More magnet swapping

[Dewey]

Larry, the show is Oct 19-21, and it's not too late! I haven't even booked a room myself yet. Looks like a lot of members are staying at Days Inn..Ed A, Nelson, Jim Barth, Nicholas, Sean, Dave P. I'm probably going to try and get in there also. It would be great to have you in the mix....and thanks for the offer, I'm definitely going to be flying into Dallas.

 

[LHakim]

Dewey, thanks for the invite. I didn't realize the show was that far down the road. My wife told me a few minutes ago that I needed to go on a trip so I may follow her suggestion. BTW is Arlington the "good" guitar show to go to in the Southwest?

 

[Ed Rafalko]

Yep. Dallas and Arlington are two shows considered very major.
And if Arlington wasn't before, it sure is now, with all the Forum luminaries attending.
When you come, if I haven't bought it by then, bring your PowerBrake. I'll buy it that weekend.

 

[LHakim]

Ed, if I come I'll bring a bunch of toys including the powerbrake. I want you to hear the tech 21 trademark 10 (if you haven't already heard one). I'd also like to hear at least one marshall that has RICH's master mod to see if its for me.

 

[Ed Rafalko]

I haven't heard one yet, I think I'll try to eventually but right now I'm interested in amps like the 18-atter I have coming na dthe little ten-watt Tube Electar, experimenting with cabs and speakers.
So far I'm signed up for a set of DC antiquities, a set of Dimarzio DC Virtual Vintage, a Vox Pathfinder from the '60s, and your powerbrake. I hope I win that lottery soon!

 

[LHakim]

The pathfinder sounds cool. That 18 watt clone may become your uber-amp. El-84s can sound really good in some circuits. I just tried a pair of yellowjacket el-84 tube converters in my brown princeton and liked them as much if not better than the original 6V6s. They seem to add more gain, definition and overdrive to the amp.

 

[Ed Rafalko]

Without some form of attenuation, I'm not going to be able ot push it. those Yellowjackets- do they reduce volume much?

 

[LHakim]

Ed, they did on the princeton and on the ampeg's clean channel (running 12at7s in the preamp) but they they sounded fairly loud w/ the other amps I tried. I'm after the same thing you are after--that full, sustaining, dynamic tone of a fully driven tube amp but at low, low volumes. I just can't get it w/ master volumes, and attenuators which to my ears "attenuate" more than the volume. The next gizmo I want to try is the power scaling kit Kevin O'Connor makes. It essentially is supposed to reduce power from 100% to 1% on an existing amp with no degradation of tone or dynamics. His site is at: http://www.londonpower.com

 

[Ed Rafalko]

I followed that link last time you posted it, but I couldn't figure it all out. I guess I'll have to ty again.
What attenuators do you run aside fromt eh Powerbrake and the yellowjackets?

 

[LHakim]

Just the PB100 and lower gain tubes in the preamps. But even the "boutique" ones are not fully transparent. At least at the extreme levels of attenuation I use. Andy Marshall of THD will tell you his hot plate is not fully transparent. He's being honest. As to the London power mod there are other sites on the web that describe the concept more fully. I've gotta go Ed, but I'll try to get you those links.

 

[toni]

They all pretend to be transparent, none are perfectly transparent, but it seems that the Hot Plate is better, no ?

 

[LHakim]

Toni, the 2 "best" attenuators out there may be Allessandro's muzzle, and Mike Clark's unit. Both are impedance specific and have less bells and whistles than the hotplate. Some people really swear by the hotplate, but Andy Marshall himself told me its not transparent. Unless shown otherwise, I'll assume these things are all designed around the same basic circuit topology.

Ed, other forms of attenuation I've tried have included throwing shipping blankets over the amp, using foam padding, etc. as well running a smaller amp full blast into a larger amp and vice versa. Nothing has really worked for me.