Bugera PS1 Attenuator Alternatives?

[phillybhatesme]

Looking to add another a simple power attenuator to use with a 100 watt head. I'm only looking for power attenuation; I have an Ox Box. I don't need IRs, I don't need virtual load or whatever it's called. I just want to run an amp at home at full power but lower volume.

I was looking at the Bugera PS1. Is there anything else out there as good?

 

[7704A]

Fryette PS-2A. Possibly a bit too feature-laden for your tastes, but that's mostly just because it provides insertion points to most of the internal circuit blocks. It does have a reactive load inside, if that's what you meant by "virtual load", which it uses to keep your amp sounding near-identical to how it does when it's not attenuated.

 

[ZEN Amps]

There’s a lot of options out there better than the Bugera. If you tell us what the amp is and your budget, we can recommend some.

Also did you need whisper quiet with very little tonal change, or just med levels?

 

[phillybhatesme]

Fryette PS-2A. Possibly a bit too feature-laden for your tastes, but that's mostly just because it provides insertion points to most of the internal circuit blocks. It does have a reactive load inside, if that's what you meant by "virtual load", which it uses to keep your amp sounding near-identical to how it does when it's not attenuated.

Yeah! Reactive load! Thanks.

There’s a lot of options out there better than the Bugera. If you tell us what the amp is and your budget, we can recommend some.

Also did you need whisper quiet with very little tonal change, or just med levels?

Maybe immediately a Mesa Fillmore.
Maybe something DSL-y or JCM-y in the future.
The Fillmore is 50 watts and I’m looking at amps up to 100 watts.
I don’t need to play at whisper levels but something that drops the volume considerably that’s easy to remove from the chain for when I want to bring the amp to rehearsal or something.

 

[Cless357]

Old Marshall PB-100

 

[DanTravis62]

Fryette power station. it's the best, most useful, and has options that people actually use and need.

 

[ZEN Amps]

People often don’t like this answer, but most amps with a master volume sound perfectly fine just being turned down - no external attenuator required.

If you really, really want to “get the power tubes cooking” as the cliche goes, the Rivera Rockcrusher is a reliable passive solution, and the PS as mentioned offers great sound and tonnes of versatility.

 

[DanTravis62]

People often don’t like this answer, but most amps with a master volume sound perfectly fine just being turned down - no external attenuator required.

If you really, really want to “get the power tubes cooking” as the cliche goes, the Rivera Rockcrusher is a reliable passive solution, and the PS as mentioned offers great sound and tonnes of versatility.

Especially modern amps with modern master volumes - they often sound great

What's interesting is being able to do a quick A/B with a ps1/etc and see just how much it affects or doesn't affect the tone

In my experience, vintage fenders, marshalls, voxes, hiwatts, can absolutely benefit from one

Super high gain stuff? absolutely unnecessary and a waste of time and money

 

[Racerxrated]

I have a Pulse attenuator, which is a clone of the Jet City/Soldano version...same as the Bugera. Works well but I get a little worried when it heats up to the point I could cook on the top of it......

I picked up a PS2 and it is solid. I did see this on Reverb, looks similar to my Pulse with more features....but made in China(Pulse is too, no issues yet.)

https://reverb.com/item/82196233-ro...0.s3W3gslZVoe-2GNGcYK_VR2GwG-VIEE8Vk4eWfhVvDg

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

People often don’t like this answer, but most amps with a master volume sound perfectly fine just being turned down - no external attenuator required.

If you really, really want to “get the power tubes cooking” as the cliche goes, the Rivera Rockcrusher is a reliable passive solution, and the PS as mentioned offers great sound and tonnes of versatility.

This is my experience as well. When I ran a 200 watt stereo rig with my Tremoverb and a slaved amp I never felt any need for an attenuator. I could run it with the master volumes low enough to talk over, or loud enough to be heard a couple blocks away and be quite happy.

Same thing with my Matamp GT150, the master volume is excellent, and I can play really quiet or loud af.

With my Hiwatt or Reeves Custom 100's I need an attenuator. They do have a Master Volume, but like any vintage 4 holer it goes from almost quiet to loud af really fast once you start getting the Brilliant and Normal volumes up where they add a little grit (which is where I like them).

Fwiw I use the Mesa Powerhouse attenuator and it works great. You can dial it down to near whisper quiet, but it really shines in the area of making uncomfortably loud amps more reasonable. Imo that's the same for all attenuators. Once you get the volume to a certain level our ears react differently, and no amount of eq will change that. Fletcher-Munson is real.

 

[HellraiserJohnny]

Talk to Stami - He builds custom attenuators, top quality and dirt cheap. He also has a about everything in stock if not a custom job. I use a custom he built for me for my stereo Syn50/50 so I can crank it and suck down the volume . . . .

https://www.stamiscustoms.com/attenuators/