Weber Mass LITE: Opinions . . .

[traynor_garnet]

Anyone here used/own the Weber Mass Lite. I've owned the full Mass unit and the mini mass, so I'm not interested in comments on those.

The Mass LITE looks cool because you can attenuate the low and highs separately. One of the things I didn't like about other attenuators is that they rob all the sparkle, clarity, and treble from you tone; the LITE looks like you keep the top end by attenuating it less than the low end "boom."

The only potential problem is if the unit kills your top end as soon as you switch it on. My minimass totally sucked all the treble when on, regardless of the level of attenuation (made it unusable). I worry if the LITE has the same problem?


TG

 

[GBStratman]

Yes, I have the Lite, and I sometimes use it with a SFDR, which already has a tendency to be too harsh in the high frequencies. I use the attenuator just like you suggest: more attenuation on the lows, less on the highs. It still changes the tone a bit, but it's tolerable.

 

[traynor_garnet]

Man, only one person has used this thing?

TG

 

[samhambone]

i've got one and like it. i mistakenly thought the attenuation knobs would work just like volume knobs do, but that's not the case. depending upon whether you set the unit for highs or lows (there's a switch for this) one attenuator knob acts more like a tone knob while the other works more like a traditional volume knob. the one i have uses speaker motors (i think that's what weber calls it) instead of resistors, so it supposedly cause less tone loss. i dig mine and the price was the cheapest quality attenuator i could find.

 

[traynor_garnet]

Sorry for the ridiculously late reply. I didn't see it until today!

Are you saying you can ONLY attenuate the highs OR lows?

TG

i've got one and like it. i mistakenly thought the attenuation knobs would work just like volume knobs do, but that's not the case. depending upon whether you set the unit for highs or lows (there's a switch for this) one attenuator knob acts more like a tone knob while the other works more like a traditional volume knob. the one i have uses speaker motors (i think that's what weber calls it) instead of resistors, so it supposedly cause less tone loss. i dig mine and the price was the cheapest quality attenuator i could find.

 

[frizbplaya]

Are you saying you can ONLY attenuate the highs OR lows?

Sorry, but samhambone isn't right about that. There's a switch for Hi/Low but that switch goes from normal (high) to an extra 6db of attenuation (low) but doesn't affect the tone knobs at all. You CAN attenuate highs and lows separately. It didn't make AS big of a difference as I would have expected. I ended up using EQ to boost the highs before it got to the attenuator and that worked well to keep the tone.

 

[traynor_garnet]

Thanks for clearing that up. Have you compared the LITE to the regular MASS?

TG

Sorry, but samhambone isn't right about that. There's a switch for Hi/Low but that switch goes from normal (high) to an extra 6db of attenuation (low) but doesn't affect the tone knobs at all. You CAN attenuate highs and lows separately. It didn't make AS big of a difference as I would have expected. I ended up using EQ to boost the highs before it got to the attenuator and that worked well to keep the tone.

 

[Jahn]

Dunno about the Lite, but if you owned the regular Mass you should've been able to attenuate the lows and highs separately. Here's a shot of a Mass 150, which I currently own - I keep the bright switch on, and attenuate the lows down pretty low, and keep the highs up a bit more:

 

[traynor_garnet]

Hi Jahn,

Your Mass 150 uses the same controls as the mass lite. The "regular" Mass Units have only one attenuation knob that effects all frequencies.

TG

Dunno about the Lite, but if you owned the regular Mass you should've been able to attenuate the lows and highs separately. Here's a shot of a Mass 150, which I currently own - I keep the bright switch on, and attenuate the lows down pretty low, and keep the highs up a bit more:

 

[Jahn]

Ah! Thanks for the clarification. So I guess the best answer is "Get a Mass 150" hehe.