Full Ultimate Attenuator Review

[surfnorthwest]

Well here are my thoughts on the Ultimate attenuator. I will try to be as objective as possible. First I must say that me and attenuators do not have a good history, everyone I have tried in the past has disappointed me so I never kept them. The video demo on this unit was very intriguing, so I bought one if for nothing else but to take full advantage of my Plexi without blowing my house down.

I was looking at two attenuators when I bought this one, the other was the DrZ airbrake. Based upon recommendations and demos I seen and heard I went and custom ordered a Ultimate, You have many options to choose from when you buy these, I added the following options to mine.

200 watt load capacity upgrade
100v regulated AC tap approx. 200v w\220-240v versions
Plexi Switch

I did not order the other two options which were
Bedroom Switch
Variable Line Out

Now this review is based solely on my Metro Plexi and not with the VM or my DSL 100. IMO neither of those two amps need attenuation because neither are loud enough to the point I am going to get hearing damage when using them, this is not so with the Plexi as it can become unbelievably loud. My thought was because of the fire breathing gain from this amp at those high levels an attenuator would keep me from having to get more homeowners insurance.

So, as I said this test was only with the Plexi through a Vintage 30 4x12 cabinet using a Fender Stratocaster with Fat 50s.

When I plugged the attenuator into the wall I placed a Ectech HUM eliminator in front, this assured me the quietest operation possible. I then plugged the power cord of the Plexi into the Attenuator, this is suppose to knock the voltage down to 100v thus allowing you to crank the amp with less volume spitting out but retaining all the tone. I then went from the head into the attenuator and then into the cabinet of course.

There is a bit of a start up sequence that is recommend which makes sense, so following that I got powered up. The Plexi was jumpered from bottom left to top right, every knob set at 12’ o’clock and volume one at 8 and volume two on 7. With my guitar volume on 10 I start to bring up the volume knob on the attenuator, immediately at these very low volume levels I do notice the tone suckage, not bad but it is there. As I bring it up to 25% I can hear the gain intact but to my ears still a lose of amp dynamics and some tone. As I bring it up to about 50% the change is very noticeable, not only is the tone intact now but the picking dynamics are also, this is something I never have experienced using any attenuator. Bring it up to 75% and again tone completely intact but there is very little reduction in volume that I can tell over what the amp would be without it. I found no reduction in volume that I could hear between 75% and 100%.

So IMO the sweet spot is somewhere between 50% and 75%, at this setting the amp retains its tone VERY well and you do get a reduction in volume, not enough to play your amp in a bedroom but noticeable enough to have some benefit. At lower attenuation levels below 50% you start to sacrifice tone and dynamics, perhaps acceptable to many players for the ability to really get the amp under control with only minor loses in tone but totally unacceptable to me.

So for me I have to ask myself is the reduction in total volume at 50-75% attenuation really buying me anything?? The answer is yes and no, yes because there would be situations in a live setting where this little bit of reduction would be very helpful, no simply because to save all your tone and dynamics this little bit of volume reduction comes at a high price.

The Plexi switch did ad a bit of presence into the signal that you can loose when you attenuate, recommend this option. I did not notice to my ears any benefit from the reduced voltage option although it may have been there and I just did not hear it.

In the end I will say this, hands down it is the cleanest attenuator I have tried, it does what a attenuator should BUT it does not work flawlessly throughout the entire range, but it does work between the 50 and 75% range very well. I will probably sell it just because I am so old school and I really don’t see what the reduction in volume is buying me in the studio since my room and mics can handle high SLP’s.

I want to be clear though that this unit my be just what the doctor ordered for a guy that plays small to medium venues, if you stay in the range of the sweet spot (50-75%) you will keep all your tone and give you your band mates and soundman a decent reduction in volume, I want to say in the sweet spot you could expect a 7-15 dBa reduction, I think that is fair and accurate. Also, if you’re willing to give up some tone and dynamics just for practice this will get you into bedroom levels.

Is it worth the $500 it sells for, at this point I would say yes simply because for the gigging musician this thing will work, just does not give you as much range as you may want. But I think that is a fair price for not sacrificing your tone all they through the range as other attenuators do. The demo below is pretty accurate of what I discovered however I was not able to keep my tone below 50% as the guy in the video does, but from 100-50% you will keep your tone.

For those of you who need or must have an attenuator this one is the best I have tried yet, but as I thought attenuators are just not for me. If anyone wants to make an offer on this one or trade let me know, it is new and I was into it for $529 with the options which was already $100 off.

[rccCrawler]

Surf;

Thanks for what was probably the most 'unbiased' review I've ever read about these things. Usually the person doing the reviewing either thinks the thing is the greatest device ever invented, or a total steaming piece of crap. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle...... like this review. Thanks.

[Lungo]

Thanks for the detailed review. Sorry it's not going to work out for you. Maybe one day there will be something that works well enough for you to use as an attenuation device without sacraficing the tone you want.

[slowpokerhino]

Very good review. I just woner if the bedroom option would have helped at the much lower settings.

[surfnorthwest]

Very good review. I just woner if the bedroom option would have helped at the much lower settings.

No, it simply is a low default setting

[teddy07x]

maybe you should've gotten the bedroom switch?

[Lungo]

I've had my eye on the Weber Mass III because it has footswitching capabilities with true bypass. My thoughts are that I could use this feature to get a volume boost for solos. It also has tone controls on the unit, treble-middle-bass which might help dial in a better attenuated tone. It's much cheaper than the Ultimate at around $250. If I ever unload an unused amp (Carvin Legacy) I'm going to pick one up. If you're ever down in the Portland area Eurotubes sales them. Maybe Bob would let you try one out. I was going to stop by there over Christmas but the state of Oregon can't handle a little bit of snow, so we were stuck inside most the time. :x

[Supernaught]

It would seem to me that you are totally aware of how much tone comes purely from volume and speakers moving air. If it was soley tubes and amp that made the tone you like at high volumes, attenuators would be perfect.

I think if you cant accept any lose of tone, there will never be a substitute whatsoever so theres not a lot of point even trying an attenuator.

Great review, it was a good read.

Im after a THD Hotplate at the mo but theyre so expensive I just have to live with bedroom level tone for now :(

[surfnorthwest]

I think if you cant accept any lose of tone, there will never be a substitute whatsoever so theres not a lot of point even trying an attenuator.

Yep I totally agree, I am too old school to change my ways. I simply will continue to record at high volumes but put on my Sony headphones and take the monitored/mic signal so not to blow my head off. I simply need to build a seperate room for guitar cabinets with the appropriate sound proofing.

The attenuator sold this morning to the guy that owns Metro Amps.

[slowpokerhino]

Have you considered an Isolation cab? If I did as much recording as you do I'd definitely invest in one.

[bluesbrother]

Why not a PPMIV installed on the back of your amp????
Cheap and easy. OCD infront to get tone at lower volume or as a drive(preamp on 8 )
to get the amp into submission.
I love it on my handwired Vernet.

[dook]

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... attenuator

It's a 10-page thread but a pretty interesting read.