Praise The THD Hotplate

[TaronKeim]

WOW!!! THIS THING IS AMAZING!!!

I should have definately bought one a long time ago, it and my Germino LoVo Lead 55 go together great, even at the -12db setting the change in tone is negligable, and being able to take it down to a whisper for after midnight practice is perfect, I'd rather take my great Germino tone and make it a little less great than play through a damn headphone amp. This thing is perfect and just what I was hoping for, I can officially gig with my Germino halfstack now. THANKS ED AND ANDY, GREAT PRODUCT!!!

-TJK

[papa taco]

Yep. I love mine too. -12 db and my Z28 keeps the neighbours happy except for really late I move it to -16 if I'm cranking the Z28 up pretty high.

What part of BC do you live in? I'm in the Vancouver area.

taco

[pluto]

Agreed! My first attenuator was a hotplate and then in the never ending quest for tone, I moved on to other attenuators. I have since gone back to the hotplate and IMO, there's no other better attenuator out there for my Marshalls.

[Joe57]

pluto,

What other attenuators did you try with your Marshalls before you came back to the Hotplate?

[pluto]

Originally posted by Joe57
pluto,

What other attenuators did you try with your Marshalls before you came back to the Hotplate?

I've owned the following attenuators: Koch loadbox (pretty good-but unplugging speaker cable to change attenuation levels was a pain); Ultimate Attenuator (I won't talk about that experience anymore-but FWIW-it was very transparent even at high levels of atenuation); Dr Z (good on the first two notches, not so good after. However, it did sound great with, surprise, surprise, my Dr Z amps at all levels!). I also played the Marshall PB which was surprisingly pretty good despite the reviews it gets but at higher levels of attenuation, the THD was better. I haven't played the Weber although I hear good things about it. I'm satisfied with the hotplate.

EDIT-also, I may add that I did not like the hotplate with some amps. It seems that with a few EL-84 amps that I've owned (Dr Zs and Budda Twinmaster), it didn't sound that good. With marshalls though, it's a different story-I love the Hotplate with them.

[Speed_Racer71]

anyone use the Weber Mass??

[TaronKeim]

Originally posted by papa taco
Yep. I love mine too. -12 db and my Z28 keeps the neighbours happy except for really late I move it to -16 if I'm cranking the Z28 up pretty high.

What part of BC do you live in? I'm in the Vancouver area.

taco

Hey Taco,

I'm up in Prince George, about 8 hours away from you, the capital of Central B.C HAHA!!! Next time I'm down in Van maybe we'll have to have a Tone Fest or something, I'm sure we both have substantial toys.

-TJK

[big mike]

Very cool man> I just got mine in 16 ohms to use with my Marshall. I really like it.

[Joe57]

Thanks for the info pluto!

Any appreciable difference in tone or feel between the Hotplate and the Airbrake at just one or two clicks of attenuation when used with Marshall type amps?

[big mike]

Not for me. Well, at 2 clicks, the THD is -8 and the Z brake -6. So the Z seems to not reduce as much.

I'm happy with both.

[pluto]

Originally posted by Joe57
Thanks for the info pluto!

Any appreciable difference in tone or feel between the Hotplate and the Airbrake at just one or two clicks of attenuation when used with Marshall type amps?

Not to my ears. It's been awhile since I've had the Z brake, but to me all the attenuators I've used or owned sounded great, i.e., transparent, at the first couple of levels of attenuation.

[pluto]

Originally posted by big mike
Not for me. Well, at 2 clicks, the THD is -8 and the Z brake -6. So the Z seems to not reduce as much.

I'm happy with both.

I thought the second click on the Z brake was about -4.5 dbs?

[tone slave]

works perfectly with my ecstacy classic. one thing i've noticed-- i used to think it didn't sound that great at -12 and -16, i thought it sounded a bit fizzy, but i realized that if i sat down with the speaker cab right in my face it sounded just as good as it did at louder settings when i was farther away. i guess the human ear just hears things differently at lower volumes than it does at higher volumes.

[big mike]

Originally posted by pluto
I thought the second click on the Z brake was about -4.5 dbs?

Maybe I'm wrong....

I thought they were 3db apart...

>shrug<