Whats the best attenuator?
- Thread starter sksac
- Start date
moltenmetalburn
Active member
Earplugs.
moltenmetalburn
Active member
Lol, i happen to hate attenuators but yeah i know what it's like trying to balance tone and the people/animals around you.
Digital Jams
New member
Give the family money to go to the movies, that should give you 2-3 hours.
Shark Diver
New member
I like my Phantom. But honestly I like slaving the amp way more - best attenuation out there.
I have been wondering the same thing about which one to get. I have a few marshalls that I usually cant bring to gigs because they are just too loud at the small clubs I usually play in. I have heard great talk about the faustine and alex's and the ultimate attenuator and the ho, aracom, jim kelly etc. The clips I heard of the faustine sounded nice but dropping a grand on an attenuator and still having a 6 month wait just seems fucked for me anyway. I really am digging the options that can come with the newer revised ultimate with the dual footswitchable volume knobs as I actually thought of this idea years ago and wondered why it wasnt available and it also has the variac like power plug on the back to run the amp at 100vdc and the clips I have heard sounded nice also. I have had a thd hotplate in the past but I heard that the new crop mentioned above is a big improvement over it. I am in the market if anyone is selling an atten let me know.
I know this will fall on deaf ears (ha!) , since people equate price with quality, but get the Alex. I've had the Faustine, Aracom and Alex at the same time for back to back comparisons, and the high dollar Faustine and Aracom were no better than the Alex. If you need to use different impedances, then go Faustine.
Buckeyedog
Active member
I just picked up an Alex and am very pleased. Even sounds really good at -12db. Now I haven't compared it to the other high enders, but so far so good. Going to give the line out a try probably today sometime.
blackba
Well-known member
As was already mentioned, the 3 top ones seem to be the Alex, Aracom, Aracom DAG, and Faustine Phantom. They are priced in that order. The Rivera Rockcrusher is the new one on the block and looks promising.
If you need different impedances (ie you are going to use it with multiple amps), then the Aracom, Faustine, and Rockcrusher are the ones to go with.
Myself, I am probably going to go for the Aracom DAG, but at this point that is more than I have to spend on an attenuator. I wish the Alex worked for me, but you can only get it in 8 or 16ohm version. So that means if I get the 16ohm version, I can't use it with my vintage fenders. I could add a Weber impedance matcher to the Alex, but that is just another box to mess with and I haven't heard of anyone who has tried it.
I know any attenuator you get is going to change the tone, its just a matter of if you can live with what it does to the tone.
Frankly an Axe-Fx is looking more tempting right now than an attenuator in the quest to keep the volume down.
If you need different impedances (ie you are going to use it with multiple amps), then the Aracom, Faustine, and Rockcrusher are the ones to go with.
Myself, I am probably going to go for the Aracom DAG, but at this point that is more than I have to spend on an attenuator. I wish the Alex worked for me, but you can only get it in 8 or 16ohm version. So that means if I get the 16ohm version, I can't use it with my vintage fenders. I could add a Weber impedance matcher to the Alex, but that is just another box to mess with and I haven't heard of anyone who has tried it.
I know any attenuator you get is going to change the tone, its just a matter of if you can live with what it does to the tone.
Frankly an Axe-Fx is looking more tempting right now than an attenuator in the quest to keep the volume down.
Might as well toss in another one. Same feature set as the Aracom, same high price:
Tone King's IRONMAN takes attenuation technology to a new level, with its precision reactive load and 100% pure transformer coupling of both load and speaker at every level of attenuation. With this technology, your amp sees the same complex load impedance at every level of attenuation. The speaker is likewise coupled to the amplifier with 100% pure transformer coupling (no resistors!), for the most transparent and accurate coupling possible, at every level of attenuation.
- Max power handing: 100W RMS
- Input impedance: 4, 8, 16 Ohms (selectable)
- Output impedance: 4,8,16 ohms (selectable, independent of input impedance)
- Attenuation Steps: 15 steps (0db to -40db)
- Line Out: Adjustable, speaker simulated
- Bypass: True Bypass Switch
- Load Type: Precision Reactive Load; models 25W G12M to within +/- 1db
- Power Division: Pure transformer matching of load and speaker at all attenuation steps
- Dimensions: 9" wide x 4-3/4" tall x 10" deep
- weight: 14 lbs.
Price: $850
Tone King's IRONMAN takes attenuation technology to a new level, with its precision reactive load and 100% pure transformer coupling of both load and speaker at every level of attenuation. With this technology, your amp sees the same complex load impedance at every level of attenuation. The speaker is likewise coupled to the amplifier with 100% pure transformer coupling (no resistors!), for the most transparent and accurate coupling possible, at every level of attenuation.
- Max power handing: 100W RMS
- Input impedance: 4, 8, 16 Ohms (selectable)
- Output impedance: 4,8,16 ohms (selectable, independent of input impedance)
- Attenuation Steps: 15 steps (0db to -40db)
- Line Out: Adjustable, speaker simulated
- Bypass: True Bypass Switch
- Load Type: Precision Reactive Load; models 25W G12M to within +/- 1db
- Power Division: Pure transformer matching of load and speaker at all attenuation steps
- Dimensions: 9" wide x 4-3/4" tall x 10" deep
- weight: 14 lbs.
Price: $850