FEATURE
QUIET
Attenuators
And Their Many Uses
BY STEVE OUIMETTE
Everyone is always complaining that we guitarists are too loud. The soundman gripes
about needing us to turn down so he can
control the overall stage mix and promises
we’ll sound “killer” out in the crowd. Mom
yells at us when we’re learning “Smoke On
The Water” to “Tune it down!” or “Tone it
down!”… neither of which make any sense
(it’s “Turn it down!”) but somehow relates
to making our rocking a quieter affair. And
those of us fortunate enough to have amps
that output more sheer volume than our
homes can accommodate are either treated
to a visit by the cops at our door or evil
stares from our neighbors as we quickly pull
our cars into the garage after work on Friday
night ready to jam. In all these cases and so
many more we can thank our good friend the
power attenuator, for its magic allows us to
play our favorite amps without everyone getting on our backs and bringing us down!
Power attenuators have been around for
decades in various forms, but with the proliferation of enterprising companies and
the need to control the various scenarios
mentioned above, they have never been as
popular as they are today. As much as we
love our 50- and 100-watt non-master volume
amps, long gone is the need for this kind of
power for the majority of us. PA systems have
dramatically improved to the point where
a 5-watt amp can keep up with the loudest
drummer in arena settings and still be heard
by all—the sound man was right! But aside
from their ability to reduce the volume of
higher wattage amps, many modern attenuators can serve us in ways that range from
downright practical to creative tone shaping
and beyond. This article will focus on some of
the other creative uses of attenuators and will
hopefully shine some new light on the “big
volume knob” we know them as today.
Caution: High Voltage
Before even getting into the various uses of
attenuators, it should be stated that tube
amps carry lethal voltages and you shouldn’t
go poking around your amp’s innards if you
don’t know what you’re doing! Leave that to
a qualified tech and save yourself to continue
playing guitar another day. That said, this is
not a technical article, and I won’t be asking
you to take plate voltage readings or bias
your amp, so let’s move on!
