Slaving for low volume... sounds lovely

[sinasl1]

So for you guys with plexis and such, looking for a good low volume solution... on the cheap....

try slaving. I used my Komet Airbrake this morning to slave my 50 watt Top Hat Emplexador. As long as the airbrake is down at least one click, it's functioning s a load. My Airbrake has a line out built in... so I ran a line from it to an MXR 10 band eq, then to an old Ibanez delay, then into the efx return of my Badger 30. Then out to a port city 1-12" with a M75 100 watt scumback. Man, what a sound! And it feels right too. The Emplex was on 10, VH style, with the tone controls pretty much cranked too. I backed down the treble to 9 and the bass to 5 and that was even better.

With the Badger as power amp, I was getting such juicy, rich distorted tone, at such low volume. The feel is awesome too! It's so fun to play through. Yes you'll fry tubes much quicker but hey, life's short. Might as well have some fun....

You can probably get a load resistor made with a line out real cheap... if you have a couple heads, one with an effects return, give this a try if you never have. It's pretty great. Sounds/feels like insta- VH1, at talking volumes!

 

[TTripp]

I slave my 100 watt Plexi into the return of the Badger 30 via a Hot Plate set to load. Fantastic indeed. Toss in some Power Scaling from the Badger, and it's a wide palette of tones at your fingertips.

 

[digital jams]

Have done this with master volume amps as well, MK IV loaded down into my rack and used a VHT 2502 for the power amp. Sustain for days and great feel.

 

[Whiskeyrebel]

So if you combined a Hotplate for the load with a Space Echo for delay and reverb, would that be a Space Heater? I don't know but I bet it would sound pretty wild.

 

[stratovarius]

Intriguing yet frightening!

 

[highgeer]

I did this for several years with my Bogner 100b (built in dumby load) into a old dual showman. Definitely my favorite tones at reasonable volumes. The guytron Gt-100 does this in one box.

Mike

 

[gainfreak]

been Doing that for 20 + years!!! It rocks!!

 

[donbarzini]

been Doing that for 20 + years!!! It rocks!!

And also with Pete.

 

[gainfreak]

And also with Pete.

 

[Tone_Terrific]

Technically you should be running into a speaker simulating reactive load and you may have to eq even after that, then reamp for power.
Although it might give you the sound of the loaded amp, or something you like, it just seems like too much gear to create what should be available from a simple front end pedal. Neither way is a fit-all solution, so YMMV.

 

[thorny]

Pete,
When you say out to the Port city 1X12, Do you mean out of the Badgers speaker jack or the Komet airbrakes speaker jack?

 

[steelvalley]

Been using a THD HotPlate set to load and running it into the Fx return of an old Laney 50W. Can anyone explain why the Ultimate Attenuator would sound better? Doesn't it operate on the same principle - it just uses a small built-in ss amp??

 

[zaraflux]

Been using a THD HotPlate set to load and running it into the Fx return of an old Laney 50W. Can anyone explain why the Ultimate Attenuator would sound better? Doesn't it operate on the same principle - it just uses a small built-in ss amp??

Yep dummy load into solid state power amp,been thinking of getting one of theese I run a 100 watt plexi into a DR103&504 wet/dry would like to cut down on the amount of gear Im hauling around.

 

[freaksho]

yep, it's a great way to go. i recently did this with my 2204, Hotplate and Shiva fx return. sounded amazing.

too much equipment to haul around to be useful for me, but it's fun to tinker with once in a while.

 

[jkr]

Yeh, it's definitely the way to go for low level home playing. Really keeps the feel and tone. Plus, for low level gigs, you can stick a volume boost pedal after load's lineout!! You can't normally have a volume boost after a cranked amp that's hit it's volume wall. I have a Hotplate and a Komet Airbrake (thanks Pete for turning me onto the Airbrake through this forum!). I definitely prefer the more natural sounding lineout on the Airbrake, althought the THD sounds decent it also doesn't clean up as well on the volume knob as the Airbrake's line. Either attenuator you have, this is the way to go.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Yeh, it's definitely the way to go for low level home playing. Really keeps the feel and tone. Plus, for low level gigs, you can stick a volume boost pedal after load's lineout!! You can't normally have a volume boost after a cranked amp that's hit it's volume wall. I have a Hotplate and a Komet Airbrake (thanks Pete for turning me onto the Airbrake through this forum!). I definitely prefer the more natural sounding lineout on the Airbrake, althought the THD sounds decent it also doesn't clean up as well on the volume knob as the Airbrake's line. Either attenuator you have, this is the way to go.

Might want to turn the boost switches on the Hot Plate on, since they work in reverse on the line-out. That will improve the reaction to the guitar volume knob.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Technically you should be running into a speaker simulating reactive load and you may have to eq even after that, then reamp for power.
Although it might give you the sound of the loaded amp, or something you like, it just seems like too much gear to create what should be available from a simple front end pedal. Neither way is a fit-all solution, so YMMV.

Only if you send the line-out to power amp and full range cabs, if you sending it to a guitar cab the last thing you'd want is a speaker sim. Also, using it as a wet/dry like this will increase the swoon factor.

I started doing this sometime in the early 80s when I used a modded DI for this. The speaker out of one JMP into delay into the power section of another JMP.

 

[steelvalley]

Only if you send the line-out to power amp and full range cabs, if you sending it to a guitar cab the last thing you'd want is a speaker sim. Also, using it as a wet/dry like this will increase the swoon factor.

I started doing this sometime in the early 80s when I used a modded DI for this. The speaker out of one JMP into delay into the power section of another JMP.

How do you tap into the power section of a JMP?

 

[TTripp]

Might want to turn the boost switches on the Hot Plate on, since they work in reverse on the line-out. That will improve the reaction to the guitar volume knob.

Hey Ed, that's something I've never quite understood. The HP manual says that the bright and deep switches actually CUT the bass and treble when turned on in Load mode. So is having them in the off position still "neutral" when the HP is set to Load, or is having them off boosting treble and bass?

 

[sinasl1]

Pete,
When you say out to the Port city 1X12, Do you mean out of the Badgers speaker jack or the Komet airbrakes speaker jack?

Out of the Badger speaker jack. Really sounds stellar!

The Airbrake seems to work great for this setup. I have a Hotplate too, have not tried it. I want to try it with a reactive load (the Faustine, when it is available)....

anyways, it is the most fun low volume hi gain tones I've experienced, and ya it's nothing new, guys have been doing it since the 70's I guess. It sounds and feels better than attenuating down to low levels (although the Faustine may change my opinion). For low to medium gain I just use my Badgers with power scaling, that works great. But a Marshall on 10 sure is fun... even to practice with. Makes me want to keep playing, it's hard to put the guitar down, I think that's what it's all about.