all cabs, even the same cabs wired with the same drivers for 4 ohms and then 16 ohms.

 

All in all, a very cool unit, that is really nicely made, but even more important, a piece of cake to use.

 

I tested this with a GT S-45, and a Marshall 1959 super lead. In both cases, it worked really nicely.

 

I don't know how hard these are to get, or how easy, but if you want a great "tool" that will work with most folks amp inventory, or even single amp, this is worth looking into.

 

You can find out more on the Dr. Z website at http://www.drzamps.com/airbrake.html

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Cool!

 

Do I dare ask how, in your oppinion, the Air Brake compares to other similar products, in particular the THD Hotplate and Marshall Powerbrake? -Caevan O'Shite

 

P.S.- Oh, Myles, I did eventually remember to e-mail a request for "sticky notes" (permanantly placed post-threads) info to the webmaster for the Les Paul Forum. I included your tech-e-mail address at GT. -k

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by CaevanO'Shite:

Cool!

 

Do I dare ask how, in your oppinion, the Air Brake compares to other similar products, in particular the THD Hotplate and Marshall Powerbrake? -Caevan O'Shite

 

P.S.- Oh, Myles, I did eventually remember to e-mail a request for "sticky notes" (permanantly placed post-threads) info to the webmaster for the Les Paul Forum. I included your tech-e-mail address at GT. -k

CaevanO'Shite..........

 

This is sort of subjective I guess. The THD is a very cool unit. The deal with the Air Brake is that it does cost less, and works with all impedances, so that may be a factor. In the end, it will be what the end user prefers. Stores that carry Dr. Z may also carry THD, so it might be cool to A/B them. Maybe at some point I can try that myself.

 

On the Marshall unit, it is bigger, heavier, and perhaps more expensive. Once I get into that sort of territory, I just make the jump to the GT Speaker emulators. They have full EQ, effects loop, and can be used with or without speaker cabs attached, or drop the level to the cabs while still having a real emulated out to the house system or board. That is the only one with a true inductive/reactive load as it has an actual speaker voice coil inside. But the GT unit is intended for other use than the THD and Dr. Z units and is much more costly and complex.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Thanks for the reply!

 

I have tried the Marshall Power Brake before, but the biggest thing I didn't like was the innability to run 4-ohm or lower loads, so I didn't buy it (a used one loaned to me for a test-run.) As I didn't get to use it with the amps I wanted it for, I couldn't fairly evaluate it's impact on "tone".

 

I do own an early version of the GT-E Speaker Emulator, the model with the "pole filter resonance EQ" and no power reduction between amp and speakers. As a reactive load-box instant "pre-amp" device and/or an effects-tap parallel to the "straight" sound in the speakers, it sounds incredible. I can notice a subtle change- for the better- in the "straight speaker" sound when simply connecting it in parallel or series with the actual speakers and nothing downstream from the Sp. Emu., assumedly from the interaction of the internal transducer and the output transformer, tubes, driver-tube, and negative feedback circuit. A little more vintagey touch-sensitivity, sponginess and bounce in a good way, added complexity and toothy response. I'd like to try the newer model GT-E Sp. Emu. sometime, and think that I'd like to have one in addition to the oldster!

 

(BTW, I've been trying to convince Lee Flier to give the GT unit a spin, after noting her complaint of not always being able to track with her band "live" due to the punnishing volume pounded out by her beloved bf Pro Reverb- like one I own- when really pushed for the overdrive... )

 

I also once owned an old Tom Scholz Power Soak. Are the THD and Dr. Z units significantly better sounding?

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by CaevanO'Shite:

Thanks for the reply!

 

I have tried the Marshall Power Brake before, but the biggest thing I didn't like was the innability to run 4-ohm or lower loads, so I didn't buy it (a used one loaned to me for a tesr-run.) As I didn't get to use it with the amps I wanted it for, I couldn't fairly evaluate it's impact on "tone".

 

I do own an early version of the GT-E Speaker Emulator, the model with the "pole filter resonance EQ" and no power reduction between amp and speakers. As a reactive load-box instant "pre-amp" device and/or an effects-tap parallel to the "straight" sound in the speakers, it sounds incredible. I can notice a subtle change- for the better- in the "straight speaker" sound when simply connecting it in parallel or series with the actual speakers and nothing downstream from the Sp. Emu., assumedly from the interaction of the internal transducer and the output transformer, tubes, driver-tube, and negative feedback circuit. A little more vintagey touch-sensitivity, sponginess and bounce in a good way, added complexity and toothy response. I'd like to try the newer model GT-E Sp. Emu. sometime, and think that I'd like to have one in addition to the oldster!

 

(BTW, I've been trying to convince Lee Flier to give the GT unit a spin, after noting her complaint of not always being able to track with her band "live" due to the punnishing volume pounded out by her beloved bf Pro Reverb- like one I own- when really pushed for the overdrive... )

 

I also once owned an old Tom Scholz Power Soak. Are the THD and Dr. Z units significantly better sounding?

CaevanO'Shite .........

 

If Lee wants to try a GT Emulator, she can try one of my personal ones. The GT unit actually has a voice coil inside, and a lot of other stuff, so it is a bit different.

 

The Dr Z and THD units are both great. The Scholz unit I never tried or heard, so I cannot speak on that one, but I will say that Tom Scholz made some great stuff, and is a pretty great player, if that means anything :)

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Originally posted by ChristopherKemp:

What do these units do to the dynamic response of the amp? Are they squashed, or does it help more than turning the amp way down?

This is a VAST improvement to turning the amp down.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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The Tom Scholz Power Soak was kinda cool for what it was, which was a fixed-resistance load box, as opposed to the reactive-impedance loading of the GT-units. That being said, I loaned mine out (the Scholz Pwr. Sk.) and didn't try to get it back... you know how some products, like stomp-boxes with preamp tubes, can lend a little "tubeyness" to a ss amp? The Scholz unit was capable of lending a little "solid-stateness" to your tube amp! Not in the same league as the reactive-impedance load technology, but a usable utility. -"Special K"

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by myles111:

Just a quick bit of info on the Dr. Z Air Brake.

 

The unit works great with 4-8-16 ohm cabs. There is no selector, or need for one. It worked just as nicely with all cabs, even the same cabs wired with the same drivers for 4 ohms and then 16 ohms.

Okay, this is my biggest issue with these units (I have an Alessandro Muzzle, which I love) . . . how does Dr. Z make one that doesn't "care" what impedence the cabinet is when it seems that almost everyone else charges about the same retail price for a single impedence unit? Margins and profitability aside, it would seem that these units would be much more popular if you didn't have to commit to a specific impedence (and therefore reduce your options for other amps and cabinets).

 

Could another unit (my Muzzle, for example) be relatively easily modified to handle a variety of impedences?

 

Thanks for your insight, as always, Myles.

www.ruleradio.com

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Any opinions on the Weber MASS? It's significantly cheaper than the other units mentioned.

 

I currently have a Scholz power soak. Sounds ok but CaevanO'Shite was definitely dead on about it adding "solid stateness" to the sound.

 

I've also heard rumours that they are unsafe for the amp and could cause a meltdown if used for extended periods of time. Makes me paranoid - I use it with my Sovtek but won't risk my old Fender.

"You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
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could you clear up some thing for me?

Do I need a stack for this? you know an all tube "some thing" pushing a 4x12 cab? or would this work on, an all tube combo, or a solid state amp?

So those calluses are supposed to be there; right?
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An all-tube combo or a head are fine; on-board speakers, cabinets, whatever. The only thing is that the impedance should match in the case of most of these "attenuators", some of which offer imedance selectors; the Dr. Z Air Brake being an exception, as it will work with different impedences.

 

A solid-state amp is not advised for this, and sort of defeats the whole point, which is pushing the tubes, transformers, and other componants and circuits to the point of a dynamically responsive overdrive by turning up, and keeping the actuall volume in hand by "soaking up" some of the power before it hits the speakers. Solid state amps do not require output transformers or, obviously, tubes, and are generally designed with a very neutrally colored output section that only provides "volume" by powering the speakers. Tube amps were originally designed with this approach in mind, it just was happenstance that they contributed to the tones that worked in the emerging popular musics of jazz, blues, rock'n'roll, and all that came after. When "progress" happened, it was quickly discovered that the baby was thrown out with the bath-water! Hence, the scarceness of the first of Fender's solid state amps in the '60s, designed by engineers and reviled by real musicians!

 

So, your Twin, JCM 800, Vox AC15, Silvertone, Airline, Orange, Crate, Boogie, Bogner or Matchless (in other words, any all-tube amp) will work fine, with whatever speakers, combo, 4x12", whatever... Think of it as a second master volume connected between the amp and speakers. -"Special K"

 

P.S.- by "all tube", I mean at least an amp with a tube output-section driving the speakers; Some Music Man amps have solid-state pre-amps and tubes in the output section, and would probably work just fine for a bluesy tone with one of these units. -k

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by CaevanO'Shite:

Y'r' welcome!

 

Uummmnn... , Myles- I hope you don't mind my fielding that one... -K

CaevanO'Shite.............

 

I don't mind at all! Great answer too.

 

If you ever want a second, non-paying, part time job, feel FREE to answer in the "feel free to ask Myles" post.... it would be great to have more than my own point of view there.

 

So ......... if you want to take on a small task of doing that from time to time, I shall dub thee an official employee and rep of Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting!

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Wow! And, I mean that sincerly! Thanks, what a compliment, not taken lightly!

 

I'll see what I can do, get my feet wet, but I'll be a bit cautious, not wanting to disinform or leave anything out...

 

I'd love to be able to make even a part of a living doing anything music-gear-related; even "volunteer work" spins my wheels!

 

Well, I'll get off this for now, or I'll type all damn day... Caevan "Haiku" O'Shite! :D

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by CaevanO'Shite:

Wow! And, I mean that sincerly! Thanks, what a compliment, not taken lightly!

 

I'll see what I can do, get my feet wet, but I'll be a bit cautious, not wanting to disinform or leave anything out...

 

I'd love to be able to make even a part of a living doing anything music-gear-related; even "volunteer work" spins my wheels!

 

Well, I'll get of this for now, or I'll type all damn day... Caevan "Haiku" O'Shite! :D

CaevanO'Shite ........

 

You are more than welcome. Take a crack at it. I will always look at what is said, and if something needs to be corrected or added to, or whatever, I will just post that in your post.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

timrocker-

 

I don't believe so. Its main intent is simply to allow you to attenuate the perceived volume coming out of the speaker, without changing the controls on your amp once you've found that "sweet spot" for the tone that you're after. It plugs into your amp's speaker-out jack, and then connects to the speaker.

 

(For further info, Myles has posted a link to the Air Brake page at Dr. Z's 'site above.)

 

If you want something that will allow you to route your amp's output signal, post-output tubes and output transformer, with a sound like a close-mic'ed Marshall 4x12" cab loaded with early, low wattage alnico Celestions, check out a GT Electronics (Groove Tubes) Speaker Emulator. This rack-mount unit is like having a "silent speaker" that puts out a line-level signal via a standard 1/4" instrument cable. (Of course, always use a real speaker cable to connect the amp to the Sp. Emu.) The newest model has a few steps of attenuation similar to the Air Brake, if you still want to power a speaker but want to tame it a bit, as well as an EQ section.

 

These use a real speaker voice-coil inside (no digital-this or modeling-that!) and sort of "fool" your amp into behaving as if it's driving a vintage Marshall 4x12" cab with alnico, low-watt Celestions. The speaker is actually a part of the circuit in a tube amp; change speakers, and the output tubes and transformer will react differently to pick attack and overall dynamics, just as if you changed a capacitor or resistor or "choke" coil. That's part of the reason that some speakers sound "cleaner" than others, besides ththe fact that some don't "break up" and distort as much as others.

 

The older units sound great, but have fewer features and a different sort of pole-filter resonant EQ. In my opinion, the early GT SE's sound great with "Marshall" style amps, while the newer ones are especially magic for "Fender" style amps. Both work amazingly well for any tube amp up to 100 watts, though.

 

Marshall liscensed the technology from Groove Tubes/GT Electronics, and put out their own SE unit with a cool three-way similation of mic angles. These are not to be confused with Marshall's tranformer-based "Power Brake", a cool attenuator in its own right. The Marshall SE's are highly sought after, and I believe that they are out of production.

 

I've never understood why these kinds of SE's and Attenuators never really caught on overall, as they are awsome and can render modeling amps nearly pointless! I won't sell you my GT SE, and I doubt that Myles will sell you any of his, either! -k

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Caevan;

Thanks for more info. :thu: The Air Brake sounds like a good box for the money, at $275 fairly reasonable. For what I'm trying to do, it would require an additional power amp, so the GT SE starts to make sense. My deal is that I want to get FX and EQ after the power tube stage of a Marshall 100 watter.

 

Also have a Lexicon Signature 284 (actually made by Lace) that uses el 84's in stereo. Would like to try to get more signal into the el 84's so they clip more, by boosting certain frequencies coming in at the power amp ins. Any suggestions for how to do that? Ever do this kind of sound? I am after a very toothy Scorps/Van Halen/ kind of hard rock tone. Thanks for the ideas. :thu:

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A cool thing about the GT E SE and the Marshall SE is that you can use them either in series or in parallel with an actual speaker, or with no speaker at all.

 

(This latter effectively turns your favorite tube amp into a killer preamp or direct box.)

 

If you opt to use one along with a speaker, you will have the usual "dry" sound in the speakers connected to the amp, and you can place effects after the SE and route it to a stereo power amp and cabs, a PA, a recording console or whatever else you can think of. Think of it as "virtually" close-micing your amp and processing that signal prior to sending it where you will.

 

If you can afford it, I'd get both an SE (either GT or Marshall) and an attenuator like the Dr. Z Airbrake, The THD Hotplate, the Alessandro Muzzle, the Marshall Power Brake, the Harry Colby Silent Speaker, or... I'm sure there are other reactive-load attenuators out there...

and use the SE for the effects-send and the attenuator between the amp and real speakers. Talk about the best of both worlds!

 

Just be sure to use real speaker cables for all speaker connections; the output from the SE will be needing a regular instrument cable, though.

 

***And be sure to correctly figure out all impedences, series and parallel, and use the correct impedence setting, if there is one, on your amp. If in doubt, ask someone like...Myles!

 

Cool, you've got a Lexicon Signature 284? I've got a Lexicon Vortex, and love the absolutely wild effects that you can cook up with this divine sounding, relatively cheap little rack unit. I've never tried the 284, but I understand that they're excellent.

 

I would scope out the "Tube Primer Document", Preamp Tubes", "Matched Phase Inverters", and any other posts on these matters by Myle Rose on this forum. Also, you could consult Myles on a S.A.G. and M.P.I. kit from Groove Tubes (that's "Special Applications Group" and "Matched Phase Inverter") and really fine-tune and tailor the response and tone of the 284 with some specifically selected combo-sets of tubes. (When I do my next re-tubing, you can bet that that's the route that I'll take!)

 

The best part is, once you settle on a specific set, you will be able to consistently get the same tone out of your 284 (or any other amp that you tube this way) every time that you need to replace any or all of the tubes!

 

Best of luck! Be sure to talk to Myles on the "Feel Free To Ask Myles" thread about tubes for the sound that you want out of that 284! -k

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by myles111:

Just a quick bit of info on the Dr. Z Air Brake.

 

I am in the process of playing with one of these units.

 

They retail for $275.00 ... I am not sure what the street price is, but at $275.00 if you rip one open and look inside, there is at least one $19.00 piece (the rheostat), which when you look at standard BOM (bill of materials cost to retail cost) would be a VERY pricy part to use ... yet, Dr. Z choose to do this.

 

The chassis, box, powder coat, and the rest is right up to Dr. Z very high standards.

 

What I like about this unit ....

 

It is simple. It does what it is intended or advertised to do. It is well thought out. The feet are big enough that it sits nicely over a amp handle. The commectors are first rate.

 

Simply, this unit allows you to make an amp that is too loud for many places, more quiet. No fancy EQ or emulation, or other factors, just take care some of those things with your amps EQ.

 

At maximum attenuation levels, sure, there is a change in tone a bit. There is no way around this, even with the most sophisticated units on the planet. A speaker will sound different when pushed hard versus pushed softly. The Air Brake is sonically very transparent, and may be just the ticket for a lot of folks that get yelled at in apartments, or in "houses with spouses".

 

In a smaller venue live, where it can be a bit sparse on crowd at the start of an evening, with few folks around, just turn this up (the level down). As the room fills up and the background level increases, just reduce the level of attenuation without changing your amp's settings. Because the unit sits so nicely on the amp or head, and has such easy controls, this is as easy as changing the volume on your amp, actually easier, as the main level control has detents.

 

You can set the levels of attenuation of the detent control by simple adjustments inside the unit. This is pretty cool, as you can set it to drop in steps to your personal taste.

 

The unit works great with 4-8-16 ohm cabs. There is no selector, or need for one. It worked just as nicely with all cabs, even the same cabs wired with the same drivers for 4 ohms and then 16 ohms.

 

All in all, a very cool unit, that is really nicely made, but even more important, a piece of cake to use.

 

I tested this with a GT S-45, and a Marshall 1959 super lead. In both cases, it worked really nicely.

 

I don't know how hard these are to get, or how easy, but if you want a great "tool" that will work with most folks amp inventory, or even single amp, this is worth looking into.

 

You can find out more on the Dr. Z website at http://www.drzamps.com/airbrake.html

Does the GT SEII "attenuate" as much as the Dr. Z Air Brake? That is, when feeding a signal to a mixer for recording, as well as to a guitar speaker cabinent for monitoring, will the SEII drop the sound level as much as the Air Brake? And, will the resulting sound (coming out of the speaker using the SEII) be similar to the sound coming out of the the same speaker cabinet when using an Air Brake?
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Originally posted by WaterMan:

What I'm understanding now is that the GE attenuates up to 6db, and that the Air Brake attenuates up to 7.2 db (not a lot of difference, it seems). Forgive my ignorance, but what does the sweep do -- is this additional attenuation?

The steps on the Airbrake are actually adjustable by sliding the brackets along a large wire resistor, if you take the back off of it. So you can manipulate to some extent how much attentuation you get at each step. The sweep gives you more attentuation, but it never goes to complete silence. When I use the Airbrake with my JTM45 clone (40 - 50 watts), I'm usually on setting 4 or somewhere on the "sweep" portion, while rehearsing with average volume drummers. So, in my case, 6 db would not be enough.

 

I was kind of disappointed that the Dr. Z version of the airbrake didn't include a line out (I believe it was included on the Kendrick version), because I had thought about running a delay off of it through another amp.

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Originally posted by myles111:

Originally posted by ChristopherKemp:

What do these units do to the dynamic response of the amp? Are they squashed, or does it help more than turning the amp way down?

This is a VAST improvement to turning the amp down.
Yeah, I thought this was the case, actually.

 

But maybe I should word it this way: How does the response of the amp change with a power soak vs. leaving it wide open?

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