Attenuator Information Needed?

[strat57]

Can anybody give me input on the Weber "Mass" attenuator with the speaker motor. Are these truly better than like a "Dr. Z Airbrake"? Does anyone have experence using one?

[rfgordon]

I have a 50 watt Weber MASS. I confess I haven't taken it apart to look at the guts, but it works well. It does bleed the highs off a bit, but I built an amp that's too bright straight, but just right into the MASS and then into a Celestion V30. The amp runs two 5881s cathode bias (fan cooled). The MASS sits atop the amp and never seems to get very warm.

One of the fringe benefits of the MASS bleeding off the highs is that there is near zero noise--even though I have the gain up and the amp's master vol. at noon.

I haven't used the other types of attenuators, so I can't speak to how it compares to the Airbrake, Hotplate, etc.

[Jammin'John]

The mass works well. Better than a simple resistive load.
If you have to attenuate a lot then your amp is WAY to big !

[BluzMike]

Can anybody give me input on the Weber "Mass" attenuator with the speaker motor. Are these truly better than like a "Dr. Z Airbrake"? Does anyone have experence using one?

I have tried most all attenuators on the market and find the Ultimate Attenuator, which is actually a re-amp, to be the best sounding with the the THD coming second. The workmanship on the UA is not perfect (at least not on mine which is some 2-3 years old), but it retains more transparency and presence to my ears than the others. But the Hotplate is also highly recommendable, especially for amps such an Express or JTM45s due to their OTs high primary impedances.

[leaveitalone84]

IMHO I always felt like the airbrakes were the most transparent but YMMV.

[908ssp]

Can anybody give me input on the Weber "Mass" attenuator with the speaker motor. Are these truly better than like a "Dr. Z Airbrake"? Does anyone have experence using one?

I have tried most all attenuators on the market and find the Ultimate Attenuator, which is actually a re-amp, to be the best sounding with the the THD coming second. The workmanship on the UA is not perfect (at least not on mine which is some 2-3 years old), but it retains more transparency and presence to my ears than the others. But the Hotplate is also highly recommendable, especially for amps such an Express or JTM45s due to their OTs high primary impedances.

Have you tried a Richter? No...Then you haven't tried them all. I liked the Richter better than the UA and the UA better than the five other attenuators I tried.

[BluzMike]

Can anybody give me input on the Weber "Mass" attenuator with the speaker motor. Are these truly better than like a "Dr. Z Airbrake"? Does anyone have experence using one?

I have tried most all attenuators on the market and find the Ultimate Attenuator, which is actually a re-amp, to be the best sounding with the the THD coming second. The workmanship on the UA is not perfect (at least not on mine which is some 2-3 years old), but it retains more transparency and presence to my ears than the others. But the Hotplate is also highly recommendable, especially for amps such an Express or JTM45s due to their OTs high primary impedances.

Have you tried a Richter? No...Then you haven't tried them all. I liked the Richter better than the UA and the UA better than the five other attenuators I tried.

Unfortunately not yet. Rick of Sequis had invited me for a demo of his then prototype Richter in fall 2007 during my last U.K. trip, but due to a traffic collapse I could not make it. So next time ...

I would be highly interested to learn more about your comparisons between the UA and the Richter.

[908ssp]

The UA was good the Richter was just a bit better. My criteria is how natural does it sound at the lowest setting where the speaker is still working. No attenuator will compensate for using a guitar speaker and guitar speakers weren't designed to be played at low volumes. So I turn the attenuator down until the speaker starts killing the highs and lows then I turn it back up just a tiny bit. I compared five of them on the same day a couple years ago. And the Richter just had the most natural unaltered tone and really important to me texture and feel. Just a few months ago I bought a Leash to try and it didn't come close it got fizzy and distorted while the Richter sounded fine. I couldn't sell it fast enough. I have two Richters now and I will buy the new one when it comes out terrific product.