A production external attenuator really isn't much of an option on its own as there are none on the market that can handle that much wattage; at least none that I've come across in my searches. A power break is rated to 100 watts The most I've seen is up to 150 watts on my PS100. Anything larger would need to be custom built.
The power reduction I am describing is not at all the same thing as an attenuator.
An attenuator is in line after the power transformer allowing the amp to run full out at up to max wattage, sending what is needed to the speakers and the rest is dissipated as heat.
Power scaling; which is what I'm talking about and is seen on a number of amps, is applied at the power output tube stage, lowers the plate voltage, then goes on to the power transformer and speakers. So not as much power is being sent to the transformer.
You can achieve the same end result of power tube saturation at lower volumes, but it is achieved in drastically different ways.
My question is based on applying power scaling to the 300 watt amp in 1 of 2 ways.
1. Add power scaling to drop it down 10 fold to something like 30 watts, which cab be pretty loud too but is more manageable. Though I think that would end up sounding like ass since you tend to loose bass response with that much power scaling.
2. Use power scaling in conjunction with attenuation. Scale it back to about 150 watts which can be handled by my Power Station then any further volume reduction can be taken care of by said Power Station. I'm thinking overall this would be the better option as scaling the power by 1/2 shouldn't have too much noticeable loss in bass response & the PS100 is very transparent so it won't color the sound much. This is assuming it would all work as I'm thinking and not overload anything.
So I was asking if power scaling could be applied to a high wattage amp like this with no ill affects as part one of the possible plan. If this can be done safely the next stage would be to look into if attenuation could be applied afterwards.
The final option would be to have a custom built attenuator that can handle 300+ watts. As I said there's not one that I know of readily available on the market.
Which of the options to go with would be based on viability and costs. I'm researching one thing at a time, which has all been put on hold for now. I'll eventually circle back around to this, but there have been a couple of other things that came up after my initial post that I want to come first. But if anyone has advice in the mean time I'll gladly take it.
