Attenuator - Good idea?

[FAN4EVER]

Let me start by saying I am a “living room” player. I picked up a new EVH 5150III EL34 50 watt head and 2x12 cabinet and absolutely love them. Problem is how do I keep the volume down? The knob is very sensitive and easy to turn up too loud for the family. Thinking about adding an attenuator to the rig. Good idea? Pros and cons? Recommendations on which ones I should look at? Thanks in advance for your opinions!

[evhintexas]

I have a Jet City attenuator... I have a 100W EVH Stealth 6L6 into a Peavey 4x12 cab. A 100W EVH Stealth EL34 into a Peavey 4x12 cab, and a 100W Marshall DSL into a Marshall 4X12 cab...I have cranked each of these amps up to about 7 oclock with the attenuator in between the head and the cab and slowly dialed up/down the Dbs with an uninterrupted tone until I got to about 6 or 7 on the dial. I mean, I blasted the hell out of that thing and it held up pretty damn good without killing the tone...After about 6 or 7 though it definitely begins to kill the tone. But, for $100 or so, it cant be beat. Ive heard both of the Rock Crushers are badass but have never actually used one.....

[FAN4EVER]

Thanks evhintexas. Appreciate your experience and thoughts.

[Eddie's Littler Monster]

This little JHS passive volume box is great and inexpensive. I just picked one up. It works great. I goes into you effects loop, no power needed. Might be a good solution for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-.../dp/B00CIHB8FY

[evhintexas]

This little JHS passive volume box is great and inexpensive. I just picked one up. It works great. I goes into you effects loop, no power needed. Might be a good solution for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-.../dp/B00CIHB8FY

This thing seems badass...I think I'll get one...
Cool info...thank you

I will say an old school attenuator allows for cranking the power tubes. This device seems to only throttle the preamp before it hits the power section.

[FAN4EVER]

Thanks guys for the info. I think I have narrowed it down to either the Jett City or the Rivera Rockcrusher. Pretty big price difference. I am wondering if the extra cost for the Rivera is worth it. Anyone have any experience with the Rivera?

[5150rob]

If your looking for bedroom volume with arena sound get the 5150 III combo amps not a head. The combos have the power scaling feature that the heads dont for this very exact reason...

Rob

[FAN4EVER]

If your looking for bedroom volume with arena sound get the 5150 III combo amps not a head. The combos have the power scaling feature that the heads dont for this very exact reason...

Rob

Thanks Rob - too late for that as I already got the new head and 2x12. For some reason I just wanted this rig and I don’t regret it one but. Maybe it was because your old blue EBMM kept telling me to do it. Still lovin’ that guitar by the way! I knew it was going to be loud and I was going to need to attenuate, just spreading the cost out a bit.

[pickslide]

At home, I just use the JHS Little Black Amp Box, which is just an extra master volume behind everything else. Allows you to turn your overall volume or - more importantly - master volume way up but keep the actual loudness down. So you can get enough volume to the power tubes to get better tone but you don't blow out the windows. Actually, I don't just use it at home. But you get the idea.

TK

[evhintexas]

This little JHS passive volume box is great and inexpensive. I just picked one up. It works great. I goes into you effects loop, no power needed. Might be a good solution for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-.../dp/B00CIHB8FY

Where are you putting this in the signal chain?

[pickslide]

Where are you putting this in the signal chain?

I put mine near the end. The only thing after it is a BBE Sonic Stomp. It might also work at the beginning of your loop, though, I don't know. ELM may have a different technique, or more insight.

TK

[NCASO]

Hey Guys,

First time poster here! I currently have the 1x12 combo 6L6, and i'm going to being purchasing a newer one shortly.

what are the sonic differences between the 6L6 and EL3 power tubes? What is meant by "British Rock" tone more breakup? less saturation?


Thanks!!

[Eddie's Littler Monster]

I put mine in my Effects Loop

[FAN4EVER]

Thanks for all the advice and experiences with attenuators. As always everyone here is super helpful. Ended up getting a used Rivera Rockcrusher. Totally did the trick and I am super happy with it.

[Dave not David]

I used a rockcrusher recording for a while before I moved to modelling, served me well. Good choice!