Power Tap

[Finbar]

Not sure it is the right forum exactly, but has anyone had any experience with this, or a product like it?

[url="http://www.pottysue.co.uk/openaudio/Power.html"]http://www.pottysue.co.uk/openaudio/Power.html[/url]

Sits on your amp, and basically looks like a volume pot in your effects loop, dropping the volume before the output stage of the amp. Doesn't look to work in the same way as a powerbrake or hot plate, and at £25, must surely be worth a punt? I'm not thinking just for playing quiet at home, but for getting a large valve amp to saturation point without pwning the entire venue/practice room.

If it is such a simple solution, why haven't I heard of this kind of thing before, and why isn't everyone using one?

What do people think?

[Toasted]

It only works if your FX loop is in series... which most aren't. Also it only gives you preamp distortion, not powertube distortion.

It's also £4 worth of bits.

[Dood]

how ridiculous lol.. you could do better sticking an EQ pedal in your effects loop and just turning down the level on that. The idea of the Marshall powerbreak and the Palmer speaker emulator, for example is for the poweramp valves to be cranked so that they ooze all their lovely compression and drive. The latter tools allow you to wind the output down so the amp is still maxing, but the level is a lot lower at the speakers.

This tool appears to just be another volume control for dropping the level into the poweramp. I guess it could find a use if you are bizarrely using a non 'master volume' head, like an old marshall.. but they didnt have an effects loop anyway.. so again.. completely pointless with ref to their marketing spiel.

For the guy who said it enabled him to sell his powerbrake, obviously wasn't aware of what it was there for in the first place, or didnt need it.

I'm off to build a gadget that goes in a bass that actually improves the signal in the mains cable! *guh*

[Finbar]

So what would this actually do in an effects loop? It wouldn't just have no effect, surely?

[Dood]

[quote name='Finbar' post='141367' date='Feb 15 2008, 09:05 PM']So what would this actually do in an effects loop? It wouldn't just have no effect, surely?[/quote]


By the wildest stretch of my imagination, there's a passive tone network inside the box that changes the eq as you wind the control round whilst at the same time bringing down the volume, thus doing an interesting emulation of what a valve amp sounds like cranked up.


Even in dreamland I don't buy it. - I reckon it is something similar, but essentially just a passive (variable resistor) olume control in a metal box.

I am happy to be proved otherwise, but you'll never emulate a cranked valve power amp with a simple box in the effects loop. Oh.. unless it is connected with leads dipped in snake oil lol!

[BigRedX]

I use a Marshall Power Brake on my Hughes & Kettner Tube 50 guitar amp, and the sound is so much better with this in place and the master volume cranked up to nearly maximum and then reducing the volume on the Power Brake to less ear-bleeding volumes, than just having the master volume to control the output. With guitar you still don't get quite the same speaker compression effect, but for everything but the most critical recording sessions this is the business. Unless you're using something pretty old-school in the speaker department you're unlikely to notice this on bass. Do remember though that because you're running the valves at maximum all the time their life will be correspondingly shorter.

[Thornybank]

All attenuators have a characteristic sound. They are all biased, taking out mid, highs or both in some measure.
I like the Marshall Power Brake for EL34 amps and the Hot Plate for 6L6 amps. A Marshall head can take a mid scoop and the 6L6s are toppy so need the fat left in.

But that's me.

Anyway, unless you have £150 or so in the kitty, the best way to cut your sound is to reduce the surface area of your speakers.
Using a 4x12 or 4x10? Use a 2x12. Using a 2x15? Try a 1x15. All the way down to a 1x12. I like a Marshall 1912 cab reloaded with a 200w EV, myself.
Great all-rounder for studio and acoustic support moments.

But that's me.

[papadesophie]

[quote name='Finbar' post='141367' date='Feb 15 2008, 09:05 PM']So what would this actually do in an effects loop? It wouldn't just have no effect, surely?[/quote]
If it's just a passive volume pot surely it just bleeds signal off to ground as you blend it back. You could do the same with a passive volume pedal in the effects loop....
but if you're only after preamp valve distortion i'm sure it would work just fine

[EBS_freak]

I've been through a fair few attenuators... THD, Weber, Marshall, Ultimate attenuator, Trainwreck (well, the Dr Z version) - and whilst they all do what they say on the tin, it is a comprimise. Out of all of them, I would say that the THD performed the best. If you are thinking you are going to get an awesome tone at small volumes, think again. These things still work best when doing a little amount of attenuation as the more you attenuate, the more mids and tops you lose. There are bright switches on the THD and Weber for example, but they don't really put back what was lost.

The difference between the device in the first post and a proper attenuator is as follows.

An attenuator goes between the output stage of an amp and the speakers. Simply speaking, rag your amp and then only let through what you want to the speakers.

The above device doesn't have any interaction with the poweramp. You are just basically cutting the power from the preamp to the poweramp. Granted you are going to be using more of the master to get it up to volume... but if you are looking for power tube saturation, you are not going to get it because there is simply not enough signal going into those tubes. You are going to get a thinner sound...

There was a surge of these boxes going on eBay not too long ago - the target audience being fender hotrod deville/deluxe owners. Are they good? Well, depends what you are looking for. A volume pedal, eq etc in the fx loop will do the same (assuming it's a series loop). Personally I wouldn't bother.