The Tone Thread

[rayc]

Sounds ace Minerman. I couldn't hear any real diff straight or attenuated.

[Greg_L]

Pretty cool miner! I hear the attenuated tracks have some "air" shelved off, and that's what attenuators do. Mine does the same under heavy load. The top end suffers a bit and the mids thicken up. You'll see a bunch of the higher end attenuators have a low cut or treble compensation control just for this phenomenon. Yours seems pretty good. You gotta listen pretty hard to tell the difference.

[Minerman]

Thanks dudes...This thing does the trick for me, & it's cheap, so that's even better...I'll just have to see how it holds up over time...

Dunno if you hear it, & it's pretty subtle, but the un-attenuated tracks not only have a bit more top end/air, but they also have just a little speaker breakup...Or I'm assuming is the speaker, it could be the power section of the amp distorting a little, or it could be both...

It's not as noticeable using the hot-rodded modes, but in "Plexi" mode, it gets pretty significant if I push the master volume up on the Chupa...

This freaks me out a little because I don't wanna blow that speaker... It's nothing special, just a 25w Chinese Greenback, but it's my favorite out of the little collection I have...It's also the oldest speaker I have, and it's broken in really, really well because it's been pounded with volume for years by every amp I've had (which is a bunch)...I still have the EVH 4x12 loaded with Greenbacks, & they do sound good, but I really like that particular speaker...It came in the Randall 1x12, which was the first cab I bought when I started all this crazy shit, IIRC, about 5 years ago now...

I recorded some line signals from the attenuator I'll post in a little while...I was gonna try to blend some IR's with my ISO cab mics, but I doubt I'd ever get 'em in phase enough to sound decent...More to come...

[JD01]

Yeah, the attenuated tracks aren't as bright and also seem a little less gainy... was much more evident on the lower gain stuff where the unattenuated stuff sounds better i reckon. By the time you get to the high gain stuff, I actually think the attenuated clips sound a little better!

[Minerman]

Yeah, the attenuated tracks aren't as bright and also seem a little less gainy... was much more evident on the lower gain stuff where the unattenuated stuff sounds better i reckon. By the time you get to the high gain stuff, I actually think the attenuated clips sound a little better!

Thanks Jdude, the attenuator definitely affects the tone, in some ways it's good & in some ways not so much...I guess it depends on how it's used...I'm not interested it taking an amp running full-tilt down to bedroom volumes, I just want to knock off a few db's of noise...Combined with the ISO cab, I think it just "works"...I think it sounds better on the hot-rodded modes as they're really bright to begin with & it tames a little of the harshness...

Using it as a safety-net thing to keep from blowing a speaker, I think it does great, & I'm actually impressed with it...I'm pretty sure all attenuators alter the sound of an amp a little, like Greg mentioned, some of 'em have things to help compensate the high-end/"air" loss, but some of those are up to 5x as expensive too, like the Rivera models...This is a $100 Booger knock-off of the Jettenuator (supposedly designed by Mike Soldano), so for the price, again, I like it...

[Greg_L]

I've repaired my Weber Mass 200 a few times...due to drops...and it's shockingly and stupidly simple inside. I could build these things all day long for nearly nothing.

[JD01]

I've repaired my Weber Mass 200 a few times...due to drops...and it's shockingly and stupidly simple inside. I could build these things all day long for nearly nothing.

Go for it, mate. I'm sure there'd be a market for Greg branded attenuator. You could easily put together a small site with before and after clips of cranked Marshalls so people could see the difference.

[JD01]

Managed to get a (simple) tune recorded on the weekend - all done using the emulated out from the H&K. I reckon its turned out alright actually.
The cleans particularly work quite well. I'm not that happy with the crunch tones, they're both darker and more gainy than what I get with the amp turned up loud in the room. Works really well as a writing tool though so that I get things written and arranged and then crank it up and record properly when I get the time and space.

Silent Recording Rough Mix.mp3

[Greg_L]

Go for it, mate. I'm sure there'd be a market for Greg branded attenuator. You could easily put together a small site with before and after clips of cranked Marshalls so people could see the difference.

I don't know if I'd want the liability. Attenuators already have a pretty bad rep as "amp killers", even though it's pretty much always operator error.

[SweetDan]

Ok, here are some mic'd clips with/without the attenuator for comparison...Lemme know what you think...

I'm glad you posted these. It was very interesting to hear how using an attenuator changes the upper frequencies; it was educational for me. So even though my comment doesn't offer some any useful feedback for you, thanks for sharing!

[Greg_L]

Managed to get a (simple) tune recorded on the weekend - all done using the emulated out from the H&K. I reckon its turned out alright actually.
The cleans particularly work quite well. I'm not that happy with the crunch tones, they're both darker and more gainy than what I get with the amp turned up loud in the room. Works really well as a writing tool though so that I get things written and arranged and then crank it up and record properly when I get the time and space.

Silent Recording Rough Mix.mp3

You're doing 80s power pop now?

It's not so bad. The clean parts sound okay. The mix is so unbalanced that the overdriven guitars just kind of fade back so any issues with them aren't that noticeable anyway.

[JD01]

Managed to get a (simple) tune recorded on the weekend - all done using the emulated out from the H&K. I reckon its turned out alright actually.
The cleans particularly work quite well. I'm not that happy with the crunch tones, they're both darker and more gainy than what I get with the amp turned up loud in the room. Works really well as a writing tool though so that I get things written and arranged and then crank it up and record properly when I get the time and space.

Silent Recording Rough Mix.mp3

You're doing 80s power pop now?

It's not so bad. The clean parts sound okay. The mix is so unbalanced that the overdriven guitars just kind of fade back so any issues with them aren't that noticeable anyway.

Yeah, I like the clean guitars. Don't think much of the overdrive sound.
I know what you mean about unbalanced, but I can't quite work out why yet. The transitions between the clean and crunch sections are awful, but I haven't been able to get it to work. I have been knackered when I've been working on it, but if you have any ideas that would be great.

Fortunately its not one of my songs - someone asked me if I'd do an arrangement of one of their songs for them and I had nothing better to do.

[Greg_L]

Yeah, I like the clean guitars. Don't think much of the overdrive sound.
I know what you mean about unbalanced, but I can't quite work out why yet. The transitions between the clean and crunch sections are awful, but I haven't been able to get it to work. I have been knackered when I've been working on it, but if you have any ideas that would be great.

The drums and bass are eating up everything. Far be it from me to ever complain about drums being too loud....but your drums are like a billion db too loud. Lol. And tonally, the kick and bass have way too much super low end energy. They're masking everything. Any potentially useful lows and mids of the guitars are being swallowed by the low end mush and all that's left to hear is thinness in the guitars. It's like...the overhyped lows and highs of the kick and bass have created this black hole in the midrange, and instead of the guitars sitting nicely in that hole, they're being swallowed into the hole.

[JD01]

Odd. I've not really changed much with my drum or bass settings, the only thing really different with this mix is the emulated guitars.

[Greg_L]

Odd. I've not really changed much with my drum or bass settings,

I know. And your mixes always have that same problem to me.

[JD01]

Odd. I've not really changed much with my drum or bass settings,

I know. And your mixes always have that same problem to me.

I'll pop up just a bass and drums section over the next few days if I get chance. I'd like you to have a listen and tell me what you think the problem is.

[Minerman]

I've repaired my Weber Mass 200 a few times...due to drops...and it's shockingly and stupidly simple inside. I could build these things all day long for nearly nothing.

Lol...I remember at least once when you did that...The only thing I've found on this attenuator I don't like is it only has 1 speaker jack...I might add another jack, maybe...I'm assuming something that seems simple would be, we'll see...

I'm glad you posted these. It was very interesting to hear how using an attenuator changes the upper frequencies; it was educational for me. So even though my comment doesn't offer some any useful feedback for you, thanks for sharing!

It's all good dude...

Managed to get a (simple) tune recorded on the weekend - all done using the emulated out from the H&K. I reckon its turned out alright actually.
The cleans particularly work quite well. I'm not that happy with the crunch tones, they're both darker and more gainy than what I get with the amp turned up loud in the room. Works really well as a writing tool though so that I get things written and arranged and then crank it up and record properly when I get the time and space.

The dirt guitars don't seem to sound bad, but I can't hear 'em in the mix like I should...Turn the drums/bass down, tweak their low end a little, then see how the guitars sit...I'm gonna guess you'll still have to turn the dirty guitars up just a little though...Again, they don't sound bad, I just can't hear 'em in the mix like I should be able to...

[JD01]

]The dirt guitars don't seem to sound bad, but I can't hear 'em in the mix like I should...Turn the drums/bass down, tweak their low end a little, then see how the guitars sit...I'm gonna guess you'll still have to turn the dirty guitars up just a little though...Again, they don't sound bad, I just can't hear 'em in the mix like I should be able to...

They're much darker than my normal tone. They also appear to have a bit of reverb on them when they're supposed to be dry. They seem to sit further back in the mix when they're slotted into the same space where one of my mic'd tracks would be.

[Greg_L]

I'll pop up just a bass and drums section over the next few days if I get chance. I'd like you to have a listen and tell me what you think the problem is.

Okay but that doesn't really work. Drums and bass by themselves might sound fat and awesome. But then you put it all together in a mix and things get messy.

[Greg_L]

Lol...I remember at least once when you did that...The only thing I've found on this attenuator I don't like is it only has 1 speaker jack...I might add another jack, maybe...I'm assuming something that seems simple would be, we'll see...

Do you really need another jack on that thing?