Power Attenuator for Herbie?

[Me]

Hello!

The volume knob on my Herbie is very sensitive down near the bottom of the range. Anyone got any suggestions for power attenuators so I can play it in my mid-terrace house after 10pm and not upset the old lady next door? I don't want it for use live, or for full power tube saturation or anything, it's just so I can run the amp really quiet at about 1/4 volume. If I'm recording I tend to do it earlier in the day, but it would be quite good to do a few guide tracks late in the evening with herbie's compensated out, and the cabinet very quiet too.

So, the Marshall powerbrake? Any experiences/thoughts? Any other makes/models? But remember the main aim here is cheapness, and hence probably 2nd hand, so no ridiculously expensive ones! It's pretty much only so I can play later in the evening without having to switch to some kinda computer/soundcard/headphones setup, and can still practice with my proper rig at very quiet volumes, so all alternative suggestions of stand-alone FX units/NI's guitar rig/small practice amps aren't really what I'm after.

Thanks!

 

[bananaladonpcp]

THD Hotplate is alright for that application. Just buy the one that matches the ohm load on the cab you play through. you can find them used for around 150 in good shape.

-Alex

 

[Kev]

I owned a Hotplate once for the same purpose, but simply turning down the master AND the channel volume gets me as quite and it sounds better. You can also take out 2 of the fuses, running the Herbert at 60 Watts. This will give you 30% less volume. It does not hurt the amp and it still sounds better then through a Hotplate.

I heard that the Rivera RockCrusher should sound better, more true to the original sound, then the Hotplate, but it ain't cheap.

My opinion: Buy an attenuator, compare its sound to my method and if it works for you keep it. (i doubt, that it will)

Cheerio

 

[Peter Diezel]

Thanks Kev you are right but I don´t would run the
Herbert with 2 or 4 power tubes. This will cause a
mismatch with the output transformer. I don´t prefer
it sound wise.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[tripstan]

Cheap way is to throw a volume pedal in the series loop. It will lower the volume without changing the structure of the preamp tones.

 

[proxmax]

i use the output pot in my g-force.
you don't need a powerbrake.

 

[Me]

I always thought it just seems to sound better with my preamp volumes at a good 1/3rd or so (helps the FX unit input level too) and then I end up messing about with the master volume somewhere around the the sensitive "no sound at all"/"quite loud for an 85 year old woman just behind the wall" level. Maybe I should poke around with it a bit more.

If I get some thing like the Marshall powerbrake it means I can set that to full attenuation too, so the cab is silent (or doesn't need to be connected at all) and I can listen to the signal from herbie's compensated output via my computer/headphones. Then I can let rip late at night and the only sound I'll my is my neck cracking from rocking out!

Will check out the hotplate too. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Me]

i use the output pot in my g-force.

Parallel loop mate. It'll just make my FX disappear. Semiconductors might taint Peter's genius!