Ultimate Attenuator?

[John55]

www.ultimateattenuator.com

Anyone here have any experience with one of these? The write up makes me want one badly!

[Joe]

Don't know about current production models but the original ones were a disaster and they got horrid reviews. If buying used make sure you can confirm date of manufacture and talk to the builder to see when any major overhauls began. Or buy a THD Hot Plate.

[Roodboy]

Theres a nice review at legendarytones

[aortizjr]

Buy a Weber MASS or a THD Hotplate. You can get the Hotplates for pretty cheap from Avatar Speakers.

[begin_etienne]

I have used one with a bogner ecstasy 101b and the output transformer was vibrating and generating a buzzing sound out of the speakers at a high attenuation setting. The UA itself was also vibrating using the plexi switch.

I got the UA from the guitarist of the Black Crowes, maybe this was the first generation of the UA.

I wish I could try it with a Marshall.

I think there's an internal power amp in the UA. Also, you can use any impedance without changing jacks or turning a knob, nice !

[Dave_C]

Originally Posted by begin_etienne

I have used one with a bogner ecstasy 101b and the output transformer was vibrating and generating a buzzing sound out of the speakers at a high attenuation setting. The UA itself was also vibrating using the plexi switch.

Ah, yes, mine did that too. Thanks for reminding me.

[908SSP]

My Ultimate sounds great and doesn't buzz. I believe it is the latest version. Sounds better then my Mass or Allesandro of course it cost more.

[John Phillips]

Originally posted by begin_etienne
I think there's an internal power amp in the UA. Also, you can use any impedance without changing jacks or turning a knob, nice !

Caveat: I've never seen or used one. But I have read about it, and it appears that it is NOT an 'attenuator' - it's a dummy-load/re-amp system.

Quite different, and should not be marketed as something that it is not. (IMO)

I also understand that it is a fixed impedance of something like 32 ohms. Do NOT assume that you can use this with any amp, especially a 4-ohm one and certainly not a 2-ohm (eg Super Reverb). Doing so could wreck your amp. There is no such thing as a 'universal impedance' attenuator (not without having an impedance selector on it, anyway). It's possible to make one which is usable with a range of impedances, providing you accept the mismatch caused - the Airbrake designs are like this - but if so, 32 ohms is not the right value to choose. It's well outside the safe mismatch range for a 4-ohm amp, even allowing for the rise in a normal speaker's impedance at high frequencies.

If any of this information is wrong, I'll be glad to be corrected, but if not there's no way I would use one of these with any 4- or 2-ohm amp, and I'd even be careful with an 8-ohm one.

Personally, I would buy an attenuator.

[Dave_C]

Originally Posted by John Phillips

Caveat: I've never seen or used one. But I have read about it, and it appears that it is NOT an 'attenuator' - it's a dummy-load/re-amp system.

Quite different, and should not be marketed as something that it is not. (IMO)

I also understand that it is a fixed impedance of something like 32 ohms. Do NOT assume that you can use this with any amp, especially a 4-ohm one and certainly not a 2-ohm (eg Super Reverb). Doing so could wreck your amp. There is no such thing as a 'universal impedance' attenuator (not without having an impedance selector on it, anyway). It's possible to make one which is usable with a range of impedances, providing you accept the mismatch caused - the Airbrake designs are like this - but if so, 32 ohms is not the right value to choose. It's well outside the safe mismatch range for a 4-ohm amp, even allowing for the rise in a normal speaker's impedance at high frequencies.

If any of this information is wrong, I'll be glad to be corrected, but if not there's no way I would use one of these with any 4- or 2-ohm amp, and I'd even be careful with an 8-ohm one.

Personally, I would buy an attenuator.

Running into higher impedance is generally considered safe (it does result in higher voltage transients that most modern OT designs handle well), but the big problem is that it makes the tone too dark and smooth and the feel too mushy.

[eliot1025]

Originally Posted by John Phillips

Caveat: I've never seen or used one. But I have read about it, and it appears that it is NOT an 'attenuator' - it's a dummy-load/re-amp system.

Quite different, and should not be marketed as something that it is not. (IMO)

I also understand that it is a fixed impedance of something like 32 ohms. Do NOT assume that you can use this with any amp, especially a 4-ohm one and certainly not a 2-ohm (eg Super Reverb). Doing so could wreck your amp. There is no such thing as a 'universal impedance' attenuator (not without having an impedance selector on it, anyway). It's possible to make one which is usable with a range of impedances, providing you accept the mismatch caused - the Airbrake designs are like this - but if so, 32 ohms is not the right value to choose. It's well outside the safe mismatch range for a 4-ohm amp, even allowing for the rise in a normal speaker's impedance at high frequencies.

If any of this information is wrong, I'll be glad to be corrected, but if not there's no way I would use one of these with any 4- or 2-ohm amp, and I'd even be careful with an 8-ohm one.

Personally, I would buy an attenuator.

There's something I don't understand -
Assuming there's no such thing as a 'universal impedance' attenuator (not without having an impedance selector) why is that a problem for the UA which is "NOT an attenuator?"
If you could explain this in laymans' terms I'd appreciate it (some of the terminology loses me).

Thanks,
Eliot

[hasserl]

Originally Posted by eliot1025

There's something I don't understand -
Assuming there's no such thing as a 'universal impedance' attenuator (not without having an impedance selector) why is that a problem for the UA which is "NOT an attenuator?"
If you could explain this in laymans' terms I'd appreciate it (some of the terminology loses me).

Thanks,
Eliot

Because though it is not an attenuator, it is loading the amp down the same as an attenuator would, and the impedance mismatch between the UA and the amp can cause serious (read expensive) problems for the amp.

[grantster]

This device sounds like some take on the EVH trick of running into a dummy load and then sending signal thru solid state power amp. There is a guy in vancouver that has built something like this for years. He was selling them for about $200.

[pfrischmann]

I heard (unconfirmed) that Magnus is importing that same canadian product.

[grantster]

I went to read the review at legendary tones after I just posted and was shocked to see that it looks exactly like the one that I have. Same box, knobs, switches etc, even the same concept. I have had mine since the late nineties. hmmm? When did the ultimate attenuator come out? The guy that built mine has some other cool inventions. He is not a guitarist himself but has been repairing amps for 30 years. He has quite a knack for listening to guitarists problems and coming up with solutions for their gear.

[papa taco]

Originally posted by grantster
I went to read the review at legendary tones after I just posted and was shocked to see that it looks exactly like the one that I have. Same box, knobs, switches etc, even the same concept. I have had mine since the late nineties. hmmm? When did the ultimate attenuator come out? The guy that built mine has some other cool inventions. He is not a guitarist himself but has been repairing amps for 30 years. He has quite a knack for listening to guitarists problems and coming up with solutions for their gear.

Is it a shop called Ho's? Or something like that? By Metrotown?

taco