Any opinions on whether this is a good route to go for a combo in an apartment, or if it's less hassle to just use some pedals and call it a day?

Dr Tony Balls wrote:andyman wrote:Any opinions on whether this is a good route to go for a combo in an apartment, or if it's less hassle to just use some pedals and call it a day?I wound up getting a Rivera Rock Crusher to suit my apartment needs, and I think it works great and has the ability to keep things low enough to not bother the neighbors. That specific unit might be overkill depending on the power level of the combo youre trying to attenuate, but there are plenty of other options out there.Yeah, the professional options are very pricey. On the other hand, this looks pretty straightforward and costs (relatively) peanuts: DIY attenuatorI've never been quite satisfied with my amp at 3, but I suppose I'm not sure an attenuator will really solve that either, as the volume will still, ultimately, have to stay down.My Laney Cub 10 is ridiculously loud... It doesn't sound like it's 10 watts at all.

I've had pleasing results with the Ultimate Attenuator. It's a bit different than most other attenuators in that it acts as the entire load and then reamps the signal out to your cab through a small solid state power amp. So the sonic quality is the same through the entire sweep of the volume pot on the attenuator. It also has a 100V tap on it to help brown out your amp and an HF adjustment switch (poorly named the 'Plexi' switch) both of which can be quite helpful at getting usable sounds at what squares consider to be "reasonable volumes."If you can get over the fact that the dude who markets them in the states looks like a low-rent Dog The Bounty Hunter and the fact that you own a big gold box that says ULTIMATE, it can be a very useful tool.

andyman wrote:Any opinions on whether this is a good route to go for a combo in an apartment, or if it's less hassle to just use some pedals and call it a day?I wound up getting a Rivera Rock Crusher to suit my apartment needs, and I think it works great and has the ability to keep things low enough to not bother the neighbors. That specific unit might be overkill depending on the power level of the combo youre trying to attenuate, but there are plenty of other options out there.

I have had used them before, but until then I never realized how much the sound of speakers being pushed was important to what I liked. I think pretty much all of them will stress the tubes since you will be turning them up higher than you might have before.

Traynor YBA transformers are also super robust and way overbuilt, so it should handle it, no problem.

Snowblinder wrote:Just curious what any of you guys with experience think of the old Scholz Power Soak? Music Go Round just got one in. I went by yesterday and hooked it up to a blackface Bassman head. I went all in and knocked it all the way down (-32db), then cranked the Bassman to 10. I know there are better modern options available, and it seems like lots of people dislike these for the supposed sound quality degradation and an alleged tendency to blow up amp transformers, but it honestly sounded pretty awesome to me and the employees at the store were blown away at how much drive I was getting out of the Bassman at totally comfortable (as in we could have a conversation while I was playing) volume levels.While I don't think that they still are, Dan/Justin from The Darkness were using Power Soaks a few years back. I can't ever remember thinking that there tones suffered one bit because they were doing so.Edit: Scratch that. Turns out they were using the Marshall Power Brake.

Just curious what any of you guys with experience think of the old Scholz Power Soak? Music Go Round just got one in. I went by yesterday and hooked it up to a blackface Bassman head. I went all in and knocked it all the way down (-32db), then cranked the Bassman to 10. I know there are better modern options available, and it seems like lots of people dislike these for the supposed sound quality degradation and an alleged tendency to blow up amp transformers, but it honestly sounded pretty awesome to me and the employees at the store were blown away at how much drive I was getting out of the Bassman at totally comfortable (as in we could have a conversation while I was playing) volume levels.

garthplinko wrote:If you like how it sounds, that's all that matters. You're a dude who seems to be super dialed-in when it comes to getting good sounds so I would trust that. Maybe try it w/ your amp just to be safe.But yeah, a cranked bassman sounds effing AMAZING. The G.O.A.T. for me.I guess I was mostly wondering about their reliability and whether I would possibly be endangering my Traynor by hooking this up to it. The sound was surprisingly great, even at the most attenuated setting. I expected a super muffled, mediocre and compromised sound but, minus the obvious factor of the speakers pushing way less air, it sounded fantastic. In reality I would probably never even need to knock that much volume off in any setting, but I was in a crowded store and didn't want to be THAT guy.